The European Parliament approved the landmark Nature Restoration Law on Wednesday, clearing the green legislation to proceed to the final stretch of negotiations after a rebellion by Fine Gael against its political group helped defeat an attempt to kill the law.
Fine Gael’s centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) led an effort to reject the law outright in the vote of all MEPs in the plenary session, but this failed in a knife-edge result after it was backed by 312 MEPs, while 324 voted against rejecting the Bill.
All Irish MEPs voted against rejecting the Nature Restoration Law, including all five Fine Gael lawmakers. They were among 15 members of the 176-strong EPP to rebel against an effort to reject the Bill that had been spearheaded by the group’s parliament leader Manfred Weber.
In a video released in advance of the vote, Fine Gael’s lead MEP Seán Kelly announced: “I cannot vote to reject this law.”
“Ireland is facing a biodiversity crisis. This is experienced first-hand by our farmers and fishers, who are custodians of our land, rivers and seas and who see the everyday impact on their businesses,” Mr Kelly said in a statement.
Mr Kelly said that amendments tabled to the law were an opportunity to “correct the proposal” and welcomed additional flexibilities on the rewetting of land which have been backed by EU member states.
The parliament voted on a series of amendments before approving a compromise version of the law, which was approved by 336 votes in favour compared to 300 against.
The result means that the law is now clear to proceed to the final stretch of negotiations between the parliament and EU member states to hammer out the last version of the legislation.
“The Nature Restoration Law is now an inevitability and this is nothing short of a win for every person and place on the whole Continent,” Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan said in a statement.
The Green MEPs credited the survival of the law to the pressure of thousands of citizens, businesses, scientists, and NGOs who contacted MEPs about it.
The law would require EU countries to develop national plans for how to contribute to putting in place restoration measures across 20 per cent of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, including the voluntary rewetting of peatlands, restoring marine habitats, and allowing blocked rivers to flow.
The parliament’s lead negotiator on the law said it was a crucial part of combating climate change and biodiversity collapse, and that it would not block the development of new renewable energy infrastructure or harm food security, contrary to concerns raised by the centre-right in advance of the vote.
However, Independent MEP Mick Wallace sharply criticised Fine Gael for supporting amendments he said would severely weaken the legislation.
[ Nature Restoration Law: The case againstOpens in new window ]
[ Nature Restoration Law: The case in favourOpens in new window ]
“The text passed by parliament today has been absolutely gutted. It’s a shell of the commission’s proposal,” said Mr Wallace, who represented the left group in negotiations on the law.
“Seán Kelly received a lot of praise for his last minute decision not to reject the law. But people should be aware that Seán tabled a number of deeply irresponsible, dangerous amendments with his EPP colleagues that would render the law as good as useless. Lots of these amendments were carried today.”
Fine Gael’s Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune said she had supported “constructive amendments” to the law that would “enable the agricultural community to contribute to tackling biodiversity loss in a sustainable manner”.
“We are facing a biodiversity crisis. This is experienced first-hand by our agricultural community, who see the everyday impact on their businesses,” Ms Clune said in a statement.
