Forests can’t be protected by drowning them in bureaucracy. Today, at the initiative of the EPP Group, the European Parliament rejected a planned so-called Forest Monitoring Law. The EPP Group stood up for foresters, rangers, farmers, and the environment, by protecting them from unnecessary paperwork. While forest protection is essential, excessive red tape and bureaucracy can undermine the very goals of conservation.
“We rejected this Forest Monitoring Law because we want an effective and efficient environmental policy – not ideology. The law, as proposed by the European Commission, would have significantly increased bureaucracy in the forest sector. Foresters, member states, and farmers must be able to focus on preserving our forests, but would have been buried under excessive paperwork. We will continue to work towards a more realistic and achievable approach to environmental protection,” says Alexander Bernhuber MEP, EPP Group lead negotiator on the Forest Monitoring law in the Parliament’s Committee for Environment.
“We all share responsibility for the health of our forests, but how they are managed must remain a decision for each member state – not the European Commission. We do not need a policy monitoring tool for the Commission to tell our forest owners how to do their jobs. Europe’s forests are diverse, and one-size-fits-all rules simply do not work. This was unnecessary red tape. Our voters expect us to cut bureaucracy, and we delivered. The rejected Forest Monitoring law, a legacy of Commissioner Timmermans, is now history,” says Stefan Köhler MEP, EPP Group lead negotiator on the forest monitoring law in Parliament’s Agriculture Committee.
The EPP Group remains fully dedicated to protecting Europe’s forests through practical, result-oriented measures. Our goal is clear: make the Green Deal achievable by empowering national governments and giving foresters the freedom to do what they do best – protect and preserve Europe’s forests.
Ahead of the vote, earlier today, Bernhuber and Köhler set out in more detail at a press conference why the EPP Group opposed the law. Watch their full remarks here.
Fonte: EPP
