AGERPRES special correspondent Tudor Martalogu reports: MEP Nicu Stefanuta, member of the Greens group in the European Parliament, stressed on Tuesday the importance that the EU law for the restoration of nature would have for Romania and demanded that the others 32 Romanian MEPs vote in favor of this law, write Agerpres.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament will vote on the proposal of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) to reject the European Commission’s project on restoring nature. As part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission proposed more than a year ago a regulation on nature restoration to contribute to the long-term recovery of damaged nature in all land and sea areas of the European Union and to achieve the EU’s objectives in terms of climate and biodiversity.
Stefanuta particularly highlighted the positive impact that the EU law on restoring nature would have on urban green spaces in Romania.
„The EU law for restoring nature would help a lot in Romania. First of all, regarding the green spaces, those who suffer are not only the people of Bucharest, but also the people of Cluj and Timisoara, and many other cities in Romania suffer dramatically. The law for the restoration of nature has a ban on clear cutting of green spaces. What does clean cut mean? That is, if you cut down a tree, you must have replanted it in the same quality somewhere else. So you are not allowed to have clear cuts of urban green forest spaces until 2030”, Stefanuta in a meeting with a group of Romanian journalists.
The second element highlighted by the Romanian ecologist MEP refers to the obligation to increase urban green spaces by 5% until 2050. „In my opinion, this is the most sensitive point, because in Romania we observe an acceleration, an acceleration of interests from the real estate area, including the fact that they wanted in the Romanian Parliament to change the urban code, the law of green spaces on the last day before the recess”, the MEP explained.
Together with the co-presidents of VOLT Romania, Mihaela Siritianu and Ciprian Sandu, the co-presidents of ACUM, Adela Maghear and Bogdan Barbu, and the representative of SENS, Andrei Macsut, MEP Nicu Stefanuta signed an open letter addressed to the Romanian members of the European Parliament in which they and the groups political parties in Romania to vote on Wednesday in favor of the EU law on restoring nature.
„By supporting and voting in favor of the legislation regarding the restoration of nature, you will send a strong message of involvement and concern towards the citizens of Romania who are on the front line, who directly feel the effects of pollution and damage to nature”, show the signatories of the open letter.
On Tuesday morning, a debate took place in the EP on the EU law for the restoration of nature. Since there was no majority in the ENVI committee in favor of the changes brought to the EU legislation on nature restoration, this European parliamentary committee presented in the plenary session the proposal to reject the EU Commission’s draft law.
If, following Wednesday’s vote in the EP, there is not a majority in favor of rejecting the Commission’s proposal, the MEPs will proceed to vote on the amendments formulated by the political groups in the EP or by at least 36 MEPs.
