On Tuesday 23 September, the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Environment Committees adopted an amendment tabled by the EPP Group rejecting the European Commission’s proposal on the European Union’s Monitoring Framework for Resilient European Forests.
During the vote, 80 MEPs (EPP, ECR, PfE, ESN and three members of the Renew Europe group) voted in favour of rejecting the text, while 46 voted against it, and no MEPs abstained. The European Parliament will vote on whether to reject the proposal at its plenary session in Strasbourg from 20 to 23 October. The rapporteurs on this dossier are Emma Wiesner (Renew Europe, Swedish) and Eric Sargiacomo (S&D, French). “Despite the efforts we have made to reach balanced compromises that respect subsidiarity, both the right and the far right have preferred to block progress. Our forests are burning, droughts are becoming more frequent and yet some people prefer to look in the opposite direction. This vote marks a dark day for European forests”, said co-rapporteur Éric Sargiacomo.
In a press release, the EPP group is claiming to have protected forest owners from unnecessary bureaucracy. Austrian Alexander Bernhuber, the EPP’s lead negotiator on this dossier, gave the following statement: “to achieve real action, we need simplification, not additional red tape”. The Christian Democrat group is particularly critical of the provisions on satellite surveillance of forests, believing that Member States already have effective tools to protect their forests. Furthermore, the EPP is of the opinion that forests are a national competence and they are calling on the European Commission to withdraw its legislative proposal.
Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA, Austrian) denounced the EPP’s “irresponsible” policy, saying that the group was – once again – protecting “those who exploit nature, making millions of euros from timber plantations, illegal clearcutting and the exploitation of European forests”.
The Council of the EU had previously adopted a position on the forest monitoring framework, reducing the scope of the initial proposal (see EUROPE 13667/21).
In addition, the European Parliament’s two committees (Agriculture and Environment) adopted the draft report by Emma Wiesner and Pekka Toveri (EPP, Finnish) on the proposal to set up a Standing Forestry Committee, by 70 votes to 37 with 17 abstentions. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)