The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group will support the EPP Group’s objection to the European Commission’s proposed list of countries considered at risk of deforestation.

“We cannot accept a situation in which countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia and Malaysia are classified as ‘low risk’ or ‘standard risk’, while European foresters are burdened with ever more red tape”, said ECR shadow rapporteur Anna Zalewska ahead of the vote in the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).

“Europe’s forest owners are certainly not responsible for global deforestation. This new regulation would end up targeting the wrong actors. That’s why we support the urgent introduction of a separate ‘negligible or no risk’ category”, Zalewska continued.

“All in all, in its current form the list of countries undermines the stated goal of the EU Deforestation Regulation: Rather than protecting forests in third countries and creating a level playing field between EU and non-EU producers, it risks distorting competition even further”, she added.

Zalewska further explained:

“The proposed risk assessment relies on five-year-old data, which is now outdated. Our understanding of the drivers of deforestation has evolved, and such data can no longer serve as a basis for effective policymaking.

“The weighting of the risk factors lacks any transparency. Regional differences within countries are ignored, and the complex realities of deforestation are being crudely reduced to a rigid three-tier system that does not reflect conditions on the ground.”