In a nail-biting vote in Brussels yesterday, the European Parliament agreed to extend the transitional period before the EU’s anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR) comes into force by one year - but it also backed further changes to the text. The most significant of these was the creation of a "no risk" category to exempt certain countries from most of the requirements.
In this article, Maria and Sofia unpack the details of the changes, the dispute over the revote, the possible next steps and the reactions from some of the EU's trading partners.
Legislation in limbo. The Parliament and Council will now enter into trilogue talks and negotiate the proposed changes. However, they only have a month to do so before the rules come into force on 30 December, and the Council had previously asked MEPs not to adopt any new changes to the rules to ensure speedy negotiations and predictability. EU ambassadors will discuss the changes on 20 November, the Hungarian presidency said.
Socialist MEP Bernd Lange did not mince his words on social media: "Extremely worrying because it puts the whole legislation in limbo. No one knows now how this will end".
"Why does the EPP hate our nature and love clear-cut forests so much?" said Green MEP Thomas Waitz, calling the new "no risk" category "nonsense".
In contrast, EPP member Herbert Dorfmann boasted of having secured an exemption from the rules for his home region in Italy. "Since South Tyrol and Trentino meet these requirements, the two provinces can be included in this new category," he added. “In this way, the constraints of the regulation will not apply to our territory".
NGOs sound the alarm. Environmental NGO Earthsight accused the EPP’s German and Austrian delegations of pushing for the amendments, which it said would benefit some of their major political donors. According to the organisation, the “no risk” category creates a loophole that opens the door to the “laundering” of goods. Similarly, Greenpeace warned that subjecting only 0.1% of companies importing “no risk” commodities to controls would allow deforestation trade to fly “under the radar”.
Behind the scenes. As Sofia reported ahead of the vote, the EPP withdrew other amendments it had tabled following concerns from some national delegations and discussions with Renew on Wednesday. The dropped proposals sought a two-year extension instead of one and an exemption for traders, changes seen as red lines by the liberals. In return for the withdrawal, Renew asked its members not to vote against the final text but to abstain.
