Nature conservation | “Hands off Nature”: Mass protest against EU reform

The so-called omnibus procedure has been criticized: The EU wants to use it to simplify existing regulations, reduce bureaucracy and reduce costs. But this should also lower environmental standards. Photo: dpa/Michael Kappeler Munich. More than 1.2 million people are calling on the European Union to maintain existing environmental and nature conservation rules. They support the Europe-wide “Hands off Nature” campaign, which is directed against planned changes to European legislation. The collected signatures are to be handed over to the EU Commission in Brussels on October 23rd and to the federal government in Berlin on October 28th. This emerges from information about the campaign and the Association for Nature Conservation in Bavaria.

According to the association, around 309,000 signatures were in the Netherlands, more than 228,000 in Germany and more than 105,000 in France by mid-October.

The campaign is directed against so-called omnibus procedures. With them, the EU wants to simplify existing regulations, reduce bureaucracy and reduce costs in order to strengthen competitiveness. However, critics fear that this will also weaken environmental standards. They also complain that no impact assessments were carried out for the procedures.

In omnibus procedures, several existing legal provisions are changed in one legislative proposal. Further discussions and decisions on the reforms are due at EU level and in the member states by the end of 2026.

The planned changes could affect, among others, the guidelines on environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment, the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (FFH Directive) and the Water Framework Directive.

The critics warn that current protection regulations for species and habitats as well as examinations of possible consequences of projects for nature, water and soil could become less effective.

"What is being sold to us as a reduction in bureaucracy for the benefit of the economy is actually a frontal attack on nature and the EU's precautionary principle," said Martin Geilhufe, chairman of the Association for Nature Conservation in Bavaria.

Faster planning processes make sense, explained Geilhufe. However, in the midst of the climate and biodiversity crisis, they should not come at the expense of healthy nature. dpa/nd

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