The ECR Group has welcomed the decision by EU member states to downgrade the protection status of the wolf from “strictly protected” to “protected”. For years, conservatives in the European Parliament have been calling for a more flexible approach to the growing wolf population, which has become a pest in some regions.

ECR MEP Pietro Fiocchi, who led the ECR Group’s work on the issue in the Environment Committee during the last parliamentary term and helped bring the issue to the European stage, said:

“The European Union has finally given an adequate response to the many livestock farmers who suffer from unjustified wolf predation on a daily basis. Amending the Berne Convention is a necessary legal step to cascade changes in European directives and national legislation. We are on the right track and today’s result rewards our efforts on behalf of livestock farmers.

“The ambassadors of the Member States have recognised that the strict wolf protection legislation in place today, which was designed for a very different ecological and social situation, is outdated and unfit for dealing with today’s problems.”

Mr Fiocchi added:

“The damage caused by wolves to livestock and pastoralism has become really unbearable. But now there is an opportunity for regulated coexistence and better management to ensure that wolves don’t cause too much damage.”