The European Council raised a serious grievance over the no risk amendment to the European Deforestation Regulation, passed by the European Parliament in a November vote.
The controversial amendment, provisionally canned by European leaders on Tuesday (3 December), was proposed by the European People’s Party at the time of the vote to delay the EUDR.
German MEP, Christine Schneider, of the EPP withdrew the party’s proposal to create the no risk status category under EUDR on Monday (2 December).
MEP Schneider’s withdrawal followed the European Parliament’s vote to delay EUDR by 12 months, which still stands.
EUDR no risk amendment has been cancelled
“Good news tonight: we have reached an agreement on EUDR,” says Jessika Roswall, commissioner for environment, water, resilience and competitive circular economy.
The EUDR would not change the law in substance; it simply gives all businesses and farmers an extra 12 months to adapt, she wrote on X.
“Like a bad soap opera, the EUDR legislative process has unfolded in dramatic fashion over the past few weeks, only to land back at square one,” says Earthsight’s policy lead, Fyfe Strachan.
Critics of the EPP’s no risk status amendment claimed it would have been disastrous for the EUDR, opening “massive loopholes” that would have made it nearly “impossible to enforce”.
Rejecting the amendments, despite the EPP withdrawing them a day before the trilogue, was “the only sensible course of action”, Strachan adds.
The EUDR next steps
Though critics of the EUDR’s delay remain disappointed, claiming the pushback would result in carbon emissions equivalent to the output of 18m cars.
Despite pushback, the European Council confirmed progress had been made on EUDR, with the European Parliament and Commission.
“The Council reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a proposed targeted amendment of the EU deforestation regulation, postponing its date of application by 12 months,“ a statement read.
“This provisional agreement still needs to be confirmed by both institutions before going through the formal adoption procedure.”
The provisional agreement would next be endorsed by the Council and Parliament before being adopted and published in the Official Journal of the EU.
