Gentville finds an unpleasant surprise when taking office: European Commission awaits urgent explanation

Received a letter from the European Commission before the elections to the Seimas

The new Minister of the Environment, Simonas Gentvilas, learned last week that the Ministry of the Environment has not yet responded to the request from the European Commission, which was received on September 10, 2020, almost a month before the elections to the Seimas.

Marijus Gailius, Advisor to the Minister of the Environment, confirmed the information received by Delfi. He explained in detail what is indicated in the letter from the European Commission: “It establishes that the maximum forest area available under the limits of the Forestry Law” The EC has requested information on the circumstances of the adoption of this law, as well as the justification of the necessity and proportionality of the restriction. This week, the Forest Policy Group of the Ministry of the Environment reminded the new management of this request ”.

However, when it comes to the appeal of the European Commission, it is important to remember how things were in the first place. Amendments to the Forestry Law were initiated by eight “peasants”: Minister of the Environment K. Mažeika, Virginija Vingrienė, Kęstutis Bacvinka, Viktoras Rinkevičius, Audrys Šimas, Petras Nevulis, Valius Ąžuolas and Dainius Gaižauskas.

The amendments stipulate that a person or related persons cannot acquire more than 1,500 shares of the state or other owners. ha of forest land. The main conclusion was provided to the Seimas by the Rural Affairs Commission.

Environment Minister K. Mažeika, appointed in 2019, immediately promised that amendments to the law will be reintroduced in the near future, which would limit the amount of forest land that a person could acquire.

“We spoke with the possible chairman of the committee (of Seimas Environmental Protection – ELTA), the faction (of the Union of Greens and Peasants of Lithuania – ELTA) that we have to go back to this decision and adopt it in this spring session, because We see the concentration of forest lands increasing. Legal entities, especially foreign investment, are of concern. Forest lands are concentrated in the hands of foreign investors. We want the forests to be owned by us, the people of Lithuania, and everyone we can decide how to deal with them, ”said K. Mažeika, who started as a minister, in the 15min.lt study.

According to him, the proposed limit is 1.5 thousand. ha, but during the discussion it could remain at least 6, maximum – 10 thousand. say ah.

A few months after this interview, the Seimas approved the amendments. Seimas 2019 July 23 The approved amendments allow one or the related owners to acquire no more than 1.5 ha of forest land. However, this was vetoed by President Gitan Nausėda: the head of state returned to parliament a law that restricted the acquisition of forest land.

The initiators of the amendments then stated that their objective was to avoid the concentration of forest land and reduce the negative impact of industrial deforestation on the environment. However, G. Nausėda claimed that unscrupulous buyers would easily circumvent such restrictions through bogus transactions or division of ownership between individual entities. According to the president, this will not protect forests from logging, and people who bought more land before the amendments to the law go into effect would have a competitive advantage over other market participants who could no longer exceed this limit. .

The Seimas rejected the president’s veto

Seimas in 2019 August 22 rejected the veto of President G. Nausėda and approved the amendments to the Forest Law previously approved by the Seimas, which amount to 1,5 thousand. ha limits the available forest area. 90 members of the Seimas voted in favor of rejecting the veto, 8 against.

The Seimas Rural Affairs Commission also proposed to the Seimas not to support President Nausėda’s veto on the Forest Acquisition Restrictions Law and to pass the entire law without amendment. The commission voted unanimously in favor of this proposal.

However, although the amendments were initiated by members of the “campesinos” group, they were also supported by some conservatives who were then working in the opposition. Kazys Starkevičius, a parliamentarian from the Lithuanian Christian Democratic faction Patria Union, commenting on the presidential veto in the Seimas, stated that G. Nausėda’s motives are incomprehensible.

“This is a naive saying (which will flout the law – ELTA), because the owner himself, when buying land, will declare how much land he already has, and faces criminal responsibility. There is a concept of “related persons”. (…) In each case, you do not know to whom those shares (ELTA) will be sold in the future in high concentrations. (…) Incomprehensible reasons for the welfare state, because the more people enjoy the good, the richer we are, because that concentration in one hand in any branch is not the engine of the economy ”, said K. Starkevičius.

At that time, the former member of the Seimas S. Gentvilas took a completely different position and criticized the proposed amendments. He said the law would not work because it could be easily circumvented.

“I made six proposals, all of which were rejected. (…) The aliens are once again intimidated. (…) These forestry restrictions will be circumvented through countless subsidiaries and the National Payment Agency will not be able to verify the shareholders of companies based abroad in any way. The victims of such a law will be small forest owners and law-abiding corporations. The winners of this law will be the forestry companies in the shadow of the UAB. (…) This law is fiction ׅ ”, S. Gentvilas resented.

Gentville believes it is necessary to change the law

However, it is now clear that the restriction imposed by members of the Seimas from the previous legislature has received a backlash from the European Commission. The Ministry of the Environment received the request from the EC on 09/10/2020.

According to the interpretation of the EC, the amendments to the Forest Law adopted by the Seimas, which establish the maximum available area of ​​forest land for individuals (1500 ha), contradict one of the essential principles of the EU – free movement of capital.

2019 the same arguments were presented by the Department of European Law of the Ministry of Justice, but the majority of the Peasants and Greens in the Seimas ignored the comments and passed a law that was clearly in conflict with EU law.

While still in the Seimas, S. Gentvilas actively spoke out against such a restriction. The current minister then appealed to the president for a veto. President G. Nausėda vetoed the law, however, the majority of the Seimas rejected the veto and approved the law “, – M. Gailius, Advisor to the Minister of the Environment, indicated in the answer” Delfi “.

As Delfi learned, although the request from the EC was received on September 10 of last year, it has not yet been answered, the response has not even begun, only last week the new direction of the ministry reported that said letter had been received. .

“The former Minister of the Environment received a request from the EC on September 10, 2020, but on October 22, 2020 he asked the European Commission for more time: postpone the response for three months, that is,” transfer “the response to another environment minister, “Gailius said.

What should Lithuania do now to prevent infringement proceedings? Otherwise, Lithuania may face a fine.

M. Gailius gave the following answer to this question: “The Seimas must change the restrictions established by the Forest Law for the acquisition of forest land. The Ministry of the Environment must present a response to the European Commission on concrete actions agreed with the Ministry of Justice before 02/17/2021. No formal infringement procedure has been started for the restriction of private forest plots, but it is very likely that if no response is received before 02/17/2021 ”.

Delfi recalls that, in addition to this warning from the EC and possible infringement procedures, the Minister of the Environment S. Gentvilas inherited three other infringement procedures directed to the Ministry of the Environment, related to the Directives on wastewater, habitats and waste.

K. Mažeika believes that it is not necessary to change the law

About this situation, Delfi contacted the former Minister of the Environment, and now a member of the Seimas K. Mažeika, who was asked why he asked the European Commission to postpone for three months the answer that the arguments took longer .

More arguments were probably needed, because we see that the interests of foreign capital in terms of the acquisition of our forests and the price difference limit the right of Lithuanian citizens to acquire forests. In this case, in line with the trend of Lithuanian forests being managed by foreign capital companies in large areas, our aim was to conserve forests for Lithuanian citizens. The more owners, people who have the right to the forest, the better the quality of life should be in Lithuania. We needed time to prepare the arguments, because I think this interpretation is only useful for large buyers of foreign forests ”, said K. Mažeika.

The Seimas member did not agree with the position of the European Commission that the restriction on the acquisition of forest land of more than 1,500 ha is illegal and contrary to European legislation.

“I do not agree. That is why we are looking for arguments. And I also do not agree that raw wood is exported from Lithuania. I think we must look for ways to create added value and jobs here in Lithuania,” he said.

Although Lithuania may be threatened with infringement proceedings if this restriction is not lifted, K. Mažeika does not intend to support the lifting of this restriction in the Seimas and will offer the current leadership to seek arguments and discuss with the European Commission that we are losers. here.

“Foreign-owned companies that manage and can buy forests for a much higher value are simply competing with the local population, who could buy the forest and possibly convert that forest into reserves, not cut it down, not just actively participate in economic activities. This is a priority, ”says K. Mažeika.

After the former Minister of the Environment transferred control to the new direction of the Ministry, the latter found three infringement procedures initiated by the European Commission: relating to the Directives on Wastewater, Habitats and Waste. K. Mažeika states that these violations have persisted since the leadership of the previous minister and that a large part of them have been corrected.

“I also found the same violations. In a year and a half, in the case of a breach of the Wastewater Directive, we have practically corrected more than half of the breaches, and there are still two years to correct the remaining breaches, which is undoubtedly enough time. The habitat levels have also been the subject of infringement procedures, which have remained under the direction of Kęstutis Navickas. These were outdated issues and there were no new violations. We have made a great effort to resolve them as soon as possible, and we hope that we will, ”said K. Mažeika.