De Croo: 'Currently no majority for European Nature Restoration Law'

There is currently no majority among EU member states to approve the nature protection law, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said on Wednesday. At least 15 member states, representing at least 65 per cent of the European population, must vote in favour for the law to be adopted.

The vote on the nature law will take place soon. Having been given the green light by the European Parliament last month, the legislation now only needs formal approval by the 27 member states. Unanimity is not required.

But it does not look like this threshold will be reached, says De Croo. "The [Belgian] presidency made a preliminary assessment today that there is no qualified majority at the moment," he said. Instructions have been given to the presidency to see how the dossier can still be unblocked.

Discussion postponed

The planned vote will take place on Monday during a meeting of European environment ministers, and the dossier was due to be discussed by EU ambassadors on Wednesday. That discussion has been postponed until their meeting on Friday afternoon.

The reason for the delay, according to one source, is that Hungary may not support the nature conservation law. Officially, Budapest has not yet indicated how it will vote, but the country has a reputation for blocking EU negotiations.

It is also possible that the directive will be raised at the European summit on Thursday and Friday. EU sources also do not rule out the possibility that member states that have indicated they will abstain will vote yes after all, and Germany is on board, they say.

^{© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}