Environmental policy
EU member states against changes to the Forest Protection Act
Stricter rules for protecting forests will soon apply in the EU. But the law is under discussion. Now the EU states are opposing changes.
The EU member states have spoken out with a clear majority against changes to a new EU law to protect the rainforest. According to dpa information, 25 of 27 countries – including Germany – do not want any changes to the content. A majority of the European Parliament had previously voted for changes.
As the Hungarian EU Council Presidency announced, the EU countries also voted to postpone the law. It will not be applied from next year as originally planned – but a year later. Parliament also wants a postponement.
According to the law, products such as coffee, wood, soy, cocoa and palm oil will only be allowed to be sold in the EU in the future if no forests have been cleared after 2020. This is also intended to significantly reduce deforestation of the rainforest, for example in the South American Amazon region.
The project is now back with the EU Parliament: If it withdraws the amendments, the law is likely to be postponed as planned. If there is no agreement in time, the law could apply from 2025 as originally planned. This is likely to pose major problems for companies that had expected a postponement.
The responsible rapporteur in the European Parliament, Christine Schneider (CDU), called the federal government’s position against substantive changes “irresponsible”. Simply postponing the law is not enough. “That is why I am committed to starting trilogue negotiations as quickly as possible in order to adopt these changes in time before the end of the year,” she said.
Criticism of additional zero-risk category
Environmental organizations had particularly criticized the proposed amendment, according to which a category for non-risk countries should be included in the law. According to the information, significantly less strict rules should apply to products from these countries. Environmentalists see this as a major loophole that enables environmentally harmful deforestation.
WWF Germany criticized the fact that, according to the desired definition, even controversial countries such as China would be classified in a zero-risk category. There it is difficult to reliably trace the supply chain and thus reliably detect violations. The WWF also reported that problems with illegal timber trade are also known from Romania and Vietnam. According to the WWF, all three countries would have fallen into the zero-risk category.
dpa
Source: Stern
