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Deadlock over contentious Nature Restoration Law throws its fate into hands of EU Parliament

The EU’s environment committee of 88 MEPs was split down the middle in a highly anticipated vote this morning.

LAST UPDATE | 27 Jun 2023

THE EU’S PROPOSED new law to restore degraded land around Europe has been rejected by a committee of MEPs after weeks of heated debate, pushing the fate of the legislation into the hands of a full session of the EU parliament.

The Nature Restoration Law would set specific targets for the first time on restoring nature through measures such as rewetting areas of drained peatlands, increasing green spaces in urban areas, and improving biodiversity in lands used for agriculture and forestry.  

The proposed law has seen harsh divisions emerge between MEPs who disagree strongly about how ambitious the targets should be and the measures that should be included, casting major uncertainty over which way the vote would swing today. 

The European People’s Party, the political grouping that Fine Gael sits in and the EU’s largest political grouping, withdrew from the committee negotiations at the end of May and had campaigned for a vote against the law this morning.

The 88 MEPs of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) committee were split down the middle, with 44 in favour of the law and 44 against.

The proposal required a majority to receive the committee’s approval. Failing to reach that threshold, it has been rejected.

A full plenary session of the EU Parliament will discuss the proposal in July. The ENVI committee will recommend that the law is rejected, though MEPs can still choose how they will vote on the matter.

Supporters of the law say that it is a crucial piece of legislation to get the ball rolling much faster on protecting and restoring the natural world that has suffered under human influence to allow plants, animals, birds and insects to survive and thrive, carbon to be stored in the land instead of being released into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, and to allow humans to continue to benefit from the land in areas like food production and water quality.

Opponents’ main concerns are with the capacity of member states to actually carry out the measures proposed, the amount of land that would need to be restored, and to what extent that could mean land currently used for agriculture would need to be repurposed, either for different types of farming that may yield less income or for something else altogether. 

The ENVI committee convened this morning for a second time to vote on the law. It was initially due to formalise its stance on the proposal earlier this month but a meeting jam-packed with amendments went over time, forcing the final vote to be postponed to today.

In the meantime, the EU Council, which is made up of leaders from member states, voted on its position on the law – one that approved moving forward with the legislative process but took a more conservative line than the plan envisioned in the EU Commission’s original proposal.

Two Irish MEPs had a vote on the committee; Grace O’Sullivan of the Greens and Mick Wallace of the Left.

Both have expressed disappointment at the outcome.

O’Sullivan said it was “one of our last chances to show if the EU is a leader or a loser in halting the precipitous decline of biodiversity in Ireland and beyond”.

“In a period where we are losing healthy habitats and animal populations at a rate of knots, it is vital that we get a more ambitious outcome in the plenary vote in July,” she said.

We know that biodiversity collapse immediately threatens nature and agriculture. It is unacceptable for political leaders to choose to do nothing.”

Wallace, who is the Left group’s shadow rapporteur on the law, said that “six months of work has been thrown out with this vote” but that he still has “hope that we can eventually pass this desperately needed legislation”.

“I have no doubt EPP will continue their campaign of blatant disinformation,” he said, adding that the “vote has become deeply politicised”.

“No matter what the content of the regulation might be, EPP has made a political decision to kill it.

We are approaching the sixth mass extinction according to scientists, so it cannot be overstated how important this piece of legislation is.

“The science is absolutely clear, the biggest threats to our food security and to the future of agriculture are the climate and biodiversity crises, and the nature restoration regulation is crucial to address both.”

The European People’s Party had reaffirmed its stance against the law ahead of the meeting, calling for it to be rewritten.

Responding to the committee vote, Green Party MEP for Dublin Ciarán Cuffe labelled it a “real setback for nature, the climate, and the European Green Deal”.

“However, the proposal remains to be voted on later this month at the Plenary session of the Parliament in Strasbourg, and I am hoping that more progressive voices will succeed,” Cuffe said.

“Strong ecosystems can guarantee long-term food security and protection against droughts and other natural disasters for everyone living in Europe. The Plenary vote is the one that counts.”

The divisions between MEPs over the law have been reflected in Irish politics.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael said there were aspects of the law that he felt were “going too far and not fully recognising how we use land in Ireland in particular”, while junior minister Ossian Smyth of the Greens said he was “disappointed” with the EPP decision to pull out of negotiations: “Forget the coalition and politics, I think Irish people love nature and want to protect it.”

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Jun 27th 2023, 8:40 AM

    I really hope it passes. We need to start taking the environment and biodiversity seriously..

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    Mute Johnny Angler
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:14 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Unless the EU agrees to stop importing meat from South America, where the rainforest is being cut down for cash crops and cattle ranches, then this whole thing is pretty pointless.

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    Mute Gerry Campbell
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:22 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: I presume you,or any of the green party advocates of this, don’t own one blade of grass that will be flooded.

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:34 PM

    @Johnny Angler: no I don’t agree its pretty pointless. We, in this country, are going through our own ecological diversity and extintion crises, and we have the power to deal with that singular issue. Whataboutery isn’t really relevant. Our unspoilt Nature and clean rivers etc were once a selling point for this country, but that’s disappearing fast. Solutions, of course are not easy, but we cannot keep on destroying the ecological balance in the country, what sort of a legacy is that for our grandkids?

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    Mute Johnny Angler
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:55 PM

    @Dermot Lane: IMO, if any carbon gains the EU makes, is offset by an increase in carbon emissions in South America, then the world is no better off.

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jun 27th 2023, 1:05 PM

    @Johnny Angler: the biodiversity crises is a different issue to carbon emissions.

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    Mute John Moylan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 1:19 PM

    @Brendan O’Brien: we need to start putting people first.

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    Mute Johnny Angler
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    Jun 27th 2023, 2:18 PM

    @Dermot Lane: Its all interlinked.

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jun 27th 2023, 7:53 PM

    @Johnny Angler: yes there is a link,but they are two separate issues

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    Mute Cooking School
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:00 AM

    Plant more trees, millions of more trees!

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    Mute Paul Maguire
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    Jun 27th 2023, 8:46 AM

    more diktat from Brussels…while Ryan rubs his hands both Glee

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    Mute eoin fitzpatrick
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:05 AM

    @Paul Maguire: yes imagine, the leader of the Greens excited about a new law that would do wonders for nature

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    Mute Dan Danny
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    Jun 27th 2023, 8:58 AM

    @séadhna logan
    What are you on about? The farmers are getting paid over the odds to restore bogs and marshes in otherwise unuseful land. Good for both nature and farmer

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    Mute Séadhna Logan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:06 AM

    @Dan Danny: if land around you is re-wetted and you are in a profitable farming business, what happens your land should your neighbours do a grubby deal and re-wet , altering your water table, soil fertility and profitability, pushing your business out. Is that acceptable to you, should that be tolerated??

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    Mute Séadhna Logan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 8:48 AM

    If this gets the go ahead, these re-wetting proposals are going to lead to serious and aggressive standoffs between land owners and the state. This will be resisted and rightly so. More bullshit madness from urban greens being pushed on rural communities. The cowards in the IFA and all farming organisations, and all the political parties need to take a hard stance on this nonsense

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Jun 27th 2023, 8:55 AM

    @Séadhna Logan: The bogs to be rewetted are owned by the state. From the Irish Times: ‘Bord na Móna’s Peatlands Climate Action Scheme (PCAS), as the project is called, will attempt to rehabilitate 33,000 hectares, making it one of the largest environmental projects in Europe.’

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:50 AM

    @Séadhna Logan: its state owned land, so are you suggesting the state is going to have a stand off with itself?

    Its clear you dont know what you are on about.

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    Mute Gavin Conran
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:49 AM

    @Séadhna Logan: How is it nonsense?

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    Mute Séadhna Logan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:00 AM

    @Brendan O’Brien: There is vast amounts of lands in private ownership potentially earmarked for re-wetting, also when you go down the route of re-wetting and altering the water table and flood plains, the scope for far reaching unintended consequences is huge. There has been re-wetting surveys and mapping been done by numerous departments and with the connivance and assistance of county councils using government funding for a number of years, under the radar. It is not highlighted as it is not popular and to avoid resistance from landowners.

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    Mute Séadhna Logan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:16 AM

    @Martin Bishop: another myth lots of re-wetting maps and surveys over a number of years have identified lands for potential re-wetting not in state ownership. I am aware of lands surveyed and identified in neighbouring parishes in my own county, Also this notion you can just re-wet select areas and not alter the ecosystems of neighbouring land holdings is simply untrue. When you start altering water tables the impacts are never simply inconsequential or localised

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    Mute Séadhna Logan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:46 AM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Wetlands surveys Ireland Ltd in a survey commissioned on behalf of Leitrim county council identified over 380 potential wetland sites with accompanying maps. This is not Bord na Móna state owned bog , these are all lands and grounds in private ownership. Why was such a detailed and forensic study commissioned, for what end? Because certain agendas and interests see Leitrim as nothing more than a green little county to cater to slow tourism

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    Mute Liam Dunne
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:12 AM

    Let’s forget about the 8 Billion people who need food every day on this planet. Let’s pretend that the population will not continue to rise over the next 25 years to 11.5 Billion. As a farmer, I’m delighted with this development as it means food prices will continue to rise inexorably and my future income is assured and my work will be greater appreciated. As a world citizen, I’m delighted that nationalities and racism will disappear as millions of people from poorer areas migrate in search of food and prosperity and enjoy the wild flowers, songbirds, beetles and trees. The garden of Eden will be restored.

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:51 AM

    @Liam Dunne: If we wipe out nature we don’t have much of a future on this planet.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:57 AM

    @Liam Dunne: We produced 637,000 tonnes of Beef in 2021, 86% was exported. We produced 8.4 billion litters of milk in 2021, 94% was exported. The number of dairy cow in Ireland increased 50% in 10 years, from about 1 million to 1.5 million, and last year dairy farms witnessed record profits with an average Family Farm Income (FFI) of €150,884, a 53% increase year-on-year.

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    Mute BarryH
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:07 AM

    @Liam Dunne: Typical farmers, they don’t know much about food wastage, nature, clean water or even feeding their own – carrots from New Zealand. At times I think they exhale more methane than their cows.

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    Mute Jonathan Conway
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:07 PM

    @David Jordan: New Teagasc research has shown that CO2 emmisions are over estimated by a whopping 60% on these peat soils used for agriculture. This is the same land that was being proposed to be designated, taken out of production, devalued and rewetted for carbon storage. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against rewetting, I’m against the land being designated and for this sole purpose which will destroy its commercial value.
    Would house owners like their assets devalued by up to 80% from the stroke of a pen in the EU

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    Mute Johnny Angler
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:18 PM

    @David Jordan: We export meat and dairy products, because there is a market for it. If we stop exporting it, the market will still exist. The meat and dairy products we export are some of the greenest in the world. If we stop producing it, there are pleny of people in South America ready to take chain saws to the rain forest to build ranches to meet the global demand. In this senario, by ireland “reducing its carbon footprint”, it will have just increased the global footprint.

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    Mute eoin fitzpatrick
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    Jun 27th 2023, 1:07 PM

    @Johnny Angler: you might want to look into irish companies exporting milk powder to african countries, lots of sinister stuff at play. they managed before we sent it out there and now they’re less likely to breast feed. google it if you’re interested.
    also the market is aggressively pursued by irish governments, we sent charlie out to singapore and japan to open new markets for irish beef recently, again they were ok without it.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 1:17 PM

    @Jonathan Conway: Thanks for the article! If this research is correct, it is very good news.

    It was previously assumed that all 335,000 ha of peat soils was drained, but this assumption is wrong, they found that 90,000–120,000 ha of peat was drained.

    Drained peat released methane and CO2, a bacterial process. This is why they were considering re-wetting peat grasslands, a higher water table was anticipated to block emissions from peaty soils. This might not be needed.

    This new research says the old emissions estimate, of 8 to 9 million tonnes CO2eq per year from peat grassland, was far too high. Their new estimate is 3.6–4.7 million tonnes CO2eq per year, a 40–53% reduction (between 3.3 to 5.4 million tonnes CO2eq per year less than previously estimated).

    The EPA says agricultural soils overall, of which peat grassland is a subset, emitted 5.063 million tonnes CO2eq per year in 2021. I think this is because some soils sequester CO2, they remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

    If this new research is correct, and I’m understanding this correctly, it means that agricultural soils emit between -0.364 to 3.3 million tonnes CO2e, there is a possibility that agricultural soils are sequestering more CO2 i.e. they are removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

    https://www.epa.ie/our-services/monitoring–assessment/climate-change/ghg/agriculture/

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    Mute Too Much Farm Land
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:05 AM

    When you see how Ireland has been trashed by intensive farming by greedy farmers who mostly export their produce.
    It is time to take back those lands for biodiversity and develop a better eco tourism.

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    Mute Johnny Angler
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    Jun 27th 2023, 12:15 PM

    @Too Much Farm Land: How dare farmers try to make ends meet?

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    Mute john mac
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:47 AM

    Land grab

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    Mute Gavin Conran
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:51 AM

    @john mac: Of state owned land? Bold move…

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    Mute john mac
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:02 AM

    @Gavin Conran: only for starters then the move will be to private land

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Jun 27th 2023, 11:18 AM

    Cut the national heard by half . Start a new system of construction based on carbon footprint. Create a massive water storage and treatment facility at the point of the river Shannon that can stop the annual flooding,

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    Mute eoin fitzpatrick
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    Jun 27th 2023, 1:08 PM

    @LoughC: well the difference is the destruction of biodiversity and climate change are real, paying indulgences to a corrupt organisation and false gods isn’t quite the same.

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    Mute mcleixlip
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:00 AM

    Faaarmerssss

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    Mute Gerard Hayden
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    Jun 27th 2023, 9:35 AM

    This popped up on CNN this morning – https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/26/world/pumping-groundwater-earth-axis-shifting-scn/index.html
    Never heard of it before, and no idea what if any bearing it has on reality. But what if it is entirely responsible for the climate change we see around us. “Just Stop Water” anyone?

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:43 AM

    @Gerard Hayden: No, a movement of only 1.7 inches (4.3 centimetres) per year is too small to have an effect on climate, in my lifetime that is a movement of about 6 feet.

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    Mute Gerard Hayden
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:45 AM

    @LoughC: I love the way they tell us “you might not” – as if anyone ever could!

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    Mute Gavin Conran
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    Jun 27th 2023, 10:52 AM

    @LoughC: You forgot to remove the quotation at the start there…

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    Mute Mark Curtin
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    Jun 27th 2023, 6:33 PM

    Ireland is the second most deforested country in Europe.A few hundred years ago 80% of the country was covered in broadleaf trees before it was decimated by mankind.Trees are the lungs of nature so if we don’t start planting soon we ain’t gonna breathe_simple as

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jun 27th 2023, 7:01 PM

    @Mark Curtin: Our forrests were cit down by the British to stop rebellion and build ships and grand houses. You make it sound like we hate trees. They were nicked from us!

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jun 27th 2023, 7:02 PM

    The committee is spit 50 50 ad the largest block in the parliament is against it. Not lookig good.
    If instead of lecturing the rest of the EU like we were bold children about the ecological issues/ They would not be losing so much support.

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