Claiming to defend European businesses and farmers, the European People’s Party proposed postponing the entry into force of the text for more than a year and tabled several amendments to weaken the legislation. Some of these amendments were withdrawn a few hours before Thursday’s vote but one of them, endorsing a list of countries which would present no risk of deforestation, was voted on this Thursday, at the same time as a postponement of a year.
Countries classified as “no risk” are defined as countries with stable or increasing forest area. They will therefore be subject to significantly less strict requirements. This means that products from these regions could be placed on the European market without any information on their origin and without companies having to ensure that these states are able to provide guarantees of non-deforestation, non-degradation of forests and respect for human rights. The Commission should decide on the countries which fall into this category by June 30, 2025 but, depending on the criteria chosen, China or Russia could be considered at zero risk even if their forests are diminishing at a significant rate.
According to the Canopée association, the creation of a category of zero-risk countries entails a risk of product laundering. Indeed, for companies that are exempt from providing data on the origin of their products, it will be enough to transit goods from risk areas through zero-risk countries to escape the law. “This is a major flaw that sabotages the entire text, which will become incredibly easy to circumvent. This is already the dynamic that has been observed following the adoption of the European regulation against illegal timber. believes the association.
Death of the sanitary cordon
Present in the hemicycle at the time of the vote, the deputy Yvan Verougstraete (Les Engagés) denounces a bad blow for the environment coupled with a death of the sanitary cordon. “What happened today is very serious. It was the conservative right and the extreme right who laid down the law by succeeding in sabotaging a text. It’s a bad blow for the environment but also for the general interest and the very credibility of the European Parliament The sanitary cordon is dead…”.he laments.
Rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon at its lowest level in nine years
The MP also regrets that the text was emptied of its substance. “China has been exempted from all obligations on deforestation and duties of vigilance. It will now be easier to import wood from China than from Finland, where the rules are much stricter. I don’t understand how this is progress. As a reminder, China is responsible for 40% of global deforestation, a larger share than the United States and Europe combined.
The heads of the European list compared their ideas for the future of Europe
For these changes to come into force, the text must be approved by Member States and Parliament and published in the Official Journal of the EU.
