MEPs have voted in favour of a revised EU Nature Restoration Law during a plenary (full) session of the European Parliament today (Wednesday, July 12) by a margin of 36 votes.
Today’s proceedings in the parliament began with MEPs being asked to vote on whether to reject the proposed EU Nature Restoration Law.
The EU Parliament’s largest political group, the European People’s Party (EPP), had directed its members to vote against the EU Nature Restoration Law.
However, Irish Fine Gael MEPs, who are part of the EPP, indicated that they would defy this.
324 MEPS voted against rejecting the law outright, while 312 voted in favour, with 12 MEPs abstaining.
This result, greeted by applause and cheers from some MEPs, led to a long series of votes on over 160 tabled amendments on the proposed law.
Once those votes had concluded, MEPs were asked to vote on the EU Commission proposal with 336 voting in favour, 300 against and 13 abstaining.
This resulted in jubilant scenes from MEPs who had strongly supported the proposed law.
MEPs also voted in favour of a standalone EU fund to back the measures and aligned the parliament’s position to that of a majority of EU governments.
The revised position weakened some elements of the EU Commission’s original proposal but signals support for significant measures to protect and restore damaged habitats and ecosystems in Europe.
MEPs then voted to refer the law back to the EU Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) committee.
Nature Restoration Law
The Nature Restoration Law was first put forward by the EU Commission, as part of the European Green Deal, on June 22, 2022.
The proposed law aims to restore damaged ecosystems across the EU by setting specific targets to restore habitats which are suited to capturing carbon, such as peatlands.
Last month, members of the EU Parliament’s ENVI committee rejected the proposed EU law, as amended.
This followed the rejection of the proposed directive by the agriculture and fisheries committee.
Today’s result triggers the final stage of negotiations between the parliament, European Council and the EU Commission.
Following the vote in Strasbourg, Ireland South Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan said: “We have successfully fought off an attack on nature from Manfred Weber and the EPP.
“All Irish MEPs voted in favour of the Nature Restoration Law and this is the direct result of having Greens in government and in the European Parliament.
“The Nature Restoration Law is now an inevitability and this is nothing short of a win for every person and place on the whole continent. We are all breathing a big sigh of relief today.
“Tomorrow we get back to work on negotiations with the commission and council,” she said.
Her party colleague and Dublin MEP Ciarán Cuffe added: “Everyone one of us, no matter what side of the debate we fall on, are winners today.
“Each of us will benefit from increased food security, stronger economies, and greater protection from the impact of climate change that these measures to restore nature can provide.”
Ireland South Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune, who is a member of the EU Parliament’s environment committee, commented: “I supported constructive amendments to the legislation which will incentivise and enable farmers and fishers.
“We are facing a biodiversity crisis. This is experienced firsthand by our agricultural community, who see the everyday impact on their businesses.
“It is also crucial that new funding is made available for farmers and landowners in order to support them in reaching restoration targets.
“The amendments which I voted for will allow for flexibility, which will enable the agricultural community to contribute to tackling biodiversity loss in a sustainable manner.
“I don’t want to see a situation where farmers continue to be polarised from environmentalists.
“There is an onus on all of us to plan for a sustainable future – and we can’t leave anyone behind,” Clune concluded.