Nature restoration law scrapes through European Parliament in blow to conservatives

The European Parliament has voted in favour of new rules to restore degraded ecosystems, dealing a blow to conservative MEPs who wanted the legislation killed.

The contentious EU nature restoration law was approved by 336 votes in favour, 300 against and 13 abstentions. All Maltese MEPs voted in favour, including David Casa who was one of only 21 MEPs from the European People’s Party who broke ranks with their party.

The EPP was against the proposal rallying support from the European Conservatives and Reformists, the far-right Identity and Democracy, and some members of the liberal Renew Europe group.

But when the vote came to plenary on Wednesday, the EPP failed to muster a majority against the Bill. A coalition of MEPs from the Socialists & Democrats, The Left, the Greens and Renew Europe rallied together to ensure the passage of the Bill.

Opponents of the Bill claimed it will threaten the livelihoods of farmers by taking land out of production, threaten food security and block new renewable energy projects. However, scientists and the European Commission have rejected those arguments.

Nature restoration targets for 2030

MEPs supported the Commission’s proposal to put restoration measures in place by 2030 covering at least 20% of all land and sea areas in the EU.

Parliament said the law shall only apply when the Commission has provided data on the necessary conditions to guarantee long-term food security and when EU countries have quantified the area that needs to be restored to reach the targets for each habitat type. Parliament also approved the possibility to postpone the targets under exceptional socioeconomic consequences.

Within 12 months of this regulation entering into force, the Commission would have to assess any gap between restoration financial needs and available EU funding and look into solutions to bridge such a gap, in particular through a dedicated EU instrument.

After the vote, rapporteur César Luena (SD, ES), said: "The Nature Restoration Law is an essential piece of the European Green Deal and follows the scientific consensus and recommendations to restore Europe's ecosystems. Farmers and fishers will benefit from it and it ensures a habitable earth for future generations. Our position adopted today sends a clear message. Now we must continue the good work, defend our ground during the negotiations with member states and reach an agreement before the end of this Parliament’s mandate to pass the first regulation on nature restoration in the EU's history."

The next steps will see parliament negotiate with the Council on the final shape of the legislation.

With over 80% of European habitats deemed to be in poor shape, the Commission proposed on 22 June 2022 a regulation on nature restoration.

The idea behind the rules was to contribute to the long-term recovery of damaged nature across the EU’s land and sea areas and achieve EU climate and biodiversity objectives. According to the Commission, the new law would bring significant economic benefits, as every euro invested would result in at least €8 in benefits.