EU countries want to reverse the destruction of the environment. The project has been causing controversy for months. There is now a looming government crisis in Austria.
More than 6,000 trees (including hornbeam and copper beech) will be planted to further promote the reforestation of the forest Photo: Matthias Bein/dpa
BRUSSELS taz | After months of bitter debate, EU environment ministers approved the renaturation law in Luxembourg on Monday. This means that it can still come into force even if the legal text was previously neutralized.
The Renaturation Act is part of the Green offers, with which the EU wants to make the economy climate neutral. It obliges the 27 Member States to set national targets for the recovery of certain habitats and species, which should result in at least 20 percent of land and sea areas becoming nature again by 2030.
The law also contains practical objectives. The EU wants to put a stop to the death of insects. The bottom line is that no more green spaces should be lost in cities. Dried floodplains or heathlands must be “rewetted” and the rivers must be able to flow freely again.
A qualified majority of 15 of the 27 Member States and 65 percent of the EU population voted in favor of the law. This was made possible by a short-term change of heart in Austria. The Black-Green government had rejected the law for a long time. But on Monday, Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler agreed.
Small majority in favor of nature conservation
This resulted in the necessary majority, albeit a narrow one. Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden voted against the law. Belgium abstained from voting. “This is the last step before the law can enter into force,” said the Belgian EU presidency.
The European Parliament had already given the green light at the end of 2023. However, the conservative European People’s Party, which is also president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen listened to, the text became diluted. For example, an ’emergency brake’ was introduced for agriculture.
This means that the targets may be suspended in certain exceptional circumstances. This includes the fact that renaturation would significantly reduce the agricultural area actually needed to produce sufficient food in the EU.
Despite this exception, many farmers took to the barricades against the renaturation law. Farmer President Joachim Rukwied said the environment ministers’ decision ignored the results of the European elections.
Environmental groups are pleased
However, numerous nature conservation and environmental associations were satisfied. The German Nature Conservation Association spoke of a historic day and an important signal for the whole world.
“With the EU Renaturation Act, the EU is now finally better equipped to combat two major crises of our time: species extinction and the climate crisis,” explains Green MEP Tilly Metz from Luxembourg.
There was less joy among the Greens in Austria, where a serious government crisis is looming. The conservative ruling party ÖVP does not want to accept the Minister of Environment’s “yes” and will take legal action against it.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) even announced an appeal for annulment to the European Court of Justice. Gewessler’s vote “does not correspond to the domestic will and therefore cannot be cast in accordance with the constitution,” the chancellery in Vienna said.