EU Deforestation Law: Tug-of-war over postponement

The European Parliament will vote on Thursday in Brussels on a 12-month delay to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to give companies and authorities more time to prepare. However, amendments proposed by the European People’s Party (EPP) go further and could weaken the impact of the EU law. Criticism comes from environmentalists and Greens. Austria’s forestry industry and the conservative ÖVP support the amendments.

As things currently stand, most provisions of the deforestation regulation, which has already come into force, will apply from the end of the year – for small businesses, the rules will apply from the end of 2025. At the beginning of October, the EU Commission, under pressure from several countries, proposed pushing back both deadlines by one year – shortly afterwards, the EU member states also agreed to this.

Without further negotiations, the new deadlines are supposed to be approved by the Members of the European Parliament on Thursday in a fast-track procedure. However, the amendments proposed by EPP MP Christine Schneider could put a stop to this plan. She wants to push the deadline back by 24 instead of 12 months, and the regulation itself should also be weakened. This, in turn, would make negotiations with the Council and the EU Commission necessary. With the votes of the EPP and the further right-wing factions, the motions could pass the Parliament.

The positions of the Austrian MEPs on the topic obviously vary. “The new deforestation regulation must be completely overturned,” demands FPÖ MEP Roman Haider (PfE). “The deforestation regulation offers no added value and harms the agricultural work that should be appreciated and not sabotaged by unnecessary regulations,” criticizes then ÖVP MEP Alexander Bernhuber (EPP) about the EU law, which he, like Schneider, still voted for in spring 2023.

Criticism of the approach taken by the EPP also comes from SPÖ MEP Günther Sidl. “The European People’s Party wants to further weaken the entire law with new amendments. The clear objective of these new EPP submissions is to find a majority with the right-wing factions,” says the Social Democrat. “We do not have the time to blindly follow the lobbyists of the wood industry while the climate crisis with storms and droughts threatens our food security and washes away our villages,” Austrian MEP Thomas Waitz (Greens) countered in a press release. (13.11.2024)