Calls are continuing for the Nature Restoration Law to be scrapped following its divisive showing in the environment committee of the European Parliament yesterday (Thursday, June 15).
Voting on amendments to the bill was postponed yesterday until June 27, after MEPs overran the allotted time for their committee session.
Many of these amendments were very tight, with some only being defeated because the vote on them was tied, which, according to EU farming bodies and MEPs concerned with rural areas, highlights that the law does not have sufficiently broad support to justify being implemented.
The Green Party here has “expressed deep concern” that the law may not reach a full (or plenary) session of the European Parliament, but welcomed the proposal’s stay of execution after a motion in the committee to reject it outright was defeated.
However, this motion, like many of the amendments, was only defeated due to a tied vote (according to the committee’s procedures, a tied vote is deemed to be a defeat for a motion or amendment).
This morning, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) called on EU governments and MEPs to scrap the law following yesterday’s events.
Vincent Roddy, the association’s president, said: “This poorly conceived law will undermine farming activity and food production, destroy our rural communities, and fail in its objectives to deliver on improved biodiversity and address concerns around climate change.”
He claimed that the law was developed by “idealogues who didn’t take into account the potential impact on farmers and rural communities”.
Roddy also questioned the science behind the proposed law, especially the argument that rewetting peatland can serve as a potential solution to climate change through carbon capture.
The INHFA president called on the European Commission, the European Parliament, and member state governments to recognise the law’s shortcomings.
“It is vital that they recognise how the current proposal is fatally damaged and must be scrapped,” Roddy commented.
“A reset such as this can also provide the opportunity to look again at other aspects of EU regulation relating to biodiversity loss and climate change.”
Roddy said that, as part of that, nature directives applied through the Natura 2000 land designations also need “a full review, taking on board the concerns and suggestions of the key stakeholders, namely the landowners and farmers”.