State of the Union: Protecting nature and controlling big tech

euronews (in English)

Farmers' protest and the postponement of the vote on the Nature Restoration Law showed, this week, how the European Green Deal can be a target of misunderstanding and contestation.

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to the State of the Union from Brussels.

00:08 What used to be an extraordinary exception now appears to have become an almost monthly

00:13 tradition at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.

00:18 Hundreds of tractors on the streets and farmers resorting to sometimes violent actions to

00:23 attract the attention of agriculture ministers who were in the city this week.

00:29 Ministers discussed new measures to respond to farmers' complaints about loss of income,

00:34 although they have already obtained concessions such as the relaxation of some administrative

00:40 and environmental rules.

00:43 In fact, farmers are a driving force against the nature restoration law, which was on the

00:48 agenda of another meeting of environment ministers.

00:53 One of them passionately explained that nature and agriculture are two sides of the same

00:58 coin.

00:59 "Protecting the nature restoration law is one of the best ways of getting income to

01:04 our farmers.

01:05 A green climate farm or carbon farming where we get real transparent monitoring of what's

01:10 happening in our natural systems is what we need, and then to pay our farmers for their

01:14 real skill in protecting nature as well as providing food.

01:19 Let's start with that, not abandoning nature restoration as some people seem to be discussing

01:25 today."

01:26 Underscoring how the farmers' protests have a profound influence on politics, the vote

01:31 on the nature restoration law, scheduled for that meeting of ministers, was postponed and

01:37 there is no new date.

01:38 Under the plan, Member States would have to restore at least 20% of the Union's degraded

01:44 land and sea areas by 2030.

01:48 This is an important part of the European Green Deal, which seeks to set the world's

01:52 most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets.

01:57 To discuss how to break out of this impasse, I interviewed Faustine Bas-Defos, Director

02:02 of Nature, Health and Environment at the European Environment Bureau.

02:08 The nature restoration law was presented by the European Commission as crucial to preserving

02:12 biodiversity, combating climate change and achieving food security.

02:17 How likely it is that it will be adopted with rules that are effective?

02:22 The EU is the continent that is warming the fastest and that climate risks are threatening

02:29 its energy, food security, ecosystems.

02:33 Now it is important to stress that there was a deal on the table, that there were months

02:39 of negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament.

02:46 What happened, unfortunately, was that at the very last minute, Hungary decided to change

02:54 its position and therefore there was no majority for the deal anymore.

02:59 Now it is important to say that it is not dead and that in the coming weeks we very

03:05 much hope that the majority will be found.

03:08 So farmers and foresters complain that the law will reduce their productivity.

03:13 But some politicians and scientists have said that they could also receive money from the

03:18 Common Agriculture Policy to play a new role in nature preservation.

03:23 Would this be a viable solution?

03:25 Well, nature restoration is a necessity for the resilience of farming as well.

03:31 Farming depends on nature.

03:33 We should not oppose agriculture and environment.

03:35 This is definitely wrong.

03:37 The cap is, you know, more than 30% of the EU budget already.

03:42 It's over 55 billion euros that are spent annually in the farm sector, taxpayers' money.

03:48 The problem with the Common Agriculture Policy today is that it is not a tool for the transition

03:53 and that 80% of that 30% of the EU budget goes to 20% of the beneficiaries and not necessarily

04:02 the ones who need it the most and not necessarily the ones who are farming with nature, as we

04:08 speak now.

04:09 So, on another aspect, this law could also play a role in increasing the natural mechanisms

04:14 for absorbing the polluting gases.

04:17 The environment ministers analysed the European Commission's new proposal to reduce these

04:21 gases by 90% by 2040 in comparison with the 1990 levels.

04:28 Do you think it will be accepted by the European Union governments?

04:32 The problem already with that communication was that while it was clear that there was

04:38 a need for having a specific target for agriculture, 30% for agriculture, this was not in the proposal

04:46 eventually or in the communication of the Commission.

04:50 So we can already start wondering whether or not we will manage to reach that 90% without

04:55 having a specific focus also on agriculture where efforts are needed.

05:00 So we very much hope that they will accept and they will show their support to it.

05:06 And if we want to reach climate neutrality by 2050, we need to reduce, you know, to follow

05:11 that 90% reduction by 2040.

05:14 Faustine Basse de Fossés, thank you very much for your contributions to the programme.

05:20 Thank you.

05:21 And now let's talk about consumer rights and big technology companies.

05:26 One of the objectives of the Digital Markets Act, which came into force in March, is to

05:32 prevent consumers from being tied to products or services of a single company.

05:37 The Act will be put to the test with the first investigations into Apple, Google and Meta.

05:43 The European Commission announced this week that it will enquire into suspicions of various

05:48 restrictions and limitations on the part of these three companies, known as gatekeepers,

05:54 who could face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover.

05:59 We will continue to use all available tools should any gatekeeper try to circumvent or

06:06 to undermine the obligations of the DMA.

06:10 It's important for us to achieve the objectives of the DMA such that consumers have the benefits

06:16 of open, contestable markets.

06:19 A market will competition.

06:21 And now a reminder not to forget the supplies to celebrate Easter Sunday on the last day

06:26 of March.

06:27 Chocolate is often offered in very specific formats - eggs and bunnies.

06:32 There are many options on the market, but be aware that the price of some popular brands

06:37 has increased by more than 50% compared to last year.

06:42 Prices have soared as climate change has affected cocoa crops in West Africa, where about three

06:48 quarters of the world's cocoa beans are produced.

06:51 Therefore, chocolate this year may taste slightly bitter this holiday.

06:56 This concludes our edition.

06:58 Thank you for watching.

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