Yesterday, on June 17, 2024, symptomatically, only a week after the European Parliament elections, the Environment Council (ENVI) of the Council of the European Union, which includes ministers of member states, finally adopted the nature restoration regulation. It was not without controversy, but these solutions, unfavorable for farmers, were approved anyway. What was happening?
- On June 17, the Nature Restorarion Law (NRL) was adopted.
- There was controversy during the vote. Austria voted differently than planned, and the provisions of the regulation would not have been adopted.
- The Nature Restoration Law aims to introduce measures to restore at least 20% by 2030. EU land and sea areas and all ecosystems requiring restoration by 2050.
- By 2030, Member States will give priority to Natura 2000 sites when implementing restoration measures.
Nature restoration adopted
As we have already written on farmer.pl, the provisions of the Nature Restorarion Law (NRL), which aroused extreme emotions before the European Parliament elections and contributed to farmers’ strikes, were hidden in order to be passed right after them. EU officials made no secret of this, emphasizing that this topic was political and would come back after the elections. Quietly. They didn’t even wait for the new Commission. This pillar of the European Green Deal, which was strongly pushed by the so-called Greens and nature organizations, and criticized by farmers, was passed in a very controversial way. It turned out that Poland did not change its mind on this topic and, as it declared, it actually opposed this regulation, which was not openly accepted by some representatives of our government, but there were countries thanks to which these regulations were adopted. The following people voted against NRL:
- Poland,
- Italy,
- Hungary,
- Netherlands,
- Finland,
- Sweden.
Belgium abstained. And Slovakia and Austria voted in favor. And here, after the vote, it turned out that there were many doubts. Because Austrian Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler (from the Greens) was not “authorized” to vote for the nature restoration regulation. She was supposed to refrain from making this decision, which would have blocked the document. However, this did not happen. As Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, wrote to us on Platform X: “This is Austria’s internal matter. Voting mandates are not verified at Council meetings, it is up to the Member State whether its minister arrived with the correct mandate.
Is it really?
– The adoption of nature restoration regulations has caused a government crisis in Austria. Two letters were sent to the Belgian Presidency, one explaining why Austria’s consent was illegal and the other outlining its legality. This may result in invalidation proceedings before the ECJ and lawsuits before national courts – writes Jacek Zarzecki on X.
Could this change anything else for the NRL? We will keep an eye on this.
Let us recall that a qualified majority was needed for the law to be considered binding. This means that at least 15 out of 27 countries had to vote in favor. But countries supporting the regulation must represent at least 65 percent. citizens of the entire community.
Austria voted for the NRL despite itself
These actions, as well as the NRL procedure itself, aroused many emotions. Agricultural organizations have commented on this issue.
– The EU Council voted for the NRL with the smallest possible majority, which was determined by the individual votes of ministers, not the positions of national governments. This course, resulting from a flawed proposal, will result in a legal battle at regional, national and EU levels, with the future unclear as to how and when this law will be implemented. This document was controversial from the beginning and was completely rejected by the Committee on Fisheries, Agriculture and the Environment; and the position adopted under the general approach, in which the country with the Presidency that wrote it voted against. Political rhetoric aside, the lack of clear and consistent funding for ecosystem restoration across the EU remains unanswered, which partly explains the great confusion and rush surrounding this regulation. We have therefore lost our only chance to enable this text to be implemented and accepted in practice. A second reading could make this law more realistic! This comes just a few weeks after the European Parliament elections, during which agriculture played a special role in the discussion, and will be the first signal to farmers and forest owners about the intentions of their national governments and the future Commission – we read on the X Copa Cogeca platform.
In turn, Wojciechowski on “an attractive option…” – Article 11 of the EU Regulation on the restoration of natural resources (NRL).
A correspondent of RMF radio wrote on .
But with this voluntary approach, it is not entirely clear what it will be like. We will therefore monitor the matter and we have sent a question regarding this matter to the ministry.
Two voices in the Polish government regarding the NRL
This was admitted directly in a post on the 10th by Polish Deputy Minister of Climate, Urszula Zielińska, who wrote with satisfaction, although Poland did not support the NRL.
” We have it! The Nature Restoration Law passed with the votes of the majority of countries in Europe! Unfortunately, this time without Poland’s voice, because we failed to convince Polish farmers. But the most important thing is that it exists, because without healthy nature there is no healthy person. And Polish farmers have nothing to fear: the regulation is practically voluntary, and its goals, including the restoration of 90,000 ha of wetlands on agricultural land by 2050, can be implemented on state lands, without any interference with private or leased agricultural land.
What does PRACTICALLY voluntary mean? We will pursue this topic further. Because the Council’s press release after the vote included the entry “By 2030, Member States will give priority to Natura 2000 areas when implementing restoration measures.” Are we talking about Natura 2000 areas, which were also designated in a controversial manner many years ago, without imagination, and which cover 1/5 of Poland’s land area?
What does the NRL regulation apply to?
The goal of the Nature Restoration Law is to introduce measures to restore at least 20% by 2030. EU land and sea areas and all ecosystems requiring restoration by 2050.
– I am pleased with the positive vote on the Nature Restoration Act, which was agreed between the European Parliament and the Council almost a year ago. It’s the result of hard work that paid off. There is no time for a break in environmental protection. Today, the Council of the EU decides to restore nature in Europe, thereby protecting its biodiversity and the living environment of European citizens. It is our responsibility not only to respond to the urgency of Europe’s biodiversity collapse, but also to enable the European Union to meet its international obligations. The European delegation will be able to go to the next COP with its head held high, said Alain Maron, Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Democracy in the government of the Brussels-Capital Region.
The regulation requires Member States to establish and implement measures aimed at collectively restoring, as the EU target, at least 20%. EU land and sea areas by 2030. Covers a range of terrestrial, coastal and freshwater, forest, agricultural and urban ecosystems, including wetlands, grasslands, forests, rivers and lakes, as well as marine ecosystems, including seagrass and sponge beds corals.
Importantly, by 2030, Member States will prioritize Natura 2000 sites when implementing restoration measures.
In habitats considered to be of poor quality and listed in the Regulation, Member States will take action to restore:
- at least 30% by 2030
- at least 60% by 2040
- at least 90% by 2050
According to the communication, Member States will implement measures to restore drained peatlands and help plant at least three billion additional trees by 2030 at EU level. To transform at least 25,000 km of rivers into free-flowing rivers by 2030, Member States will take action to remove artificial barriers to surface water connectivity.
Under the new rules, Member States must plan ahead and submit national recovery plans to the Commission, showing how they will meet their targets. They must also monitor and report on their progress against EU-wide biodiversity indicators.
What’s next? The regulation will now be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will enter into force. It will be directly applicable in all Member States. By 2033, the Commission will review the application of the Regulation and its impact on the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, as well as its wider socio-economic impacts.
We will continue the topic.
