The battle over the law against imported deforestation is far from over. This Wednesday, November 20, the member states of the European Union voted against a further relaxation of this law, contrary to a vote by the European Parliament on Thursday, November 14. The States want to stick to the postponement of one year, to December 30, 2025, of the entry into force of this European regulation and not to retouch the substance of the text.
Adopted in the European Parliament in 2022 and promulgated in 2023, this is supposed to put an end to imports of a series of products (cocoa, coffee, beef, palm oil, soya, wood, etc.) coming from deforested lands after December 2020. It provides that companies will have to certify, with supporting documents and data, that their goods are free from impact on forests, throughout the supply chain. The more products come from risk areas, the greater the verification requirements will be.
Balance of power
Under pressure from industrialists, Brazil, the United States and even Germany, the European Commission proposed postponing its entry into force by one year, from December 30, 2024 to December 30, 2025. This change in calendar received the approval of the Member States on Thursday December 14 in Parliament. On this occasion, the right pushed to go further with a softening of the text, which relaunched a cycle of negotiations within the European institutions.
Through an alliance of voices from the right and the far right, the European Parliament voted on December 14 for a series of amendments further unraveling the text. These include the creation of a new category of countries “zero risk” deforestation, in addition to the three risk categories “low”, “standard” et “pupil” initially provided for in the text. Countries ranked without “no risk” would have a stable or increasing forest area and would thus be “subject to significantly less strict requirements”, specifies a press release from the European Parliament. The NGO World Wildlife Fund, WWF, for its part, fears a lack of control that could lead to “extensive abuses”.
This vote marks a profound change in the balance of power within Parliament, anticipated since the agricultural crisis of early 2024. “This is the first time that there is an alliance between the extreme right and the right on a legislative text,” notes Pascal Canfin. However, the position of the Member States communicated this Wednesday, November 20 shuffles the cards. The ball is now in the court of the European Parliament which will have to position itself again, probably during the plenary session in mid-December.
Source: www.liberation.fr
