EU Parliament EUDR vote: A make-or-break moment for global forests
13 noviembre 2024
Not so long ago, a commentator called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) “a green jewel in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s crown that has garnered praise and inspired imitations beyond the EU”. But in the wake of a crucial, hasty European Parliament (EP) vote, the EUDR could well strike a blow to Ursula von der Leyen’s political majority, before its new Commission has even been confirmed.
In early October 2024, following a vehement backlash, the EU Commission proposed a year-long delay to the application of the duly adopted EUDR (FW 298; FW 299), while making it very clear that “the extension proposal in no way puts into question the objectives or the substance of the law, as agreed by the EU co-legislators.” Both Member States and the EP needed to approve this change quickly, as the law was initially set to enter into force at the beginning of 2025.
EU Member States did so with no amendments on 16 October. Parliament is scheduled to vote on it on 14 November.
Ahead of this vote, major international businesses have voiced concerns and reported the financial losses that a delay would cause. They warned that the delay must not be used as an opportunity to water down the Regulation’s text, as this could jeopardise the countless investments they have made to be EUDR compliant.
A poll conducted across seven EU Member States in autumn 2024 also revealed overwhelming public support for the EUDR: 84% of all respondents want to see swift implementation of the law; 73% believe it should be a key priority for the EU. More than 1.1 million citizens have also signed multiple petitions backing the EUDR and pushing back against the delay.
Mirroring the above requests, greens, social democrats and liberals, who were initially very critical of any attempt to delay the law, agreed to vote for the postponement, in exchange for a commitment not to change the content of the law.
All eyes were therefore on President Von der Leyen’s political group, the EPP (European People’s Party – conservatives), which spearheaded the EUDR backlash in previous months, to see whether they would follow the Commission’s proposal.
The EPP’s response came as a shock: despite having championed the law two years ago, the EPP is now trying, through amendment, to sabotage it. Tabled by a German EPP lawmaker, they suggest various means of emptying the EUDR of its substance: excluding traders from the law, or introducing a new risk-rating to grant EU countries minimal compliance requirements – something that is likely to further alienate producer countries.
The EPP was the only group to table amendments.
Those amendments stand a chance to be adopted if the EPP and far-right groups vote together. This would have dramatic consequences for the law, and thus for forests and forest peoples’ rights. Businesses that invested in compliance would be disadvantaged; those who made no effort to comply, rewarded. The EU’s international credibility would be severely diminished.
The broader political signal would also be worrisome: the EU political majority that elected Von Der Leyen would be undermined, President Von der Leyen could be perceived as unable to keep her own party in line and the EPP, would signal that it is comfortable with a new alternative majority bringing them together with far-right groups.
The stakes, both for forests and politically, couldn’t be higher.
Image credit: Richard Whitcombe/Shutterstock
Categorías: News, Forest Watch, EU Regulation on deforestation-free products
