The alliance of the European PP with the ultra forces has been consolidated this Thursday in the European Parliament just when the coalition on which the majority of Ursula von der Leyen is based is threatened with death due to the battle launched by the popular against Teresa Ribera as vice president of the European Commission and the refusal of the socialists to support the candidate of the far-right Giorgia Meloni, Raffaele Fitto. The group led by Manfred Weber has relied on the forces of the extreme right to water down the law against deforestation that has passed through the European Parliament to endorse the delay in its entry into force proposed by Brussels, succumbing to pressure from several countries (not only European) and sectors such as distribution.
The European Commission’s proposal has gone ahead with the votes of the EPP, the three far-right forces and part of the liberals, who have been divided. In total, the proposal has been approved with 371 votes in favor, 240 against (socialists, greens, left) and 30 abstentions. Furthermore, the EPP has proposed some amendments that lower the ambition of the regulations.
Specifically, one of the changes that have been made is the creation of a new category of countries ‘without risk’ for deforestation, which will have “much less strict” requirements, considering that they present a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation.
What social organizations denounce is that this new category is going to become a drain to avoid the demands. “The risk-free category, on the other hand, will allow much of the trade at risk of deforestation to go undetected, eliminate basic traceability and transparency requirements, exempt companies from risk assessment and make them virtually immune to the controls. Only 0.1% of companies that import “risk-free” goods will be subject to inspection,” says Greenpeace.
The environmental organization WWF speaks out in similar terms: “With support from the extreme right, it dismantles the EU regulation on deforestation in an attack on forests and the climate. By introducing a category of ‘risk-free’ countries, the European People’s Party and its allies have effectively voted to allow further destruction of forests both inside and outside Europe.”
The text will now have to be negotiated with the Council of the EU, where governments are represented and which had already approved the delay in entry into force, and with the European Commission due to the changes.
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