Time to Park Up NRL to Allow Proper Consultation

Following the decision to withdraw the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) from the agenda of today’s COREPER meeting & from Monday’s meeting of EU environment ministers, IFA President Francie Gorman said it should be parked until after the European Parliament elections and the appointment of a new EU Commission.

“We said at the time of the Parliament vote last month that a vacuum of information still existed around the Nature Restoration Law. That uncertainty has persisted and there’s a strong case for the NRL to be re-examined by those who will have a fresh mandate after June’s elections,” he said.

Francie Gorman said it would be ironic if the EU Commission were to try and push ahead at the same time as they are announcing simplification measures.

“This goes to the heart of the debate and has been the basis for the campaign we have been running in recent months around regulation. Too often, proposals on a laptop don’t work on the land. The EU Commission now has an opportunity to rectify this, and they should take it,” he said.

He said fundamental concerns remain regarding the proposed regulation that have not been addressed. 

These include (i) a lack of clarity on the requirements and impact of certain definitions, (ii) uncertainty on the potential impact on farmland and production and (iii) the lack of dedicated funding to support the implementation of regulation.

“Farmers are doing more to support nature than any other sector of society with, on average, about 13% of the area on our farms dedicated to ‘space for nature,” he said.