Brussels – With a slim but consistent margin of 329 votes in favor, 275 against, and 24 abstentions (out of 628 votes), the European Parliament meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg adopted today (Feb. 27) the first EU Law on Nature Restoration, despite threats from the European center-right to bury the dossier that has become a symbol of the Green Deal in recent months. The Law passed thanks to the support of the S&D, Green, Renew Europe, United Left, and Non-Enrolled groups. After recently saying it would vote against the proposal, the European People’s Party (EPP)was split, with 25 MEPs voting in favor out of 177 (no Italian MEP from the EPP in the Forza Italia quota voted in favor). In addition to a large part of the EPP and a minority of liberals (including former five-star Fabio Massimo Castaldo), against were the European Conservatives and Reformists groups (of which premier Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia is a member) and Identity and Democracy (of which the League is a member). The ECR and ID groups submitted motions to reject the Commission’s proposal, both defeated. Between food security fears driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine for months, the proposal was the political target of the center-right in the European Parliament – in particular, by the European People’s Party (EPP) – and by several member states, such as Italy (which voted against the measure in the Council vote last June).
Restoration goals and ecosystems: provisions of the agreement
The Law is groundbreaking as, for the first time, it not only regulates the protection of the most important natural areas, but it introduces regulations to restore nature where it is already degraded. The regulation sets specific and legally binding goals and obligations for restoring nature in specific ecosystems, from farmland and forests to marine, freshwater, and urban ecosystems. Member states must restore at least 30 percent of habitats covered by the new law from a poor to a good condition by 2030, increasing to 60 percent by 2040 and 90 percent by 2050. The legislation thus introduces a roadmap that did not exist and that can be adapted for national specificities so that it is relevant to the local context.
Member states will have to develop national restoration plans, which will be a roadmap for reporting to the European Commission on how they intend to achieve the goals for the good state of natural ecosystems in 2030, 2040, and 2050. Member states will initially have to submit plans to cover the period to June 2032 and, by that date, will have to submit restoration plans for the ten years to 2042 with a strategic overview to 2050 and, by June 2042, plans for the remaining period to 2050.
Farmland and emergency brake
The law also covers farmland. Member States must achieve progress in at least two of the following three indicators: the grassland butterfly index; the share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features; and the stock of organic carbon in the cropland mineral soil. Flexibility is granted to governments to rewet peatlands: the text sets targets to restore 30 percent of drained peatlands to agricultural use by 2030, 40 percent by 2040, and 50 percent by 2050, even though severely affected member states will be able to apply a lower percentage. Measures to improve the condition of forests will be mandatory, particularly by increasing the number of tree species and their resilience to climate change.
Given the concerns of both co-legislators about the effects of the food safety regulation, the final agreement finally provides for an ’emergency brake’ by setting 2033 as the date for the Commission to review and assess the implementation of the regulation and its impact on the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, as well as its broader socioeconomic effects. The text also introduces the possibility of suspending the implementation of the regulation’s provisions related to agricultural ecosystems for up to one year through an implementing act in case of “unforeseeable and exceptional events beyond the control of the EU and with serious Community-wide consequences for food security.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
