At the Agriculture Council on Monday 29 April, the Austrian minister for agriculture, Norbert Totschnig, supported by several of his counterparts, once again called on the European Commission to give countries more time to implement the regulation on combating deforestation (see EUROPE 13212/30).
“First of all, it is clear that the deforestation of tropical forests must be significantly reduced. The aim of the regulation is absolutely correct and important. However, we are now faced with the implementation of the regulation in the Member States, which represents an almost insurmountable bureaucratic burden for the authorities, businesses and farmers. Our criticisms have been heard and supported by 22 other Member States”, Mr Totschnig told the press in Luxembourg on Monday.
This is why, on 27 April, he and the Austrian minister for the economy, Martin Kocher, sent a letter to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for “an immediate suspension of application and a review of the regulation to see if and how it can be implemented”, added the Austrian minister.
The two Austrian politicians criticise the unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that Member States would face if the rules were applied without classifying countries into three different categories (high, medium and low) according to their risk of deforestation. According to the Austrian ministers, the lack of classification for low-risk countries would lead to disproportionate controls and an increase in due diligence obligations for all market players.
At Monday’s council meeting, Austria reportedly received the support of Germany, Poland, Romania, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonia. On 26 March, several of these countries called for a targeted revision of the text (see EUROPE 13380/5).
Belgian minister David Clarinval, current President of this council, said that “more than a dozen Member States” had expressed their support for postponing the implementation of the anti-deforestation regulation. In a personal capacity, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, stated that he would make the case within the Commission for “a one-year postponement” of the implementation of the rules in question. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)