State of the Union: Protecting nature and controlling big tech
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.
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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.