A major European nature protection plan stumbles at the final hurdle. 'How could we give that up?'
A major European Union plan to fight climate change and better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc has been indefinitely postponed
BRUSSELS (AP) — A major European Union plan to better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc and fight climate change was indefinitely postponed Monday, underscoring how farmers' protests sweeping the continent have had a deep influence on politics.
The deadlock on the bill, which could undermine the EU's global stature on the issue, came less than three months before the European Parliament election in June.
The member states were supposed to give final approval to the biodiversity bill on Monday following months of proceedings through the EU’s institutional maze. But what was supposed to be a mere rubber stamp has now turned into its possible perpetual shelving.
“How could we give that up? How could we say ‘We decided not to restore nature,’" a disappointed Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said. “Not deliver on the protection of biodiversity is a shocking statement to the rest of the world,” he added, urging diplomatic pressure so that the bill could belatedly still be approved.
