Takaisin MTK calls the EU Commission to rewrite the forest strategy

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MTK calls the EU Commission to rewrite the forest strategy

29.06.2021

MTK sent a statement to the EU Commission highlighting the need of strong and balanced EU forest strategy, where the forest policy belongs to the Member States. MTK calls the EU Commission to rewrite the forest strategy and follow the Parliament's points.

Forests and the forest sector provide significant welfare for Europe. The sector directly employs 500,000 people and has indirectly almost 3 million employees.
Forests and the forest sector provide significant welfare for Europe. The sector directly employs 500,000 people and has indirectly almost 3 million employees.

 

MTK sent a statement to the EU Commission on 24 June 2021 to highlight that the EU needs a strong and balanced forest strategy, but the forest policy belongs to the Member States.

The EU needs a strong forest strategy to utilize the potential of forests. However, the Union has shared competence with the Member States in several policy areas, such as energy, agriculture and the environment, which all have strong connections to forests and national forest decision making. For this reason, the Union needs a coherent, strong and effective forestry strategy that creates a framework for that competence.

MTK requires the Commission to rewrite the forest strategy and follow the European Parliament's points on the forest strategy. The leaked Commission version of the strategy does not seem to consider the views of the Council or the democratically elected Parliament: this raises an immediate discussion of transparency and the state of democracy of which the Commission has itself stated strongly in the Union.

The importance and potential of forests are enormous to promote sustainable development and transition to a fossil-free economy. It is urgent to recognize all pillars of benefitting the forests: economic, social and ecological pillars need to be in balance to manage forests sustainably. Now, the European Commission is only highlighting the ecological side, which is jeopardizing the multifunctional use of forests.

Forests and the forest sector provide significant welfare for Europe. The sector directly employs 500,000 people and has indirectly almost 3 million employees. There are 16 million private forest owners in Europe and much of the € 12 billion in timber trade incomes benefit rural areas where there are only a few alternative business opportunities. Future opportunities will not be scrapped by a poor forest strategy.

 

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