The alliance of the European PP with the ultra forces was consolidated this Thursday in the European Parliament at the very moment when the coalition on which Ursula von der Leyen’s majority rests is threatened with death due to the battle launched by the popular against Teresa Ribera as vice-president of the European Commission and the refusal of the socialists to support the far-right candidate Giorgia Meloni, Raffaele Fitto. The group led by Manfred Weber relied on the forces of the extreme right to water down the law against deforestation adopted by the European Parliament and endorse the postponement of its entry into force proposed by Brussels, giving in to pressure from several countries ( not only European) and sectors such as distribution.
The European Commission’s proposal was adopted thanks to the votes of the EPP, the three far-right forces and part of the divided liberals. In total, the proposal was approved by 371 votes for, 240 against (socialists, greens, left) and 30 abstentions. Furthermore, the EPP has proposed certain amendments which reduce the ambition of the regulations.
Concretely, one of the changes made is the creation of a new category of countries “without risk” of deforestation, which will have “much less strict” requirements, given that they present a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation.
What social organizations denounce is that this new category will become a drain on avoiding demands. “The risk-free category, on the other hand, will allow much of the trade threatened by deforestation to go unnoticed, eliminate basic traceability and transparency requirements, exempt companies from risk assessment and make them virtually immune to controls. Only 0.1% of companies importing “risk-free” products will be subject to inspection,” says Greenpeace.
The environmental organization WWF expresses itself in similar terms: “With the support of the far right, it is dismantling European regulations on deforestation, attacking forests and the climate. By introducing a ‘safe’ country category, the European People’s Party and its allies have effectively voted in favor of further destruction of forests, both inside and outside Europe.”
The text will now have to be negotiated with the EU Council, where governments are represented and which had already approved the postponement of entry into force, as well as with the European Commission due to the changes.
