Nature restoration legislation aims to regrow forests, re-wet swamps and return rivers to their natural, free-flowing state.
The law has proven controversial, particularly due to fears of heavy restrictions on farmers.
Ministers from 20 EU member states, representing 66 percent of the population, voted in favor.
The decision by EU member states was stalled until now because, despite initial agreement among senior diplomats last year, not enough national ministers were willing to support it.
The Chancellor supported the decision of the Austrian Environment Minister.But Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he will seek to overturn the decision in the EU's top court.
Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden voted against.
Belgium, which is currently responsible for chairing the negotiations between member states, abstained.
The conservation law sets a target for the EU to restore at least 20 percent of the bloc's land and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems by 2050.
Funding for the reforms is expected to come from both the private sector and member states' budgets, although some from EU programmes.According to EU data, about 80 percent of housing is in poor condition. Additionally, 10 percent of bee and butterfly species are in danger of extinction and 70 percent of soils are in unhealthy conditions.
EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius welcomed the ministers' decision, saying it was growing.
Confirming the adoption of the bill, the Belgian government said after the vote that it was "the final step before this law comes into force".
Specifically, what ministers approved builds on an agreement reached last year between European Parliament negotiators and the Spanish government, which was acting on behalf of all member states before Belgium came to power in January.Normally, the ministerial votes held on Monday are a little more than one. Formality, because such deals already represent carefully negotiated agreements between the Parliament and the respective common positions of the Member States.
When there are disagreements on these agreements, they emerge at the diplomatic level. But in this case, a large majority of senior diplomats had supported the agreement only last year.
Meanwhile, there have been major protests by farmers against, among other things, the constraints of EU regulations.The Nature Restoration Law was also controversial in the European Parliament. The bill passed in a parliamentary vote in February, but factions of the largest political faction in parliament, the European People's Party (EPP), voted against it.
After ministers approved the law on Monday, a coalition of environmental campaigners including the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement that the vote was "a major victory for Europe's nature and citizens who have long had to deal with the dangerous degradation of nature." Is kept."Demanding immediate action."
int/khz
The law has proven controversial, particularly due to fears of heavy restrictions on farmers.
Ministers from 20 EU member states, representing 66 percent of the population, voted in favor.
The decision by EU member states was stalled until now because, despite initial agreement among senior diplomats last year, not enough national ministers were willing to support it.
The Chancellor supported the decision of the Austrian Environment Minister.But Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he will seek to overturn the decision in the EU's top court.
Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden voted against.
Belgium, which is currently responsible for chairing the negotiations between member states, abstained.
The conservation law sets a target for the EU to restore at least 20 percent of the bloc's land and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems by 2050.
Funding for the reforms is expected to come from both the private sector and member states' budgets, although some from EU programmes.According to EU data, about 80 percent of housing is in poor condition. Additionally, 10 percent of bee and butterfly species are in danger of extinction and 70 percent of soils are in unhealthy conditions.
EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius welcomed the ministers' decision, saying it was growing.
Confirming the adoption of the bill, the Belgian government said after the vote that it was "the final step before this law comes into force".
Specifically, what ministers approved builds on an agreement reached last year between European Parliament negotiators and the Spanish government, which was acting on behalf of all member states before Belgium came to power in January.Normally, the ministerial votes held on Monday are a little more than one. Formality, because such deals already represent carefully negotiated agreements between the Parliament and the respective common positions of the Member States.
When there are disagreements on these agreements, they emerge at the diplomatic level. But in this case, a large majority of senior diplomats had supported the agreement only last year.
Meanwhile, there have been major protests by farmers against, among other things, the constraints of EU regulations.The Nature Restoration Law was also controversial in the European Parliament. The bill passed in a parliamentary vote in February, but factions of the largest political faction in parliament, the European People's Party (EPP), voted against it.
After ministers approved the law on Monday, a coalition of environmental campaigners including the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement that the vote was "a major victory for Europe's nature and citizens who have long had to deal with the dangerous degradation of nature." Is kept."Demanding immediate action."
int/khz
