As the interinstitutional negotiations on the proposal for an EU Nature Restoration Law enter their final stretch on Thursday evening, one will have to wait until Friday 10 November to learn the details of the compromise reached in the final ‘trilogue’ on this major piece of legislation of the European Green Deal (see EUROPE 13281/13).
Speaking on Wednesday 8 November, Jutta Paulus MEP (Greens/EFA, German), the negotiator for her political group, stressed the importance of Article 9 on restoration measures in the agricultural sector - in particular peatlands - an article that the European Parliament deleted in July, but which she hopes, like the EU Council and the Commission, can be reinstated.
“One of my priorities in the trilogue will be to negotiate the return of peatlands in the Nature Restoration Law as natural carbon sinks for climate protection and as important ecosystems for species protection. In my view, commitments concerning peatlands are an absolute condition for successful negotiations”, Ms Paulus told the press. And she pointed out that 10% of the EU’s 2030 climate target must be achieved by storing CO2 in healthy ecosystems.
Already the subject of an agreement or quasi-agreement are: - Article 8 on pollinators, for which all that remains to be clarified is whether the follow-up measures should take the form of an implementing act or a delegated act; - Article 10a on the three billion trees to be planted; - the EPP’s reference to food safety, incorporated into Article 1.
Article 10 and the issue of the dead wood indicator, deleted by Parliament, remain controversial.
In the event of a conclusive trilogue, the vote in the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment would take place at the meeting of 29-30 November, with a view to a vote by Parliament in January or February 2024. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)