EU countries reject Parliament’s proposal to gut deforestation rules

European Union member countries will oppose a push by the European Parliament to water down the new anti-deforestation rules — holding firm to the European Commission’s earlier proposal that the flagship environmental law only be delayed by one year and otherwise be left untouched.
At a meeting of the deputy ambassadors to the EU on Wednesday, a very large majority of member countries said they opposed the amendments to the regulation, according to five national diplomats with knowledge of the closed-door gathering.
It’s a slap in the face to the center-right European People’s Party, which had led the push to water down the regulation, and which it got it through Parliament with the help of hard- and far-right groups and some members of the centrist Renew group.
The five diplomats said the Council was “almost unanimous” in reaffirming its position agreed last month, which is to accept the Commission’s proposal to delay the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation by a year but not modify the substance of the text.
This aims to give businesses and trading partners more time to prepare for the new due diligence requirements, which will force companies to police their supply chains for deforestation and human rights violations. The new rules will apply to imports of cocoa, coffee, rubber, palm oil, soy, timber and cattle.
Wednesday’s meeting sent a “clear message” that member countries “want to stick to the original proposal from the Commission and the mandate that was approved on Oct. 16,” one of the diplomats said. “Opening the text would only generate legal uncertainty and huge time constraints,” they added.
Italy did express some openness to discussing the amendments proposed by Parliament during today’s meeting, according to three of the diplomats.
The Parliament’s proposal is to create a new “no risk” category which would drastically cut down traceability for products sourced from areas where negligible risk of deforestation has been identified. This would effectively create a risk to circumvent the traceability requirements and undermine the due diligence obligations, which are the core of the regulation, a second diplomat pointed out.
The Council, the Parliament and the Commission will now enter into interi-nstitutional talks to try and find a compromise on the text. The first round of negotiations will take place today at 11 a.m., according to three parliamentary officials briefed on the meeting.
But it is expected to be a tough negotiation leading to a deadlock as the margin of maneuver on both sides is slim and the deadline to find a deal is fast approaching.
The EU institutions have until mid-December to agree on the proposed one-year delay or risk that the delay not be enacted in law and that the regulation start applying on Dec. 30 as originally planned.
Green MEP Sara Matthieu wrote on social media X that the “EPP should acknowledge their losses and agree to withdraw their amendment to avoid chaos and legal uncertainty.”
French MEP Pascal Canfin of Renew echoed those comments, saying that the “Parliament has no choice but to revert to the Commission’s original proposal” to ensure the one-year delay is enacted. “Any other strategy would put all at risk the [EU Deforestation Regulation],” he argued.
But EPP member Christine Schneider said in a statement it was “irresponsible” for EU countries would block the changes that aim to reduce red tape and bureaucracy for businesses.
“If Member States continue to block progress and refuse to compromise, they risk disadvantaging European businesses, foresters, and farmers, who urgently need clear and practicable guidelines,” she said.