EU Commission and the Council must reject all EUDR amendments from the Parliament

On 21 November, the three EU institutions started so-called trilogue negotiations to decide on the fate of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) after a narrow majority of conservatives and various right-wing factions in the EU Parliament attempted to sabotage it last week.

The EUDR will impose requirements on commercial companies so that they do not contribute to deforestation. The regulation requires that goods sold in the EU cannot originate from areas that have been deforested after December 31, 2020.

The Parliament majority passed amendments that would effectively allow products linked to deforestation to continue to be sold in the EU.

Yesterday’s signals from the Council are encouraging, and it is now incumbent on both the Commission and the Council to save the EUDR by forcing the Parliament to withdraw their amendments.

Parliament proposal threatens the European Green Deal

"The conservative and right-wing majority is prepared to sacrifice the world’s forests and climate to please the European forestry industry. If these attempts to sabotage the EUDR are not stopped, the anti-climate and anti-nature majority will threaten the entire European Green Deal, in addition to sacrificing thousands of square kilometers of forest", says Anders Haug Larsen, director of international advocacy at Rainforest Foundation Norway.

No-risk category an enormous loophole

The amendments from the Parliament would introduce a new “no risk” category of countries and create a black hole-sized loophole in the EUDR, possibly categorizing 25 out of 27 EU countries plus the USA, the UK, China and many more as no-risk countries to which the normal EUDR due diligence requirements would not apply.

"A no-risk category would allow countries to launder deforestation products by transiting them through a “no-risk” country, and it would risk the whole EUDR violating WTO rules, as it would discriminate against many producing countries while giving most EU countries a free pass", says Haug Larsen.

Using 1990 as a baseline year and only looking at forest cover also blatantly disregards forest degradation, a cornerstone of the EUDR, and also disregards more recent deforestation.

EUDR amendments must be withdrawn

All three EU institutions agree on a one-year delay of the entry into application for the EUDR.

"Although damaging and unnecessary, agreeing on this and rejecting all other amendments is now the least damaging way forward. We call upon the EU Commission to formally oppose the amendments, as they cannot then pass without unanimity in the Council. This should force the right-wing Parliament majority to give up their attempt to sabotage the EUDR and withdraw their amendments, says Haug Larsen.