Brussels launches public consultation on core nature laws

The European Commission is opening up the Birds and Habitats Directives – cornerstones of EU nature conservation since 1979 and 1992 – to a public consultation that will run for two and a half months, against a backdrop of an ongoing deregulation drive.

The 2000 Water Framework Directive, seen as the third pillar of the EU’s core nature protection law, opened to a public consultation in April, as the EU executive plans to introduce exemptions for the mining and metals processing sectors.

Under Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s second term, the Commission has launched a campaign to ‘simplify’ EU regulation, much of it environmental, in the name of boosting competitiveness. So far, only guidance on the Birds Directive has been published, suggesting workarounds rather than opening the legislation for amendment.

Environmental campaigners mobilised over 200,000 people to call for the nature protections to be left in place ahead of that ‘omnibus’ proposal, and accuse Commission officials of giving more time to corporate lobbyists while formulating policy.

Now, a coalition of the leading green groups active in Brussels – BirdLife Europe, ClientEarth, the European Environmental Bureau and WWF EU – is warning that rolling back nature protection will lead to higher disaster costs, health risks and the destruction of essential ecosystems.

“Opening the doors to tearing down protections in the middle of the climate and biodiversity crisis is reckless, costly and deeply irresponsible,” they said in a joint statement.

Fishers, farmers and forest owners

There is no shortage of industries that find the Habitats and Birds Directives a nuisance. Farmers and fishers are complaining about the conflicts that arise when they have to comply with the directives in their work.

At a Council summit in February, Sweden stated that cormorants deprive European waters of more than 300,000 tonnes of fish, which they feed on each year.

Forest owners say the ‘stress test’ of the two nature directives was long overdue.

They argue that the guidelines are hindering thinning operations, complicating forest maintenance and slowing down responses to diseases and pests such as bark beetles. Even wildfires: the Confederation of European Forest Owners has highlighted that 41% of the areas affected by fire in the EU were located within Natura 2000 sites.

The Commission insists exemptions or amendments are necessary to speed up the deployment of essential infrastructure, especially related to mineral extraction, renewable energy deployment and expanding Europe’s electricity grid.

Industry commissioner Stéphane Séjourné has warned that there will be no alternative when it comes to the Water Framework Directive, although he asked members of the European Parliament not to seize on the executive’s ‘targeted amendment’ proposal as an occasion to push for a more throughgoing deregulation.

The public consultation is open until 4 August. The Commission is expected to publish a report on its stress test by the end of 2026.

(rh, aw)