Tusk’s government “on the wrong side of history”, but other countries saved nature restoration regulations

The fate of the nature restoration law Although EU institutions had previously reached a compromise, ultimately not all countries wanted to approve it. The required majority was found during Monday’s vote by the council composed of environment ministers from across the EU.

The regulations (more commonly known as Nature Restoration Law – NRL) are one of the pillars of the Green Deal. They are intended to help make Europe more resistant to the effects of climate change, reverse the trend of species extinction and the destruction of nature (more details later in the text).

Their final shape is a compromise reached between the main institutions of the European Union. Usually, when such a compromise is reached, its official approval is a formality. The European Parliament gave its consent, but later there was no majority in the Council, which represents individual governments.

On Sunday, Austria announced that it was changing its position. With their vote, the law had the support of countries representing 64.86 percent of the EU population – and the required majority is 65 percent. It was enough for any of the blocking countries to change their mind. Ultimately, Slovakia did it. The local delegation said that “most of the doubts were addressed during the negotiations” around the regulations, and NRL will have a positive impact on the country and help rebuild degraded ecosystems.

These are the final results of the vote – 20 EU countries supported the country, Belgium abstained, and six countries, including Poland and Hungary, voted no. Now the regulations only need to be published in the EU’s official journal and they will become law directly applicable to each country.

Poland “regrets, but does not support”

Poland’s opposition to the NRL – announced by Donald Tusk at a press conference a few months ago – shocked ecological circles and non-governmental organizations. They hoped that after years of PiS rule, the new government would have a more constructive approach to the EU and environmental protection. But

This was done by scientists (who, according to polls, support nature conservation), the State Council for Nature Conservation, non-governmental organizations and other EU countries, as well as their own coalition partners.

Minister of Climate and Environment Paulina Hennig-Kloska, presenting the government’s position, said that Poland “understands the need for actions to restore nature” and is working on its own act, but will not support EU regulations. “We regret that we cannot support this law due to the excessive administrative burden and the lack of a long-term financing perspective,” she said. It is known, however, that when presenting the position of Tusk’s government, the minister from Poland 2050 did not vote in accordance with her opinion – because the Ministry of Climate supported NRL and convinced the government to support it.

“It was a bitter vote, because our government was against despite the positive recommendation of the Ministry of Climate. We have a coalition government, so it can be difficult,” wrote the deputy minister of climate, Mikołaj Dorożała, also from Poland 2050, after the vote.