Austrians disagree

EU Parliament votes in favor of renaturation law

Work to renaturalize a river - the new law should make such measures mandatory.

(Bild: kristina rütten - stock.adobe.com)

The EU Parliament adopted the EU renaturation law by a narrow majority on Tuesday. The controversial compromise on restoring nature has thus cleared the penultimate hurdle before it comes into force. The Council of Member States must now give its approval. This is expected in March.

329 parliamentarians voted in favor, 275 against. 24 abstained. Austria's MEPs were again not united: while the SPÖ, Greens and NEOS voted in favor, the majority of the ÖVP and the FPÖ voted against.

Central part of the "Green Deal"
The law is a central part of the comprehensive "Green Deal" climate protection package, which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050. It includes the EU Commission's goal of introducing renaturation measures for at least 20 percent of all land and sea areas in the EU by 2030. How this is achieved is up to the individual EU member states.

The European People's Party (EPP) in particular, including the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), railed against the plan, partly due to fears of strict conditions for farmers. The Social Democrats, Greens and parts of the Liberals were in favor.

The draft Nature Restoration Law originally stipulated that member states would have to take mandatory measures to restore ecosystems in poor condition - at least 20 percent of the affected areas by 2030, 60 percent by 2040 and 90 percent by 2050.

Only compromise prevented defeat
After fierce opposition from the EPP, which was joined by parts of the Liberal Group, the European Parliament narrowly avoided a complete rejection of the proposed legislation. The compromise adopted on Tuesday significantly weakens the original objectives. Numerous exemptions are intended to prevent excessive restrictions on agriculture, for example.

ÖVP politician Mandl is still against the law.

(Bild: krone.tv)

ÖVP MEP Lukas Mandl reiterated his opposition on Tuesday in Strasbourg. He hopes that the ministers in the Council will not wave the law through so easily. SPÖ delegation leader Andreas Schieder regretted the "watered-down compromise on a central point of the Green Deal" on Tuesday. He did not quite understand "the dull anti-green populism". Austria already has large national parks and protected areas. "The farmers were afraid for their financial resources, but this is also guaranteed", Schieder sees a "political symbolic issue".

FPÖ: "Attack on farmers"
"The EU is currently waging a campaign of destruction against its own farmers", commented FPÖ MEP Roman Haider. "Behind this nice title lies a serious attack on our farmers. With its Green Deal, of which the renaturation law is a part, the EU is increasingly becoming a serious threat to European agricultural production."

The measures are almost too weak. I don't understand how anyone can still be against it.

Abgeordneter Thomas Waitz (Grüne)

Bild: Grüne/Konstantin Taufner-Mikulitsch

"Large parts of the Austrian forest landscape already meet the conditions today," said Green MEP Thomas Waitz. "The measures are almost too weak. I don't understand how anyone can still be against them." His NEOS colleague Claudia Gamon also emphasized that "the objections are coming late. The EPP was involved in the Green Deal at the beginning".