EU 'Green Deal' in trouble despite vote on climate legislation

European Union lawmakers this week adopted new laws that strengthen Europe's fight against climate change, but a parallel effort to protect biodiversity in bills to be finalized before next year's European Parliament elections appears to be on shakier ground. Negotiations between the European Commission, EU member states and the European Parliament on the issue have run into difficulties over details. The Scandinavian countries are concerned about their important forestry sector, while other member states believe that the scope of the text proposed by the Commission goes too far. Others worry about the impact on farmers or how to align the text with EU agricultural and energy policies. European Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius admitted at a meeting of EU environment ministers in Sweden on Tuesday (April 18th) that "we have a very busy time ahead of us again" and "time is really limited". The deadline for the completion of the legislative work is before the elections to the European Parliament, which are to be held before the middle of next year, after which a new legislature and a new European Commission will have to be formed. The Commission's proposed package of texts aims to restore degraded or polluted bio-systems such as forests and marine zones.