A group of nongovernmental organizations will go to court to seek to reverse European Union member countries’ decision to downgrade the protection status of the wolf.
The decision by EU countries, which is yet to be legislated, would make it easier for farmers to shoot the large carnivore in cases of attacks.
Five conservation groups are taking their case to the EU’s top court in Luxembourg alleging that the decision by the Council of the EU was not in line with existing EU environmental legislation and therefore a breach of the bloc’s treaties, they announced Wednesday.
The NGOs — Green Impact, Earth, Nagy Tavak, LNDC Animal Protection and One Voice — argue that EU countries and the European Commission “ignored or undervalued a series of scientific reports of international relevance” when preparing the EU’s position for the Bern Convention meeting in December.
The Court of Justice of the EU will now look at the case and rule in a few months.
In the meantime, the decision by the Bern Convention to lower the protection level of wolves in Europe from “strictly protected” to “protected” is set to apply from March 7.
The Commission is expected to put forward in the coming months a legislative proposal to enact that change in EU law by modifying the Habitats Directive. This aims to give more flexibility to national authorities to grant derogations to kill problematic wolves threatening farmers’ livestock.
If the EU’s top court was to rule in the NGOs’ favor it would make the decision of the Bern Convention null and void, meaning that the Commission would consequently not be able to propose the modification of the Habitats Directive as it plans on doing after March 7.
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