The First Vice-President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, does not want the regulation on imported deforestation to be reopened, contrary to what the European Commissioner for the Environment, Jessika Roswall, said on Tuesday 23 September, citing failures in the IT system that is supposed to receive due diligence declarations and provide the required information (see EUROPE 13715/5).
“We need to work together to find the best way forward to avoid reopening the dispute and to find a solution from an IT point of view”, said Ms Ribera at a press conference on Monday 29 September.
Could a one-year postponement be a way of “simplifying” the text? “There is no point in speculating”, said the former Spanish Socialist Minister for the Environment, while citing the existence of the European Green Deal.
Teresa Ribera then confirmed, as Jessika Roswall had just explained, that the European Commission is now working on a solution with the European Parliament, the EU Council and the partners involved. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)