On Ireland’s initiative, 11 EU countries have called on the Member States, through a letter published on 13 May, to definitively adopt the Nature Restoration Law at the next ‘Environment’ Council on 17 June.
Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Estonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Slovenia and Cyprus have requested that the provisional Interinstitutional Agreement concluded in November 2023 (see EUROPE 13290/1) after an intense period of negotiations within the institutions be formally approved by the Council of the EU.
Parliament had already voted in favour of this provisional agreement in February 2024 (see EUROPE 13359/1). All that remained was for the Member States to formally adopt the text on 25 March, but Hungary, originally in favour, withdrew its support at the last moment (see EUROPE 13378/1).
Above all, this letter is a last-ditch attempt by the 11 Member States to push the text through, fearing that it will be definitively buried when Hungary takes over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU in July.
The signatories claim that from an institutional point of view, such a backtracking on previously agreed compromises “jeopardises our democratic institutions and calls into question the EU’s policy-making process”.
For the Irish Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, failure to reach an agreement would be “carte blanche to destroy nature”.
It would also be a failure on the part of the EU on the international stage in terms of its environmental ambitions, in the run-up to the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity, to be held in Colombia in the autumn.
The text effectively requires Member States to restore at least 30% of natural habitat types in poor condition by 2030 (60% by 2040 and 90% by 2050), which, according to the signatories, is “essential to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, as well as to safeguard Europe’s food security”.
To see the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/c76 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)