The green agenda of the European Union is once again on damage, now that the Antiboskap Act will not be introduced in the coming year, but only in 2027. It is the second time that the introduction of the law, intended to combat deforestation, is postponed by the European Commission.
The delay is the umpteenth setback for the European Green Deal, the climate plans of the European Union. If the law had started next year, companies that are wherever in the world, paper, palm oil, rubber, soy, coffee and meat should now produce that their products do not come from defensive country. Nature organizations were proud of it.
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Entrepreneurs, in particular small companies and farmers, mentioned the administrative requirements of the law unfeasible. There was resistance from countries that would experience major consequences of the law, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil. The boss of the World Trade Organization was critical of it. A number of EU countries, such as Sweden and Finland, were not waiting for legislation that infringed their forest management.
Last year the European Commission chose a postponement for a year, to 2026. That is not enough, concludes EU’s daily management now.
“Despite our attempts to simplify the system, we are now unable to do this without disruptive consequences for companies and supply chains,” said Jessika Roswall, the European Commissioner for Nature and the Environment, on Tuesday at the announcement of the decision.
Now further simplification is needed
‘Insoluble problems’
The EU countries and the European Parliament still have to agree with the postponement, but that seems like a formality. There, too, the criticism of the law continued in the past year.
“Our commitment has been successful!”, The German MEP Peter Liese (CDU) is satisfied with X. “Introduction On January 1, introduction had caused insoluble problems for forest managers, farmers and small and medium-sized businesses. Now further simplification is needed.”
Liese is ahead of the upcoming discussion. According to European Commissioner Roswall, postponement was necessary: the IT system would be difficult for the ‘overload’ of data. Opponents of the law will take the delay for new attempts to further undress the law.
Multiple countries and politicians want to adjust the risk levels within the system. Now there is high, average or low risk. Critics would like to add a “zero risk” category to save bureaucracy.
Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, party leader of D66 in the European Parliament, is getting rid of the explanation of Roswall. “Last year I received clear instructions from the committee that there were no technical problems. It was deliberately delayed, so that companies were insufficient to prepare. You can’t do something like that again.”
Promising resistance
Nature organizations now fear the worst. “In Brussels they are going with a large chainsaw because of all climate policy,” says Antonie Fountain, head of Voice Network, an NGO who is committed to sustainable cocoa. “Someone said to me: If they start reopening the negotiations on this law, then no law will be left.”
A similar scenario was already taking place a year ago. Then an attempt by the Center-Recht-based Christian Democrats, the largest fraction in the European Parliament, stranded to weaken the law.
Two developments now make the resistance more promising, the opponents think. In the European Parliament, the criticism of the Green Deal is further swollen. Centrum-Rechts, moreover, cooperation with the even skeptical radical-right parties is becoming less and less avoided.
In addition, Europe is less able to ignore the criticism from outside. The EU is trying to strengthen the trade tires with Indonesia and Brazil, two of the most pronounced critics of the law. And to keep the Trump government satisfied, the committee has promised to avoid “unnecessary consequences of the European Coverage Act” in the elaboration of the Trade Agreement with the US. “
With the cooperation of Eva Oude Elferink
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