Public support for Nature Recovery Act strong ahead of key council meeting on Monday morning – Euractiv

The Austrian government will support the EU’s Nature Restoration Act at the Environment Council meeting tomorrow (Monday) (June 17), Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler announced on Sunday (June 16), making it possible that the controversial text will be approved into European law.

With Austria’s change of position in opposing the bill, it should now have the support of countries representing 64.86% of the EU’s population. The threshold for passage is 65%.

The European Council has already agreed on a compromise text with the European Parliament, so the proposal will become EU law if just one opposing national government comes around to supporting it.

Countries such as Italy, Sweden and Finland have long opposed the text. Hungary only dropped its support in March before the final vote to approve the text. Poland and Slovakia subsequently also said they would no longer support the proposal.

Now, all eyes are on Slovakia. Environment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba publicly stated in April that he would not support the Nature Recovery Law. However, Euractiv understands that this message has not yet been officially communicated to the Belgian Council Presidency.

The Slovak government could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Austrian Environment Minister Gewisler, a Green Party politician, has long supported the Nature Restoration Act, but he is legally unable to vote for it in the council because of unanimous opposition from Austria’s nine federal states.

However, the state of Vienna has changed its position in recent days. On Sunday, Gewisler told a press conference in Vienna that she had consulted extensively with lawyers and believed she could now legally support the law in parliament.

A meeting of environment ministers will take place in Luxembourg tomorrow at 9:30am, with the Nature Restoration Act being the first item on the agenda.

After the ministers have discussed the document, the Belgian presidency can decide whether to vote on it based on the results of the discussion.

* Additional reporting by Nikolaus J. Kurmayer, Zuzana Gabrizova and Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro

(Editing by Rajnish Singh)

Read more by Euractiv