Parliament weakens member states’ obligations under EU soil legislation

The European Parliament (EP) approved its position on the EU’s first soil law during a plenary vote on Wednesday (10 April), deleting some provisions agreed upon by environment MEPs. 

MEPs endorsed the Commission’s ambition to achieve healthy EU soils by 2050 and backed provisions forcing member states to monitor and assess the state of all soils on their territory.

However, compared to the text endorsed in the Environment Committee, they removed obligations to define and implement sustainable soil management practices.

The European Commission proposed the Soil Monitoring Law last July as part of the EU’s soil strategy, a blueprint to restore soil health and ensure that these are protected and managed sustainably.

Over 60% of EU soils are in an unhealthy state, according to data from the Joint Research Centre, the Commission’s research body.

The Parliament position was adopted with 336 votes in favour, 242 against and 33 abstentions.

“We are finally close to achieving a common European framework to protect our soils from degradation,” said Martin Hosjsik, the liberal MEP leading the work on the file at the Parliament.

“Farmers’ livelihoods and the food on our table depend on this non-renewable resource. That is why it is our responsibility to adopt the first piece of EU-wide legislation to monitor and improve soil health,” he added.

Weakened provisions

The Parliament plenary backtracked on changes to the legislation endorsed by the Environment Committee (ENVI) on 13 March, notably by deleting a legally binding timeline to improve the state of soils and rejecting references to voluntary targets for soil health restoration.

Additionally, the EP weakened provisions forcing member states to apply soil indicators, stating that national authorities “may” apply those that “best illustrate” specific soil characteristics.

The adopted text proposes a five-level classification to evaluate soil health – high, good, moderate ecological status, degraded and critical degraded. Only soils falling into the first two categories will be considered healthy.

A soil is categorised under one of the five categories depending on its performance on the proposed indicators, but yesterday’s tweak to the legislation opens the door for some indicators becoming voluntary.

Caroline Henzel, an associate policy officer for soil at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), criticised the plenary for “undermining” the compromise adopted by the ENVI committee, cautioning that it will be “up to the Council” to improve the legislation.

“By rejecting crucial obligations, a binding timeline, and requirements related to soil descriptors, the Parliament risks removing any actionable measures to effectively improve soil health,” said Henzel.

“This not only delays necessary action but also jeopardises ecosystem integrity, food security and farmers’ livelihoods,” she added.

Farmers praise text

Meanwhile, European young farmers’ organisation CEJA praised the Parliament’s vote for recognising the threats posed by land take – which refers to converting agricultural or natural land for urban development or infrastructure purposes.

The organisation chief Peter Meedendorp stated that while commitments could have been stronger, the  soil monitoring law is a “first step in the right direction.”

“Across Europe, we witness a concerning trend of rich arable land being consumed or fragmented by urbanisation and land artificialisation,” he added.

“These developments can pose a detrimental threat to soil health, compromising its ability to provide ecosystem services as well as restricting access to land for aspiring young farmers,” he underlined.

CEJA also praised the “gradual” five-level approach to soil health, noting that this can have an “encouraging effect” on soil managers who want to improve land management practices.

However, the organisation fears that some of the legislation’s elements, such as the “tier system approach” for assessing soil health, could burden national authorities and farmers.

On a similar note, Christiane Lambert, president of the influential European farming lobby COPA, praised the Parliament’s position as a “more pragmatic and realistic version” of the text proposed by the European Commission.

EU environment ministers are expected to adopt a common position during a Council meeting on 17 June, after the Parliament elections.

Interinstitutional negotiations on the file could start after the summer, with a new Parliament.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Alice Taylor]

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