Independent TD Carol Nolan has said the decision by the European People’s Party to seek the removal of two flagship pieces of environmental legislation put forward by European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen is evidence of a growing recognition of the enormous disconnect that exists at the heart of the EU’s green agenda.
The Financial Times reports today that:
“Europe’s largest political party has joined a growing backlash against Brussels’ plan to reverse damage to the environment, arguing it threatens food production and farmers’ livelihoods.”
“The European People’s party, which has the most seats in the European parliament and is in power in nine countries across the EU, will call on Friday to scrap two flagship pieces of legislation put forward by their own European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. The move could torpedo the commission’s plans to cut pesticide use in half and rewild a fifth of damaged habitats across the bloc by 2030. EPP delegates are expected to support a resolution at their two-day political assembly in Munich, which starts on Thursday.”
The EPP’s resolution, seen by the Financial Times, says that the group rejects: “the proposal on . . . pesticides as the reduction targets chosen are simply not feasible and the proposal does not offer farmers viable alternatives.”
The EU Commisson will now have to undertake a new impact assessment because of fears that cutting pesticide use will reduce crop yields – which could endanger food security and increase inflation.
The FT also reports that the draft text of the resolution rejects the commission’s proposed law on “nature restoration”, arguing that existing legislation has already created a “bureaucratic nightmare and planning deadlock, endangering food security, renewable energy production [and] crucial infrastructure”:
“This is an absolute bombshell, if welcome, decision by the EPP that thoroughly exposes the blatant hypocrisy at the heart of Fine Gael’s approach to environmental legislation in our own country,” said Deputy Nolan.
“The EPP can clearly see that the policy approaches being adopted are punitive, unrealistic and unworkable and are an active threat to the livelihood of farmers. Yet here we are with a Fine Gael Taoiseach and a Fine Gael party still prepared to prop up the same failed green policies here at home. It is truly reprehensible.”
“The action by the EPP and the signal it is sending is the sounding of an alarm that I and my rural colleagues have been ringing for some time now. We have to get real about the nature of farming and what is required to deliver genuine and sustainable levels of food security and environmental ambition,” concluded Deputy Nolan.
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