Oh, the GAIA-loving nanny-staters behind the hallowed halls of the headquarters of the European Union Green grifting brain trust.
What have they wrought now?
Why, it's almost too delicious to contemplate.
Back in December of 2022, I told you all about a law the EU had enacted, which would require imports to meet the same deforestation standards that EU products originating IN the EU were required to meet. With all sorts of traceability requirements for proof, etc.
The irony was that the EU passed this law as the continent had forests being decimated to burn for wood stoves, thanks to the Russian-Ukraine War and ensuing energy crisis price spikes.
Well, hello there, Irony. How are ya?
The European Union is very proud of its environmental record, as we all know. In fact, they’re the masters of cutting off their green noses to spite their cold faces. In a rich display of environmental hypocrisy, the powers in Brussels touted a new law they’d enacted at the beginning of the month.
The European Union has agreed a new law that would ban the import of products linked to deforestation.
Household goods such as coffee, chocolate, and some furniture will have to pass strict checks to ensure forests weren’t damaged to create them.
It's known as the European Deforestation Act and is meant to protect the forested world that trades with the EU from further devastation, one coffee bean and cow fart at a time.
Predictably, the EU's developing world trade partners had themselves a serious case of "Who are you again?"
...The countries, many of them developing nations, that make up a big share of the European Union’s imports are about up to here with Brussels dictating how they run their industries. It’s all well and good for Europe to have run through their own forests and natural resources – or decided to hoard what’s left of the same. They are warning the Europeans now not to be bringing their Green initiatives to the contract table when it’s time to order some coffee or aluminum.
It’s a classic sort of “You’re not the boss of us” David vs Goliath case. Only there’s a bunch of Davids.
The EU’s green ambitions are, for its trading partners, turning into a case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
Developing nations, especially, worry that Brussels is throwing up trade barriers in its pursuit of climate neutrality and sustainable food production. To them, it looks like all the EU can export is rules that will hold back their own economic progress.
…One third-country diplomat said it was easy for the EU to take a stand on deforestation in the developing world, having already deforested its own land in the past.
The row even exploded into a truly classic confrontation between a snide BBC reporter and, of all people, the President of Guyana, who put the smarmy climate crusader in his place epically.
...President Ali, countered the journalist's query that Guyana's extraction of oil and gas will lead to more than two billion metric tonnes of carbon emissions from its coast, saying, "Do you know that Guyana has a forest forever that is the size of England and Scotland combined? A forest that stores 19.5 Gigatons of carbon, a forest that we have kept alive."
On this, the journalist questioned him about whether that would give Guyana the right to extract oil and gas and release emissions.
The President said, "Does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change. I am going to lecture you on climate change because we have kept this forest alive. The store's 19.5 gigatons of carbon that you enjoy, that the world enjoys, that you don't pay us for, that you don't value, that you don't see a value in, that the people of Guyana has kept alive."
All common sense and protestations to the contrary, Von der Leyen and her cohort of climate cult Bond villains refused to cede any ground. Ergo said law had an 18-month long grace period and takes effect on 30 December 2024. Consulting firms are already warning US companies what they need to know to be in compliance.
Due diligence requirements under the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) will apply starting on December 30, 2024, setting in motion a landmark regulation to prevent products linked to deforestation and forest degradation from being placed on the EU market.
The EUDR effectively prohibits the import, sale, or export of certain commodities and derivatives within the EU unless they are deforestation-free, produced in accordance with relevant local laws in their country of production, and covered by a due diligence statement submitted electronically to an information system accessible to competent and customs authorities. As described in further detail below, the EUDR will impact US companies that export covered commodities to the EU – either directly or indirectly through an EU supplier.
The EUDR entered into force on June 29, 2023, repealing the EU Timber Regulation, which focused primarily on illegal logging. The EUDR’s regulatory ambition is broader, aiming to curb global forest degradation and deforestation, protect biodiversity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by placing significant new obligations and restrictions on companies that import, export, or sell certain products in the EU.
But it's not all moonlight and unicorn farts in the land of Von der Leyen. A touch of panic is beginning to set in as member nations begin to realize that developing countries may not be anywhere close to meeting the requirements. With the unsettling realization that the EU's supply chains are nowhere near as robust as they'd been made out to be.
DID ANYONE THINK THIS THROUGH FIRST?
Germany was the first to throw the flag at the beginning of the month.
As lawmakers clash this month over whether to stick with rigid enforcement of the EU’s new Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), with obligations set to take effect in December, companies have been left questioning whether they should move forward with urgent reporting and certification preparation.
Earlier this month, German Food and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir asked the European Commission to postpone the regulation’s application by six months to 1 July 2025, saying: “The Commission must finally come out of the summer break and provide clarity,” he wrote. “I take the concerns of companies, agriculture and forestry, and the countries very seriously. Companies need sufficient time to prepare.”
He added: “This also applies to countries with small-scale production structures. Otherwise, supply chains threaten to break at the end of the year – to the detriment of the German and European economy, small farmers in third countries, and consumers.”
YOICKS
That sounds grim. Members of the EU Parliament were trying to drive home the message.
...Peter Liese, a powerful member of the Parliament’s Environment Committee, agreed and called the legislation a “bureaucratic monster” which could threaten the EU’s animal feed supply and disrupt trade in many consumer goods.
📢 28 organizations are calling for a delay of the #EUDR. While combating #deforestation is essential, more time and clearer guidance are needed to avoid economic disruption, job losses, and market instability. We urge the 🇪🇺 to act quickly.
— FEFAC (@FEFAC_EU) September 25, 2024
Read more 👉 https://t.co/5gzbhuy9lU pic.twitter.com/YuvV0M96Dq
The mucky-mucks at the EU announced today that all the supplicants for mercy could suck stones.
The European Union (EU) has informed the WTO members that it will not postpone the implementation of its deforestation regulation despite objections from major agriculture-exporting countries, including Brazil, India, Indonesia, and the US, an official said.
..."At the Agriculture Committee meeting today, the EU announced that it will not postpone the application of the EUDR, defying the outcry from major agriculture-exporting countries, including Brazil, India, Indonesia, and the US," a Geneva-based official said.
The development assumes significance as, according to a report of the economic think tank GTRI, India's exports of products like coffee, leather hides, and paperboard worth $1.3 billion annually to the European Union will be impacted due to the deforestation regulation.
The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that the EUDR appears to prioritise protecting its own agricultural sector and promoting exports, making imports more difficult as it is a trade barrier disguised as a green measure.
The regulation covers cattle, buffalo, the meat of bovine animals, preparations, oil cake, soya beans, palm oil, cocoa beans, powder, chocolate, coffee, leather hide, skin, paper, paperboard, wood, wood articles, wood pulp, boards, and wood furniture.
The exporters now have to ensure that these products have been grown on land that has not been deforested after December 31, 2020. The new rules will apply to large firms after 18 months and small firms after 24 months. Thus, the timeline for large firms is December 2024 and for small firms is June 2025.
Welp. There may not be the normal influx of goods as most of these exporters seem to be dazed, confused, and not ready to chance trying to ship something into the Union.
#Cocoa operators in legal limbo as @EU_Commission fails to update #EUDR guidelines, #cocoa prices enjoy a slight increase on the markets and #Russia sets up its own cocoa trading exchange. Read below - sign up for the free newsletter for more. https://t.co/ULzYLQXBIX pic.twitter.com/rZwWyrxoPx
— From The Desk of Cocoa Radar (@cocoaradar) September 26, 2024
Even US paper producers are throwing a caution flag, saying "We can't make heads nor tails of what you want us to trace."
We support what the EU is trying to achieve with EUDR. However, the complexity of the traceability requirement puts trade between the EU and U.S. at risk. We broke down the traceability requirement and why U.S. producers will struggle to comply. https://t.co/X76mV9IFiV pic.twitter.com/IAKR2cm8LN
— AF&PA (@ForestandPaper) September 25, 2024
Critical shortages of everyday, across-the-board necessities are suddenly a very real possibility due to the complexity and expense of complying with the climate cult lunacy the brahmins of Brussels refuse to compromise on.
Shortages of things like coffee, cocoa...toilet paper.
It's probably not a stretch to say that impeding the delivery of, oh, say, toilet paper would cause no end of concern and mistrust on the part of EU citizens.
They might even be really pissed...especially when what they have on hand all ran out.
On #EUDR our chairman @ManfredWeber is right in his letter to @EU_Commission „application of the regulation as planned would further
— Andreas Schwab @ASchwab.bsky.social (@Andreas_Schwab) September 26, 2024
endanger citizens’ trust in the EU institutions“ @EPPGroup @EP_SingleMarket
Contrary to the assertions contained in the report issued by the EU earlier today (in an attempt to deflect blame for their lagging popularity as a whole), it would in no way be attributable to Europeans not embracing the culture of illegal immigrants.
To bastardize an Eddie Murphy quote, the smug EU ruling class "brought that Schiltz on themselves."
I'll bet governments have fallen over less than this.
People can only take so much.
Let the hoarding begin.
BEEGE UPDATE: I wanted to give you all an inkling of the penalties these foreign firms who normally export goods to the EU are facing if they attempt to do so once this goes into effect and they are found out of compliance. So, I pulled Bingley's explanation out of the comments as he deals with this all the time.
What the EU authorities have legislated (but yet to finalize, hello) is really stunning.
While it seems right to tell them to wipe it the problem these companies face is that the fines for 'non-compliance' with rules and procedures that have not yet been finalized is that the penalties begin at 4% of a company's turnover. Not profits, not net income but turnover. It is insane.
They're mad as sneks.
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