EPP fiddles while forests burn

Greenpeace European Unit -

The European People’s Party (EPP) has proposed a set of amendments, published by Politico, to the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) that would, if adopted by MEPs in a plenary vote next Thursday 14 November, severely weaken the law, nullify the preparations that have been made until now for the law’s application, and create chaos and uncertainty, says Greenpeace.

The EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) is a pioneering law that guarantees consumers in Europe that products made out of commodities like soy, beef, wood and palm oil on their supermarket shelves are free from deforestation.

Greenpeace EU forest policy director Sébastien Risso said: “All this week, we’ve heard EPP MEPs tell commissioner candidates that they want to simplify environmental rules. But the changes to the EU deforestation law proposed on behalf of their group won’t simplify anything: they’ll only create confusion, chaos and forest destruction. The frontrunner companies that have been preparing for this law since its adoption must be furious at this last-minute fiasco, which is entirely of the EPP’s making. MEPs must reject all these amendments, whose clear aim is to weaken and make a mess of the deforestation law. They must also reject the Commission’s initial proposal to delay the application of the law, which needlessly opened the door to this meddling in the first place. We cannot afford delay in protecting forests in the light of the climate emergency we’re facing.”

The EUDR was adopted in 2022 and is meant to start to apply from 30 December this year. Some companies have already invested in complying with the law, while other national and corporate vested interests have vigorously lobbied to weaken and delay it.

On 2 October 2024, the European Commission proposed a delay in the application of the EUDR by one year. In its announcement, the Commission emphasised that the delay “in no way puts into question the substance or objectives of the law”, but the EPP’s proposed amendments do exactly that.

No other party in the European Parliament has proposed any amendments to the Commission’s proposal, which the EPP’s party colleague Commission president Ursula von der Leyen presented herself.

Making a mess

The EPP’s amendments:

  • Conflict with the Commission’s intention not to alter the substance of the law;
  • Delay the application of the law by two years, compared to the one year proposed by the Commission;
  • Undermine the objectives and effectiveness of the EUDR by introducing  loopholes through the creation of a new country benchmarking category (the so-called “no-risk” category), despite the fact that the EUDR already has a “low-risk” category that covers countries with an “exceptional” risk of deforestation;
  • Create unjustified discriminations between countries, opening the door to WTO challenges while at the same time calling for a stronger dialogue with WTO members to facilitate implementation and enforcement of the law;
  • Remove obligations to ensure deforestation-free supply chains from large traders, whose inclusion in the EUDR is key to facilitating compliance and enforcement.

Greenpeace and hundreds of global civil society groups are calling on MEPs to reject the amendments, along with the entire delay proposal.

Next steps

MEPs will vote on the amendments and on the Commission’s one-year delay proposal on Thursday 14 November.

If MEPs pass any amendments to the Commission’s proposal, they will need to enter into negotiations with national EU governments, who have already consented at ambassadors’ level to delaying the EUDR’s application by one year, but who sought no other changes to the law’s substance.