Following votes on amendments to the Commission’s proposal, which took place on June 15 and continued today (June 27), no majority could be reached with 44 votes in favour and 44 against. Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Tim Cullinan said the outcome of the vote raises significant questions about how the EU Commission approached this piece of legislation. He stated that the proposal had now failed at three Parliament sub committees (Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment) and that the EU Commission failed to take on board the widespread concerns raised and did not do enough to allay the fears of farmers around the impact of the law.
“The Commission has to go back to the drawing board and revise its approach to what they want to do. Anything to do with land use cannot succeed without the backing of farmers,” he said.
IFA environment chair, Paul O’Brien has coordinated COPA’s campaign in recent months, which pointed out the problems with the Nature Restoration Law.
“Farmers recognise the role they can play in supporting nature and are already carrying out measures to do this. However, the lack of clarity on the potential impact of the proposed regulation on farmland and production is very worrying,” he said.
“It is vital that a full impact assessment is undertaken to quantify the area of farmland that will be affected to ensure the proposed targets are realistic and fair and are not detrimental to food production,” he said.
The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will table to plenary the proposal to reject the Commission’s proposal. Parliament as a whole is then required to take a position, probably in the July plenary session in Strasbourg pending approval of the agenda by the Conference of Presidents.