Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment (ENVI) will have their work cut out on the afternoon of Thursday 27 May, when they vote on amendments to the own-initiative report by César Luena (S&D, Spain), which fully supports and significantly strengthens the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 presented by the European Commission a year ago (see EUROPE 12636/8, 12491/2).
It is a non-legislative report, but the visibility given to this issue by the European Green Deal to help stem the global biodiversity crisis and the number of sectors involved in the mandatory restoration of 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030 has required a huge amount of compromise. A total of 1,216 amendments (663 pages) were tabled, including opinions from the Committees on Agriculture (AGRI), Fisheries, International Trade (INTA), Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Development (DEVE).
The 98 pages of compromise amendments maintain a high level of ambition, but clarify or refine the language to accommodate the requirements of the different parliamentary committees, particularly in view of the implications of the strategy for agriculture.
On pesticides, for example, MEPs will welcome the European Commission’s targets to reduce the use of hazardous chemical pesticides by 50% and nutrient losses from fertilisers by 50%, which will involve a reduction in fertiliser use of at least 20% by 2030.
These targets should all be set in legislation and revised for the period after 2030 with a view to further reductions and establishing long-term commitments. They should also be effectively evaluated on the basis of specific milestones.
MEPs will also ask the Commission to set clear and ambitious benchmarks for these targets and, together with the Member States, to establish for each of them their fair contribution to the EU targets, taking into account their different starting points. At the same time, they will insist that each Member State should implement robust measures to meet its targets.
The final vote on the amended report is scheduled for Friday 28 May.
See the compromise amendments: https://bit.ly/3yIgp1u (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)