"EU Enacts Groundbreaking Legislation to Revitalize 20% of Land and Sea by 2030"

by bernt & torsten

The EU has passed a landmark law to protect nature after a knife-edge vote, ending a months-long deadlock among member states spooked by fierce farmer protests. But a last-minute change of heart by Austria’s Green climate minister, whose vote is credited with saving the proposal, led to fury in Vienna, with the chancellor's party announcing it would seek criminal charges against her for alleged abuse of power.

In an extraordinary display of division at the heart of Austria’s coalition government, the chancellor wrote to the Belgian presidency of the EU Council before the vote, urging it to disregard his minister’s support and arguing that she did not have the right to take the position she had. The minister wrote separately that the chancellor’s allegations were "incorrect."

The nature restoration law, which has proved to be the most controversial pillar of the European Green Deal and nearly failed at the final hurdle, sets a target to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea by the decade's end. Lawmakers and governments had watered down the proposal in the months leading up to the European elections, in which far-right parties gained seats, and green parties lost them. But despite concessions, supporters barely won over enough member states at the vote in Luxembourg on Monday.

The fraught proposal was nearly torpedoed in the European parliament last year and then pushed to the verge of collapse in March when Hungary unexpectedly withdrew its support. Ireland led a subsequent push to win over other countries, urging ministers to avoid backtracking on already agreed compromises. Until the final moments, it was unclear whether supporters of the law had gathered enough votes to achieve a qualified majority of 55% of member states representing at least 65% of the EU population. Environment ministers voted the law through with a wafer-thin majority after changes of heart by Slovakia and Austria cleared the bar by 1.07 percentage points.

Austria’s support was crucial for tipping the scales. Despite fierce opposition from her coalition partners, the climate minister had been a vocal advocate of the nature restoration law. But until last month, her hands had been tied by a unanimous blockade from Austria’s federal states, which opposed the law. That resistance appeared to crumble in recent weeks as two states announced they were satisfied with compromises made to the law, withdrawing their opposition without formally breaking the blockade. The minister, who appears to be in a legal grey zone after her vote, announced on Sunday that she would back the law, having sought legal advice.

The public dispute has escalated to the highest levels of Austrian politics. It threatens to tear apart the coalition government of the Greens, who control the environment ministry, and the chancellor’s centre-right party, who control the agriculture ministry. A spokesperson for the centre-right party said on Monday that the party would file criminal charges against the minister for abuse of power.

The final tally showed 20 countries voting for the nature restoration law. Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden voted against the law, while Belgium abstained. They criticized the proposal's cost and said it would place too many administrative burdens on them. According to the European Environment Agency, nature is dying faster than humans have ever observed, and 81% of European habitats are in poor shape. The EU lobbied other countries to commit to more ambitious goals to protect nature at a biodiversity summit in Montreal in 2022. Still, its leaders have since backtracked on national and European commitments.

The law contains provisions to reverse the decline of pollinator populations such as bees by 2030. Member states will also have to put in place measures to restore drained peatlands and help plant at least 3bn more trees. Copa and Cogeca, the EU’s biggest farming lobby group, criticised the slim majority of ministers voting in favour of the law, calling it a "flawed proposal" that would cause legal battles in regional, national and European courts.

Campaigners celebrated the vote as a "historic" win for Europe’s nature but criticised "persistent attacks" that had watered down the measures. A coalition of environmental groups led by WWF Europe called on member states to implement the legislation as soon as possible. "Today’s vote is a massive victory for Europe’s nature and citizens who have been long calling for immediate action to tackle nature’s alarming decline," they said.