On Monday, 17 February, several MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture took the view that the review of the wolf’s protection status in the EU was taking too long.
Many of them believe that the European Commission should have proposed a text that would apply from March 2025 (see EUROPE 13549/37).
In fact, on 3 December 2024, the Bern Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats approved switching the predator’s status from a “strictly protected” species to a “protected” species (see EUROPE 13537/15). This change will come into force on 7 March, the date on which the EU will be able to adapt the corresponding annexes of the Habitats Directive (transferring [the wolf] from Annex IV to Annex V), in the form of a delegated act by the European Commission. Yet, according to Article 19 of the Habitats Directive (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX :31992L0043)—which predates the Treaty of Lisbon—a unanimous Council decision is required in order to amend the annexes in question. In response to questions from MEPS, the European Commission assured that it was “considering different [legal] options” for getting around this obstacle.
In a written question addressed to the European Commission, MEPs from the Greens/EFA, Renew Europe, S&D, and The Left groups also asked whether the change in protection status would apply “to all EU wolf populations presently in Annex IV, regardless of their conservation status”.
The European Commission assured [MEPs] that the proposal to amend the directive’s annexes would be presented “as quickly as possible”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)