Vote postponed

Austria abstains on EU nature law

The Wenger Moor in Salzburg(Bild: nemo1963 - stock.adobe.com)

Today, Wednesday, the EU ambassadors were supposed to discuss a nature conservation law. However, the vote was postponed at short notice as some governments are mobilizing against the so-called renaturation law. Austria is abstaining due to a decision by the federal states.

The Nature Restoration Act has been under negotiation for years. An agreement has already been reached - by a committee made up of representatives of the EU Council, the EU Parliament and the EU Commission, which always comes into play when a final compromise has to be negotiated (see video above). As such negotiations always fail, the legislation has to be restarted.

In this case, however, the agreement apparently did not help. At least the law has not yet been waved through and the vote has been postponed - possibly until next Friday.

The Wenger Moor in Salzburg(Bild: nemo1963 - stock.adobe.com)

More reforestation, restoration plans
But what is it all about? The EU, for example, has set itself the goal of restoring at least 20 percent of land and sea areas by 2030 and all endangered ecosystems by 2050. These include forests, meadows, rivers, lakes and coral reefs. In addition, at least 30 percent of the habitats covered by the law are to be restored to a good condition by 2030. National restoration plans are required to achieve these targets. These should set out the specific measures in detail.

Lake Garda in Italy during drought (archive image)(Bild: AFP )

In future, more forests are to be reforested, moors rewetted and rivers restored to their natural state. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU member states agreed on corresponding targets back in November. The compromise was approved at the end of February. Now the formal approval of the EU member states is still missing.

15 member states must agree
The planned law must first pass the committee before the EU environment ministers can give the green light. The majority requires the approval of at least 15 member states, which must represent at least 65% of the population. The vote of a populous country such as Germany therefore counts more than the vote of Luxembourg, for example. Austria is abstaining completely due to a corresponding decision by the federal states. The position of the German government is still unclear due to differences of opinion.

Headwinds are currently likely to come primarily from the Belgian government. Previously, the governments of Finland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland were also against the new law.