There seems to have been a general revolt in the European Union parliament committee that was tasked with sheparding the EU’s groundbreaking (read: onerous, draconian, and restrictive) “nature law” through it’s last step before being voted on by the general assembly in Brussels.

The committee rejected it. After voting, the measure only garnered enough votes for a tie. It had to pass with a majority.

A European Union parliament committee on Tuesday rejected a landmark legal proposal to protect endangered natural habitats, ahead of a decisive vote by the full EU assembly next month.

The bill to revive ailing environments – which aims to restore nature on 20% of EU land and sea – is facing a backlash from the parliament’s largest faction, the conservative European People’s Party, which has called for its rejection.

…In a tight committee vote, 44 lawmakers backed the law and 44 opposed it, meaning it failed to win majority support. The bill faces a full parliamentary vote on July 11, where failure to garner a majority would kill off the proposal.

WOWSAHS

The most awkward aspect of the vote was the party doing most of the agitating for rejecting the measure – none other than the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), which is the very party of EU President Ursula von der Leyen. She’s a bit authoritarian by nature as well as a big fan of the “nature law” – that could cause problems.

…”We are on the edge of doing too much,” German EPP lawmaker Peter Liese told reporters after the vote. “The Green Deal is a good thing, but we are about to overstretch it.”

The EPP has warned Brussels risks overburdening industry and farmers with the dozens of proposals that make up the European Green Deal. The group has fought particularly hard against legislation aimed at greening agriculture, like new rules on pesticides and land use.

…The bill will live to fight another day — the entire Parliament is set to vote on the law next month, and majorities in plenary often differ from those in committees.

The EPP’s unified front on the bill could shatter. For Tuesday’s vote, the group chose to substitute regular committee members that were undecided or in favor of the Nature Restoration Law with firm opponents from within the group — a move it can’t pull in plenary.

The fracture may even run all the way to the top: The subject of the EPP’s ire — the expanding Green Deal, including its environmental pillar — is the very policy on which Ursula von der Leyen has staked her reputation and reelection.

When the World Wildlife Fund is crying crocodile tears about your vote, you may have just saved your farmers and God knows who else…for the moment.

Nature Restoration Law hangs in the balance after today's tight vote in the ENVI Committee.

All eyes are now on the plenary when MEPs must stand behind the Green Deal & listen to Member States, citizens, scientists & businesses calling for the #RestoreNature law!

Our reaction:… pic.twitter.com/QHUD3ZFeeF

— WWF EU (@WWFEU) June 27, 2023

The EPP was backed up by protests from other EU countries arguing against excessive regulatory requirements…

…The law has also faced criticism from governments including Ireland and Belgium, with the latter warning that the EU is saddling industries with too much regulation.

…not to mention a wide coalition of groups from various agricultural communities, raising all sorts of Cane about what “greening” Europe back up was actually going to mean in practice. When you start reading what the regulations would do to various industries, I can see exactly where they’re coming from.

…The EPP and other right-wing factions argue that the NRL jeopardises food security at a time of inflation by rolling out stringent new regulations that intentionally drive down agricultural production in order to avert what some environmentalists say is an impending ecological collapse.

Both the Parliament’s agricultural and fishing committees had already rejected the NRL as Cypriot farmers took to the streets in Nicosia last week complaining that the new regulations would make 79% of Cypriot farmland unviable for food production.

Didn’t THAT raise some hackles on the climate cultish left, even to the point of one of the Spanish socialists calling the actions emerging “European TRUMPISM” because the peasants stood their ground and ruined the party.

Yeah, yeah, we know.

What a hoot.

Again, the signs are everywhere that the long reign of terror of the Green dreamers is, if not in imminent danger, rapidly being undercut at every juncture (witness recent Dutch elections and German Green party polling) , and by savvy politicians who are listening to constituents and paying attention to regional election back home.

…Perhaps a sign of things to come as the balance of power shifts to the right, the defeat of the NRL could mark the beginning of the end for a legislative agenda that has heavily favoured green overregulation since 2019.

As farmer protests spread throughout Europe and food supplies are strained by the war in Ukraine, it appears that even moderate elements in EPP are beginning to think twice about the green dogma that they freely endorsed just a few months ago.

Going to be very interesting watching Ursula try to jam this through.