2023-05-10 10:19:43
The three parties of the Flemish government – CD&V, Open Vld and N-VA – were at the forefront, on Wednesday in Strasbourg, of a debate in plenary of the European Parliament, initiated by the EPP, once morest the European Commission’s proposal on the restoration of nature, which they consider untenable for Flanders.
At the initiative of MP Tom Vandenkendelaere (CD&V, EPP), twenty-five MPs from fifteen member countries, including the Belgians Cindy Franssen (CD&V, EPP), Benoît Lutgen (Les Engagés, EPP), Pascal Arimont (CSP, EPP) and Hilde Vautmans (Open Vld, Renew), sent a letter to Green Pact commissioner Frans Timmermans asking him to withdraw the Von der Leyen team’s proposal. The former Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois (N-VA, ECR) also intervened in this regard. Already last Friday, the European People’s Party (EPP) had marked its opposition to this major legislative proposal of the European Green Pact, which aims to restore a fifth of damaged ecosystems by 2030.
The largest party in the hemicycle also opposes the proposal to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and the risks associated with them by 50% by 2030. “The PPE sends a signal that should not be misunderstood. What we reject is the Nature Restoration Act as it stands today. This proposal obliges European farmers to replace 10% of their agricultural land with landscape elements with a high value in terms of diversity, and therefore to remove them de facto from production. With this measure and others, potentially 172,000 hectares of usable agricultural land will disappear in Flanders“, asserts Tom Vandenkendelaere.
The signatories, who stress that they are not calling into question the substance of the Commission’s proposal, are asking the latter to carry out an additional impact study, with a detailed cost-benefit analysis by Member State and by region.
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