Despite massive criticism from civil society and parts of the industry, the European People’s Party delayed and watered down the EU deforestation regulation, which aims to ensure that no more products from deforested areas enter the European market. This comes as a last-second attempt to derail a regulation that had already been negotiated and adopted. To push through these changes, they relied on the votes of right-wing and far-right parties such as the AfD and ignored inconsistencies in the vote.
Loopholes and economic protectionism
The changes that the European People’s Party pushed through with the help of the votes of right-wing and far-right parties in Europe relate in particular to the introduction of a new category of so-called “no-risk countries” with much more lax or no requirements at all in terms of compliance with due diligence in the supply chain. This is a massive deterioration for environmental protection, as there is no “no-risk” country in the world when it comes to deforestation and the protection of biodiversity.
The EPP hopes that this will largely exempt European countries from the new rules, contrary to the requirements of the World Trade Organization (WHO). However, this could backfire, because contrary to the recurring claims of the ÖVP and co., Europe’s forests are not in good condition. At the same time, countries such as China could potentially fall under this new category, which could ultimately even mean that imports from China would have to meet fewer requirements to enter the EU market than products from Sweden.1
Voting mishaps ignored
During the vote on 14.11.2024, the atmosphere was not only heated because of the differences in content. Due to the introduction of a new voting system, the voting machines of some MEPs – including mine – did not work properly, which meant that some MEPs were unable to take part in some votes. This fact becomes particularly problematic when paired with the fact that some of the votes were extremely tight: the amendment to introduce the above-mentioned “no-risk country” category only won by a majority of three votes! Parliament President Roberta Metsola of the EPP nevertheless refused to repeat the votes.
Destruction of the Green Deal
The vote to postpone and water down the EU deforestation regulation is just one of many attempts by the European People’s Party to sabotage the Green Deal, i.e. the European Union’s climate protection program. Here, as in many other cases, the ÖVP was at the forefront when it came to selling out the future of our children for economic profits.
- https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/eudr-parliament-backs-no-risk-group-trade-partners-accuse-eu-of-protectionism/ ↩︎