Against the background of the surging nationalist and populist right-wing parties ahead of the European Union elections in June, political leaders in the old continent have started to ditch many of its failing, crippling environmental policies – mostly under pressure from the great European Farmers’ revolt.
The last victim of this process is the European Union’s flagship policy to restore damaged habitats, called the ‘Nature Law.’
The law is now hanging in the balance, as a vote to pass it on Monday was canceled after Hungary withdrew its support for the bill.
The EU countries’ environment ministers called off the vote after Budapest said it would no longer back the policy.
Hungary’s decision wiped out the slim ‘reinforced majority’ of countries in favor.
Reuters reported:
“The nature law is the latest EU environmental policy to come under fire as policymakers try to respond to months of angry farmers’ protests over complaints including strict green EU regulations. The EU has already weakened numerous green rules to attempt to quell the protests.
‘The agricultural sector is a very important sector, not only in Hungary, but everywhere in Europe’, Hungary’s state secretary for environment Aniko Raisz told reporters on Monday.
Raisz said Hungary was not opposed to protecting nature, but that environmental goals needed to be realistic and take into account the sectors affected.”
Some EU diplomats suggest Hungary’s reversal was politically motivated.
“Environment ministers were set to discuss the policy on Monday afternoon. Opposed to it are Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. Austria, Belgium, Finland and Poland intend to abstain in the vote.”
Farmers spray liquid manure at the police in Brussels.
It would only take one of these countries to change its vote to allow the law to pass.
The law would require countries to introduce measures restoring nature on ‘a fifth of their land and sea’ by 2030.
The policy has faced a backlash from some governments and lawmakers who are concerned it would impose burdensome rules on farmers and clash with other industries.
Associated Press reported:
“'(The plan) is in a very difficult position at the moment and with the upcoming European elections, it won’t be easy to get out of this position’, said Dutch Climate Minister Rob Jetten.
‘If you want to reach climate neutrality, you also have to look in the broader perspective of protecting biodiversity, strengthening the nature in Europe’, Jetten said, stressing that such initiatives were necessary.”
The plan had trouble navigating the approval process, but the ‘watered-down version’ was expected to be approved.
“Under the complicated voting rules, whereby a qualified majority representing 15 of the 27 member states and 65 % of the population was needed, it was long thought that threshold was safe, until Monday.”
But Hungary has changed its vote.
“’It is very important to keep flexibility for member states’, said Aniko Raisz, Hungary’s environmental minister, on Monday. When asked if her country could change its position again, Raisz said she ‘can’t promise anything’, while stressing the importance of the agricultural sector across Europe.
‘We have to be realistic and we have to keep in mind all these sectors’, she said.”
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