EPP Group will vote against Nature Restoration Law

The EPP Group in the European Parliament today decided to vote against the Nature Restoration Law in tomorrow's plenary vote, which was heavily revised during negotiations last autumn.

“The EPP Group continues to have serious concerns about the Nature Restoration Law. We do not want new and more forms of bureaucracy and reporting obligations for farmers. Let farmers farm," said MEP Siegfried Mureșan MEP, Vice-Chair of the EPP Group in charge of budget and structural policies.

“There are fears that many Member States will use the law to introduce bureaucracy and far-reaching monitoring and reporting obligations for farmers and foresters, while claiming that the EU is forcing them to do so. As a result, the affected farmers and foresters would once again look to Brussels with resentment, when the problem is homemade and lies with the respective national governments," Mureșan continued.

“We welcome the fact that the revised legal text bears little resemblance to the original proposal from the Commission. The Commission's proposal was ideologically driven, practically unfeasible and a disaster for farmers, forest owners, fishermen and local authorities. It threatened to slow down the roll-out of key infrastructure and renewable energy. The revised text is now better. But it is still better to start from scratch and put farmers' interests first," concluded Mureșan.