Centre-right groups vote through additional EUDR deforestation delays

Just weeks before it was about to come into force, centre-right political groups led by the European People’s Party have joined in voting to deliver an additional major delay to EUDR deforestations legislation by a further 12 months, reports Neill Barston.

The landmark legislation, which was hailed as a setting a new global gold standard, was agreed in 2023, yet has already been subjected to an additional year’s setback from the end of last year, as conservatives expressed concerns over the impact on businesses across Europe.

Amid a politically tense atmosphere, MEPs voted by a margin of 402-250 in favour of granting an additional delay, in the wake of the EU Commission stating recently that its IT infrastructure was incapable of starting the EUDR policy from next month – only to deliver a revised position that it advised going ahead with it from December 2025.

The German government had been among the most vocal in the EU in calling for the extra delays, including from EPP leader Christine Schneider. She reportedly told parliament: “A one year postponement for all companies is essential to give authorities and operators the time needed to implement the rules properly.”

Today’s vote, which requires final ratification, will means that the legislation will now come into force from December 2026 for large and medium-sized businesses, and smaller companies from mid 2027 (though their reporting requirements are now minimal).

Landmark laws
The regulations, which impact on cocoa, palm, soy and other commodities including rubber and paper, have sought to provide world-first in holding companies legally accountable for zero deforestation in their respective supply chains.

But anti regulation sentiment within right wing political groups, which hold a large section of the European Parliament, have consistently sought to raise issue with the policy, with some groups even calling for it to be delayed for an additional two years on top of the present year’s delay.

However, key confectionery companies including Ferrero, Nestle,  Mars, and Tony’s Chocolonely, which had all invested notably to meet compliance requirements expected to b be in force by next month were among signatories calling for the policy to be fully delivered as anticipated from December 2025, campaigning under the banner of #EUDRnow.

They had argued that any further delay beyond the year that had been agreed in the process gave no additional guarantees that alleged issues over EU Commission IT infrastructure or other aspects of the proposals would be resolved by that point in time.

As previously reported, the legislation has now already been significantly weakened due to industrial and political lobbying, with the legislation now essentially only applying to companies employing 500 people or more. Smaller firms will have far less reporting requirements.

Under the terms of the vote today, it was proposed that the EU Commission puts forward yet more modifications to its proposals by April 2026 – which would be the third time this has come before EU Parliament.

Commenting on the result on Linkedin, Netherlands-based Catarina Viera, MEP for the GroenLinks-PvdA party commented: “Mere days after the COP where we call for global action on climate, today’s EUDR vote is another masterclass in self-sabotage. The EPP strikes again, this time to hollow out one of the Green Deal’s key tools against deforestation.”

The result of the vote prompted considerable concern from environmental groups including the WWF, which believed that the EU Commission should have acted in a clearer manner surrounding supposed IT issues.

“What started as an IT issue has morphed into a chaotic and unmanageable situation. The European Commission must urgently clean up this mess and take back control,” said Anke Schulmeister – Oldenhove, Policy Manager for Forests at WWF European Policy Office.

As the organisation noted, the situation the legislation is now in is considerably at odds with its original golds.

The WFF added: “When the European Commission flagged IT problems as a potential obstacle to the application of the regulation in October, policy-makers should have focused on fixing a technical issue to move forward. Instead, the matter has been seized upon by the Council and Parliament as a pretext to reopen the file, weaken it and create massive uncertainty around EUDR implementation.”

Pending final approval, the EUDR policies would now effectively be put back a further year until the end of 2026 – but with further proposals to come before the EU Parliament in April of next year, there are not assurances that this additional timeline will itself hold.