14/04/2023 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 13 April, the European Economic and Social Committee continued its debate on the impact of large carnivores in European rural areas. The EU agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) participated in this discussion and were represented by the chair of the Working Party on Sheepmeat and Goatmeat, Michèle Boudoin. She recalled that the population of large carnivores, in particular wolves, has exploded in Europe (see EUROPE 13029/3). Ms Boudoin called on the European Commission to lower the level of protection for wolves in the ‘Habitats’ directive from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’ in order to “give more flexibility to Member States to manage the problem” of the impact of wolves on livestock farmers. The Commission will carry out a census of large carnivore populations in Europe no earlier than 2025. (LC)