In a landmark decision, the European Parliament yesterday rejected the European Commission’s proposal on the monitoring framework for resilient European forests during a plenary vote. It marks a decisive turn against what forest owners and stakeholders have long criticized as a top-down, bureaucratic approach that failed to account for on-the-ground realities.
This rejection follows an earlier vote in the Committees on Agriculture and Environment, finalising the Parliament’s stance that the proposed framework would have stifled the forestry sector under excessive red tape, threatening its resilience and competitiveness. For over two years, European forest owners have warned that the Commission’s approach ignored the practical challenges faced by the sector, risking the very goals it sought to achieve. The vote underscores a broader consensus that forest monitoring should serve as a support tool, not a compliance burden.
Yesterday’s outcome signals a much-needed shift toward greater collaboration between the European Commission and Member States, as well as those implementing policies on the ground. The focus must now be on leveraging existing tools and systems to support the forestry sector, leaving no regions behind. Forest monitoring should continue to rely on established reporting mechanisms, including national forest inventories, as well as regional systems such as Forest Europe and UNECE, and global frameworks like the FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA).
We welcome that the European Commission included in the working programme for 2026 to withdraw its proposal on forest monitoring.
Fonte: Copa Cogeca
