On Monday 20 September, several experts from EU countries criticised certain aspects of the forest strategy as advocated by the European Commission on 16 July.
At Monday’s meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), the Commission presented this strategy, which had already been discussed recently by the EU Forest Directors (see EUROPE 12793/19).
The Agriculture Council expects to adopt conclusions on the forestry strategy in November (see EUROPE 12791/16).
During the SCA, several delegations—especially Austria, Finland, Hungary, Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Sweden—felt that the strategy focused too much on environmental issues and not enough on socio-economic aspects.
They also believe that some aspects of this strategy fall within the competence of the Member States and that it is therefore important to respect the principle of subsidiarity.
The Commission tried to reassure the EU countries by stressing that a full evaluation would be carried out for each new legislative act in order to respect this principle of subsidiarity. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)