EU Council: Can Slovakia make progress on climate and energy?
7 juillet 2016
As the Dutch presidency draws to a close, eyes turn now to Slovakia, which takes the helm of the EU Council from July to December.
The Dutch presidency came at a crucial time for the FLEGT Action Plan as described here or above. As the largest importer of palm oil grown on illegally deforested land in Europe, the Netherlands is especially keen to ensure that the EU imports only sustainable palm oil, and was an initiator of the two Amsterdam Declarations, which committed a handful of Member States to develop policies to address their forest footprint.
Although in the wake of Brexit they expect delays to their original programme, the Slovakian Presidency, which began on 1 July 2016, plans to make good progress on a number of climate and energy files. Among these is Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). Despite being a highly forested country, Slovakia has not yet formulated a position on this, putting Slovakia in a good position to arbitrate this files that is likely to be politically charged.
A provisional calendar of meetings under the Slovak Presidency can be found here.