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Deforestation Regulation (debate)
The proposal of this directive has very ambitious goals. In my opinion, in many areas, it is too ambitious. I would like the directives we adopt to present realistic goals that would benefit European citizens and our partners. What I noticed in the position of Parliament to the regulation in question is that it proposes the extension of the scope of the draft to many other product groups, i.e. pigs, sheep, geese and other poultry, palm oil-based products, grain and rubber. This will largely increase the administrative and financial burdens of the proposal without bringing any significant increase in its effectiveness, as these additional groups do not affect the process of deforestation and degradation of forests. The Commission proposed the following products to be covered by the regulation: palm oil, soya, wood, beef (cattle), cocoa and coffee, which in my opinion is already a very ambitious target. I also strongly believe that since this regulation considerably affects developing countries, like Indonesia or Malaysia, they should also be involved in the process and properly consulted, especially, as we all have the same goal – to stop deforestation and degradation of the world’s forests.