The Independent Ireland party has issued a strong condemnation of the actions of MEPs who today voted in favour of the controversial EU Nature Restoration law – including the Irish MEPs who supported the measure.
Independent TD for Cork South-West, Michael Collins, said the vote had made it clear to Irish farmers that Irish MEPs would “betray” them – but the Green Party welcomed the passage of the law
Deputy Collins was speaking after the law was passed by 324 voted in favour with 275 votes against and 24 abstentions. All of Ireland’s MEPs voted in favour, apart from Independent Luke Ming Flanagan and Sinn Féin’s Chris Mac Manus.
The vote was closely watched as it took place amid huge farmer protests across Europe. The law seeks to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems by 2050, putting forward measures to restore urban, forest, agricultural and marine ecosystems.
However, it was described by political groupings opposing it in the EU as threatening the livelihoods of European farmers, disrupting long-established supply chains, decreasing food production, pushing prices up for consumers – and even wiping out urban areas to make way for green spaces.
The text will now go to the European Council, where member states will hold the final vote
Fine Gael’s MEPs helped secure the passage of the law despite the critical stance adopted toward it by its EU parliamentary grouping, the European People’s Party, Deputy Collins said.
“If Irish farmers and producers ever needed to know who their friends were in Europe, today they have finally found out,” the Independent Ireland leader said.
“This clearly demonstrates that when it comes to taking the concerns of our farmers seriously the vast majority of Ireland’s MEPs are all mouth, who are terrified to take a stance that might put them in opposition to the suffocating ideological pressure that the EU seems only too happy to exert.”
“The trajectory of EU policy is now clear. Farmers and the viability of agriculture more widely are fair game when it comes to the prioritisation of a biodiversity and restoration policy that is going to wreak havoc when implemented.”
“We needed cast iron guarantees around the protection of farmers rights. What we got instead was a cast iron kick up the backside from Europe and even worse, from our own MEP’s. The sense of betrayal is palpable and will not be forgiven or forgotten,” Deputy Collins said.
But the Green Party said they welcomed the outcome of the vote, with Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan saying the decision “gives us a fighting chance to reverse hundreds of years of degradation and damage that have been inflicted on our ecosystems”.
“Ireland is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. What’s good for nature is good for climate and biodiversity, for farming and food production, for health and wellbeing, for water quality and flood protection, for tourism and recreation – there are huge benefits,” she said.