The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, is hopeful that the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) will get “over the line”.
Speaking ahead of a Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting taking place today (Thursday, May 30) in Brussels, Minister Ryan said that it “just takes one country to move” in relation to the future of the NRL.
To date, it has proved to be one of the most controversial pieces of legislation to come before the European Parliament and has also been the subject of much backlash from farmers across Europe.
The NRL was adopted by the European Parliament in February of this year and it was expected the the Council of the EU (council of ministers) would do the same in March, in what would have been the final hurdle for the law to pass before it was enacted.
However, after a number of member states changed their position, no vote took place in the council of environment ministers as it was clear that the required qualified majority for the law to be adopted would not be reached.
Nature Restoration Law
Minister Ryan his party colleague Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, have written to 10 EU environment ministers to ask them to back the NRL.
They want to “have it discussed and hopefully agreed” on June 17 at the Environment Council meeting on June 17 in Luxembourg.
Minister Ryan told a press conference in Brussels today:
“It just takes one country to move and if one doesn’t, what do we say when we go to the biodiversity COP (Conference of the Parties) two years after the last one when we promised to deliver a nature restoration law in effect?
“Europe would have to turn up and say I’m sorry we’ve changed our mind that would be disastrous for for nature in Europe, for society, but also for our reputation so I’m hoping we can get one country to move.
“But I’m hopeful we can get one country to change and in that we can prove it on the 17th of June and get it over the line.”
Green Deal
Minister Ryan said one of the key items on the agenda at today’s Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting is the European Green Deal.
“Do we keep going or do we stop? he said in Brussels.
“In my mind there are three reasons to keep going firstly defending Europe – if we reduce our use of fossil fuels that’s our best protection against being controlled from outside.
“Secondly on competitiveness – if we keep burning fossil fuels that’s not good for the European economy that’s money going out of Europe and thirdly unless we address climate change the costs we’re seeing – the costs we saw last year in Greece, Slovenia – the costs we’ve seen in Ireland over the last 10 months, it’s rained non stop.
“That cost will hit home so for those three reasons for our defense, for our competitiveness and for a safe environment I’ll be calling today for us to keep going with the Green Deal,” Minister Ryan said.
But he also acknowledged that future of the deal depends on “what the European people do on June 7”.