EU’s Largest Political Party Seeks to Soften EUDR Deforestation Law

The EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

The largest political party in the European Union, the European People’s Party (EPP), is behind a proposal to further delay the implementation of landmark European deforestation-free legislation (EUDR) affecting coffee and other goods. 

European legislators have already signaled their approval of a plan to delay implementation by one year, and the EPP is now proposing a two-year delay. The law, signed by the European Commission in 2022, was initially slated to take effect Dec. 30 of this year.

First unearthed by Politico, a series of amendments from the center-right political group would also soften numerous requirements of the legislation. The EPP has not publicized the plan.

Notably, the amendments propose reducing compliance requirements among large traders of EUDR-applicable products, including coffee. Amendments also propose creating a “no risk” category within the law, despite the inherent risk of deforestation in the production of any agricultural good.

Dozens of environmental groups and civil society organizations have since spoken out against the proposed amendments, arguing that delays would open the door for further softening of the original legislation while allowing for continued forest loss.

“The EPP’s proposal demonstrates its desire to deregulate a key environmental legislation of the European Green Deal,” Fairtrade International said in a public announcement this week. “It includes an extended delay of 24 months (instead of the 12 months proposed by the European Commission), which Fairtrade believes would jeopardize the substantial investments and efforts made by thousands of stakeholders  — including companies, as well as coffee and cocoa farmers — to comply with the law.”

The European Parliament is planning to weigh in on changes to the EUDR law during a plenary session on Thursday, Nov. 14.

The head of forest policy at the Global environmental group Greenpeace, Sébastien Risso, described the late-breaking amendments to the law as a “last-minute fiasco.”

“MEPs must reject all these amendments, whose clear aim is to weaken and make a mess of the deforestation law,” Risso said. “They must also reject the Commission’s initial proposal to delay the application of the law, which needlessly opened the door to this meddling in the first place. We cannot afford delay in protecting forests in the light of the climate emergency we’re facing.”

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