EU vote on deforestation sanctions alliance between EPP and extreme right against Green Deal
www.eunews.it
The EU Parliament passed with 371 votes in favour, 240 against it, and 30 abstentions the proposed one-year postponement of the EU deforestation regulation. The EPP withdraws some of the amendments but, along with the far right, approves the inclusion of a category of "non-risk" countries from which products can continue to be imported without new obligations

The EU executive’s proposal to postpone the implementation of the regulation on imported deforestation for one year was approved by the Brussels hemicycle with 371 votes in favour, 240 against, and 30 abstentions. On the final vote, socialists, greens and leftists opposed it, with the same compactness with which the popular and far-right supported the text, while the liberals split.

The EPP, which had tabled 15 controversial amendments to the Commission’s new text, announced before the vote that it was withdrawing some of the most significant ones: the proposal for a two-year delay and several exemptions for traders on supply chain control charges. According to a statement on the sidelines of the vote by Christine Schneider, a People’s Party MEP who signed all of the amendments, the EPP withdrew the amendments because it got reassurances from the European Commission in return, particularly the commitment to review the guidelines for companies and make sure to avoid an overlap of bureaucratic burdens between companies.