MEPs accused of ‘culture war against nature’ by opposing restoration law

MEPs have been accused of whipping up “a culture war against nature” after the fisheries and agriculture committees voted against the EU’s biodiversity restoration law.

Last June, the European Commission revealed proposals for legally binding targets for member states to restore wildlife on land, in rivers and the sea. The nature restoration law was announced alongside separate legislation proposing a crackdown on chemical pesticides with the aim of reversing the catastrophic loss of wildlife on the continent.

But there is growing concern that the laws could be abandoned entirely amid opposition from agricultural, fishing and forestry lobbying groups, and some member states. On Tuesday, the European parliament’s agriculture committee voted to reject the nature restoration legislation, and the fisheries committee followed suit on Wednesday.

The nature restoration law is a key part of the European green deal that is crucial to meeting international climate and biodiversity commitments. On Monday , the commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said there would not be another…