As expected, on Wednesday 31 May the EPP group in the European Parliament - the largest group in the assembly - announced its withdrawal from negotiations with the other political groups on the proposed EU regulation that will impose binding nature restoration targets (see EUROPE 13187/4, 12977/17). In so doing, the EPP has confirmed its rejection of legislation which it considers to have been insufficiently prepared in advance.
The announcement was made at midday, at the end of a negotiating session with the shadow rapporteurs on this issue, with a view to finding compromises on the highly ambitious report by César Luena (S&D, Spanish), which, since its presentation in January, has been received by scepticism from right-wing MEPs concerned about European farmers and food safety (see EUROPE 13098/3).
“The proposal was bad in the first place and our concerns remain unanswered”, said the group’s chair, Manfred Weber, and the EPP’s negotiator for this issue, Christine Schneider.
This confirmation of the EPP’s rejection of the proposal as it stands comes after the parliamentary agriculture and fisheries committees rejected the text.
It has rekindled the ire of the Greens/EFA in Parliament. German MEP Jutta Paulus, the negotiator for her group, sees it as “sabotage of the Green Deal together with the far right”, “Manfred Weber’s revenge on Ursula von der Leyen”, with “our nature, our farmers, us”, as the “losers”.
Sharing his colleague’s tweet, Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout said: “The latest attempts to reach a compromise with the Christian Democrats have failed. We are now moving towards an agreement without the Christian Democrats”.
Negotiations without the EPP will continue in order to reach agreement on compromise amendments. The vote in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), the lead committee for this legislation, is scheduled for 15 June. This will show if there is enough support for the compromises to be adopted. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)