Finnish Minister of Environment cites prime example of EU interventions: ’Describes the regulatory pandemic prevailing in the EU’
The regulation imposed by the EU on forests is excessive and highly detailed, says Kai Mykkänen, Minister of Climate and the Environment in an interview with the communication agency Audiomedia.
In the opinion of Kai Mykkänen, Minister of Climate and the Environment (Coalition Party), the binding climate and nature initiatives of the EU Commission contain provisions that are too detailed.
’A good example is the passage in the Deforestation Regulation which sets out to regulate the construction of production-related buildings on individual farms – something that is of no significance given the extent of forests in Finland. This illustrates the regulatory pandemic prevailing in the EU,’ Mykkänen says.
’The EU competence shouldn’t reach down to the level we’ve seen with such instruments as the Nature Restoration and Deforestation Regulations and with biodiversity issues,’ Mykkänen says to Audiomedia.
Finland is the most widely forested country in Europe. 75 percent of its area consists of forest. The next most forested countries are Sweden (74 percent), Montenegro (70), Slovenia (63), Latvia (56) and Spain (55).
According to data from 2015, Finland’s share of the area of forests and other wooded land in all of Europe was 11 percent.
Taxonomy creates bureaucracy
The EU’s Deforestation Regulation became effective last summer. It is estimated to cause massive red tape for the forest sector. Forest.fi wrote about hundreds of thousands of new reference numbers needed to keep track of the forest property from which the timber used in a given product comes.
Mykkänen speaks of the taxonomy binding on those providing finance and says this intervenes with forest use in very specific details. This taxonomy is a classification for investors showing which investment objects are environmentally sustainable and more attractive than ’non-green’ objects.
’It’s important that the next Commission and Parliament adopt a different attitude towards observing the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. The EU should take a clear stand on a few general directions and leave the details to the Member States,’ Mykkänen considers.
A better balance should be achieved in the move away from fossil raw materials and in adopting a more sustainable course vis-à-vis climate issues in Europe.
’The Commission is now sending the clear message that the Green Deal must be a deal of industrial carbon management. This shows that the focus is clearly moving in a direction favourable for Finland, with a more balanced and diversified understanding of the climate policy instruments than before,’ Mykkänen notes.
By industrial carbon management, Mykkänen has formerly referred to such methods as nuclear power, carbon dioxide recovery and bioproducts which act as carbon storages.
