The vote on the Nature Restoration Law had to be cut short today due to time constraints and will be continued on June 27th.

Speaking after the vote, Left MEP and shadow rapporteur on the file Mick Wallace said:

“I’m obviously very pleased that the EPP rejection amendment was defeated. But the regulation is still on a knife edge. 44 votes vs 44 was enough to defeat the rejection amendment, but that stalemate in the final vote on the overall text would also mean a rejection of the regulation. EPP and the right-wing members of the Parliament have succeeded in weakening the Commission’s proposal quite a bit today. The peatlands targets have been deleted, as well as the entire forest ecosystem article. That is a disaster. But a lot of good came out of the votes on amendments today too. The compromise amendments on marine ecosystems, on reversing pollinator decline, and on funding were all passed, and some good stuff on the governance of the regulation. All of that will be in vain, of course if the final overall vote on June 27th is to reject the regulation. There is a long way to go still, with the continuation of the vote on June 27the, the plenary vote, and hopefully trilogues with the Council to come.”