After voting it down in committee last month, right-wing MEPs are now poised to repeat the move
MEPs are expected to reject the EU’s proposed law on forest monitoring on Tuesday, as the European People’s Party (EPP) and far-right groups join forces to block it in plenary.
Unveiled by the European Commission in 2023, the proposal aims to improve data collection and knowledge of EU forests, to strengthen their resilience to climate change and threats such as pests, droughts, and wildfires.
After voting it down in committee last month, right-wing MEPs are now poised to repeat the move, effectively ending the Commission’s plan to create an EU-wide system for forest monitoring.
“We demand the Commission to withdraw this proposal,” said Alexander Bernhuber (EPP), describing the law as “excessive paperwork” that would overburden foresters, member states, and farmers.
The conservative European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group echoed this view, calling the text a “power grab” that interferes with national forestry policy. The proposal “duplicates existing reporting systems” and “violates subsidiarity and proportionality principles,” a spokesperson said. Similarly, the far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) group confirmed they would vote to reject the law.
The bill’s backers, however, said they’d be willing to compromise to get the bill past the finish line. Eric Sargiacomo, an MEP from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), denounced the lack of cooperation from his right-wing colleagues and said his group had “sought to amend the text in order to find acceptable compromises.”
“A rejection is a very likely scenario,” conceded Renew MEP Emma Wiesner. If this does not happen, the MEPs who support the law will attempt to return it to the committee for further negotiations.
The bill’s rejection would represent a significant blow to the bloc’s Green Deal agenda, adding the legislation to a growing list of environmental initiatives the EPP has sought to weaken or block, including the anti-greenwashing and anti-deforestation laws.
Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro contributed reporting.
Jean-Philippe Behr
