The European People’s Party (EPP) has proposed a series of changes that would water down a major piece of European environmental legislation.
In a statement released today (8 November), the EPP said it has proposed changes to the European Deforestation Law to “reduce administrative burdens”.
The EU Deforestation Initiative was designed to tackle trade in goods that are damaging ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest. Under the legislation, companies must confirm that any product exported to or sold in the EU is ‘deforestation free’.
‘Monster’ legislation
“The current deforestation law is a bureaucratic monster,” said Christine Schneider, the EPP group’s lead negotiator on the legislation.
“If implemented, it risks hampering European farmers and businesses. That’s why the EPP Group has called for a delay, but postponement alone is not enough.”
The law was already delayed in October by a year. It was originally slated to come into effect at the end of 2024, but now has a deadline of 30 December 2025.
The EPP’s proposals include an additional two years before it comes into force, a new ‘no risk’ classification system for certain goods, exemption of countries “without deforestation” and a provision that only the company placing the good on the market must prove that it’s deforestation-free.
Several European trade partners, such as Brazil and Indonesia, had been critical of the legislation and raised concerns around protectionism.
Environmental reaction
Environmental groups blasted the EPP’s proposal.
“This is completely unacceptable. Citizens have called for a new and strong law against deforestation, and this was democratically adopted, with the support of the EPP,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, manager, forests, at the World Wide Fund for Nature European Policy Office.
“With this move, the EPP betrays trust in EU policy, and starts to deregulate key environmental legislation - a massive embarrassment just ahead of the COP!"
Greenpeace’s forest policy director, Sébastien Risso, said that the proposals would only create “confusion, chaos and forest destruction”.
“The frontrunner companies that have been preparing for this law since its adoption must be furious at this last-minute fiasco, which is entirely of the EPP’s making.”
Earlier this week, European groups including Nestlé and Michelin released a joint letter, saying that the EU’s decision to delay its landmark deforestation law was causing uncertainty throughout industry and putting investment at risk.
European Parliament
The EPP Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament, with 188 members from all EU Member States, occupying the centre-right of European politics.
Incumbent European Commission president Ursala von der Leyen is a member of the EPP and a significant amount of her proposed commissioners also belong to this group.
No other major groups have formally responded to the proposals, although the centre-left Socialists and Democrats and the Greens have previously been critical of attempts to water down environmental legislation.