In the vote of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee on 15 June 2023, the Nature Restoration Law survived, despite the manipulative practices of the European People’s Party. However, some of the amendments adopted translate into a step backwards from the necessary measures to be taken amid the climate and ecological crisis.
In her statements in the article by journalist Machie Tratsa for Oikonomikos Tachydromos on the developments in the elaboration of the Nature Restoration Law, Ioli Christopoulou stresses that “in the next vote on 27 June, we expect from the Greek MEPs a positive vote in favour of the Regulation and its more ambitious targets and then, in the plenary vote, their support to restore any setbacks”.
Indeed, at the recent meeting of the Environment Council, Greece’s Acting Minister Pantelis Capros set the tone for an ambitious national policy, noting that Greece is the first country to adopt by law the new global and European targets for nature.
At this meeting, the Council adopted its general approach based on a proposal by the Swedish Presidency that prioritises flexibility in the implementation of the Regulation.
The article by Machie Tratsa titled “Environment: A thriller in many episodes for the European Nature Restoration Law” was published on June 21, 2023, in view of the 2nd vote of the Environment Committee on June 27th and the EP’s July plenary. It is available at ot.gr (in Greek).