The EU will reduce protection for wolves. The governments of the 27 have agreed by qualified majority to lower the rating from “strictly protected” to “protected” following pressure from some sectors, including hunters, given the consequences that the increase in the population of this species had. species. Spain and Ireland opposed it while Slovakia, Cyprus, Belgium and Malta abstained. The decision, which will be definitively approved this Thursday by the Council of the EU and will then have to go through the process of the international Bern Convention, involves lowering the ban on hunting wolves, which is currently practically absolute, and giving states “flexibility” to maintain the protection of these animals.
The European Commission has finally given in to pressure from some countries and sectors such as farmers and hunters to lift the total ban on killing wolves. The argument is that the increase in the population of this species has led to “conflicts with local communities of farmers and hunters”. The intention of the proposal formulated by Brussels last December is to reduce protection and give “flexibility” to member states to manage this species.
According to the Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive, if a species is “protected”, its hunting can be allowed, taking into account the conservation of populations, while hunting is practically prohibited with the qualification of “strictly protected”. “The hunting of such a species must be carefully regulated by the Member States, as they remain obliged to ensure that the favourable conservation status of the populations in their biogeographical regions is achieved and maintained,” Brussels said in a statement in December.
The 27, through the ambassadors, have given their agreement to the reduction of protection, which will have formal approval this Thursday at the Competitiveness Council, although it is expected that the issue will pass as a mere formality.
Spain voted against this reduction. What the government claims is that conflicts have increased “especially where measures have not been implemented to prevent attacks on livestock”, which, in the case of Spain, are included in the strategy of conservation and coexistence with rural environmental activities. The idea is that the control of the specimens was already contemplated in Spain by authorizing the killing of some wolves.
However, the “unfavorable” classification of wolves adopted in 2019 as an extension of protection has caused the confrontation of several regional governments (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria or Castile and León) under pressure from the livestock sector against the central government.
The European Court of Justice recently upheld the ban on hunting wolves until they are in a good state of conservation. The judges consider that these animals can only be killed if a specimen has caused significant damage, if the population is in a favourable state of conservation and if there is no other satisfactory solution.
