EUDR vote poses danger of severely weakening landmark environmental laws
Deforestation has increased through a number of sectors including with palm oil and cocoa. Pic: Shutterstock
This morning was an especially significant one within the European Parliament, which has known its fair share of intense debates down the decades.
But much controversy has surrounded its latest political football in the form of the EUDR legislation that had been formally adopted over 18 months ago by the bloc, but has now found itself being prized open for fresh renegotiation after 20 nations claimed they could not comply with its original start date at the end of next month.
So what exactly is at stake? Frankly, the stakes couldn’t get much higher, with the new laws geared around enshrining corporate responsibility for ensuring supply chains – including those serving the cocoa and wider confectionery sector, are free from deforestation.
Today’s vote saw the European People’s Party push forward controversial amendments to the already agreed position of the legislation. After much deliberation in recent weeks, the EU Commission put forward plans to delay the scheme for a year – which the EPP seized upon and demanded that two years extension be given, along with exemptions for traders, and indeed nations.
While the centre-right political group dropped some of its demands at the last moment this morning, it’s call for ‘no risk’ countries in the EUDR framework was taken forward, and being the largest party in the parliament, it was able to narrowly gain a positive result for its cause.
The implications for this could be huge – as industry observers have noted. Can any nation on earth truly say that it doesn’t have any impact on deforestation? (I would wager only those in polar regions could seriously make this claim), so to try and insert that in any fresh legislation is a truly remarkable request. Making any legislation from a starting point of some nations (European) effectively being able to exempt themselves when it suits them is simply not fit for purpose, and many MEPs have already voiced this position.
The vote today will undoubtedly be challenged by the World Trade Organisation in the view of many, but what does it say for those who actually delivered such a verdict? It’s clear that imposing new environmental regulations will indeed have a price tag attached to it, so it’s understandable that some segments of industry and nations may be cautious of it – but it’s also patently obvious, the damaged state of the environment does not have the time to sit back and barter away whether everyone chooses to engage with mandatory regulations or not.
This cuts to a deeper point that the EUDR laws are being brought in for the greater benefit of the world, but unless those nations within the EU are willing to engage with it equally, it becomes far more fragmented and ineffective. This only serves to highlight the fact that this should be a set of legally binding frameworks that the entire world is signed up to as a matter of grave urgency. It’s a long way from clear as to whether the EUDR as it has been envisaged can proceed at all with these last-gasp, damaging amendments.
Neill Barston, Confectionery Production editor.
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