BirdLife asks Abela to help keep planned EU Nature Restoration law alive

Wildlife conservation NGO BirdLife Malta has called upon Prime Minister Robert Abela to personally urge the Belgian EU presidency and the European Commission President to keep the proposed Nature Restoration Law alive.

In an open letter to Abela on Saturday, BirdLife Malta said that “Europe and nature have been betrayed with the failure by the Council of EU Ministers to move forward with the Nature Restoration Law,” asking him to personally intervene with EC President Ursula von der Leyen to save the law, which it described as "a key pillar of the European Green Deal" and "the most significant piece of nature legislation in the EU since the 1990s.".

The law, which was proposed in 2022, aims to help nature’s long-term recovery in the EU’s land and sea areas by restoring habitats and species in at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030. 

Despite being approved by the European Parliament in February of this year, the proposal was blocked by some member states during a meeting of EU Ambassadors on Friday.

Malta’s MEPs have all previously voted in favour of the law.

“Nature conservation across the EU has no borders and cannot be held hostage by countries who    refuse  to see the holistic value of a healthier European Union,” BirdLife Malta said in the letter, calling on Abela to ensure that the proposal is revived, discussed and passed before the summer break.

Reminding the Prime Minister that elections for the European Parliament were only months away, the eNGO said that it was unacceptable to have the voice of millions of citizens, and that of the European Parliament itself, silenced. “This is unacceptable and not only threatens Europe’s credibility on environmental matters but also its democratic core.”