The European Parliament’s Committee on Environment voted in favour of the informal agreement to postpone the regulation on imported deforestation by one year, on Wednesday 4 December, with 69 votes in favour, 11 against and one abstention.
The co-legislators reached an agreement on deforestation on the evening of Tuesday 3 December. The second session of interinstitutional negotiations (trilogue) was concluded without any changes to the substance of the text and with a 12-month postponement of its implementation, in accordance with the European Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 13495/1).
The EPP failed to make its voice heard, having brought about the trilogue negotiations by pushing through several amendments with the support of the far right (see EUROPE 13524/1).
“The only possible outcome of a strategy” of alliance with the far right was to be heading “into a wall”, concluded the shadow rapporteur for Renew Europe, Pascal Canfin.
Originally scheduled to come into force on 31 December 2024, the regulation on imported deforestation has therefore been postponed to 30 December 2025 for large companies and, six months later, to 30 June 2026 for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Council held its ground against rapporteur Christine Schneider (EPP, German), who opposed the creation of a “no risk” country category, which would have been added to the high, standard and low risk categories designed to classify countries according to their level of deforestation.
Christine Schneider defended the good students’ exemption and advocated the addition, at the last instance, of a revision clause or a recital so that the EPP’s request could be implemented, “if necessary, in another form” (see EUROPE 13536/13).
Instead, the European Commission has agreed to study measures to simplify and reduce the administrative burden for countries “that have demonstrated effective and sustainable forest management practices”, in June 2028, as part of the general review of the legislation.
“We would have preferred to see these improvements enshrined directly in law, but the Council delivered a disappointing refusal”, said Ms Schneider after the meeting.
“The one-year delay remains a disaster for forests and human rights”, said the shadow rapporteur for the Greens/EFA, Marie Toussaint. In her opinion, “the EPP has wasted everyone’s time”. But the French MEP sees the European Parliament’s right-wing leaning as the source of other threats to “the Habitats Directive, the texts on liability or the due diligence”, among others, all examples which led her to say that “the battle to defend the ‘European Green Deal’ is far from over”.
The text still has to be approved by the Council and in a vote at the Parliament’s plenary session on Tuesday 17 December. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)