In 2023, the European Parliament passed a sweeping law meant to curb the import of goods and products linked to deforestation.After right-wing parties won the 2024 EU elections, the law, called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), was weakened and postponed.Late last year, the European Parliament postponed the EUDR’s implementation for a second time.Mongabay spoke to German MEP Delara Burkhardt, the lead EUDR negotiator for the Socialists and Democrats Group, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
In 2023, when the European Parliament passed a law meant to keep products linked to deforestation out of the EU single market, environmentalists were riding high. The landmark piece of legislation, called the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation, or EUDR, had won the support of an overwhelming majority of lawmakers as part of the EU’s Green Deal. Opposition from commodity-producing countries like Brazil and Malaysia hadn’t derailed the law, which looked like it would promptly cruise into force.
And then the winds changed.
The 2024 EU elections sent parliament into a sharp rightward turn, partly caused by a “greenlash” against the cost of bold environmental and climate policies. Afterward, the new parliament amended the EUDR to weaken its requirements and decided to delay its implementation for a year, with a spokesperson for the ascendant center-right voting bloc calling it a “bureaucratic monster.”
