**Farmers have long called for the change, due to the predator’s impact on livestock. But the move is also being denounced by environmental protection organizations.**
Should wolves, which have made a remarkable comeback in Europe over the last 20 years, continue to be strictly protected? At the end of December, the European Commission initiated a process that could lead, in the next few months or even years, to a downgrading of the species’ protection status. This change in status has long been called for by farming groups and certain countries due to the damage caused to livestock by this predator: France, in particular, has already expressed its support for a change in status and hopes that the European Union (EU) will “progress quickly” on the issue. Environmental protection organizations, however, are very concerned and are denouncing an initiative they believe has no scientific basis and whose potential consequences are still difficult to assess.
To widespread surprise, in September 2023, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put on the table the idea of a possible revision of the status of wolves, which have been “strictly protected” (appendix 2) under the Bern Convention since 1982. On December 20, the Commission moved from words to action by formally proposing to the EU Council that the wolf be made only a “protected” species (appendix 3). This change, if adopted, would pave the way for a modification of the EU’s Habitats Directive, which is a result of this convention.
Launched six months ahead of the EU elections in June 2024, this initiative is happening in the context of a heated political battle that is crystallizing over environmental, and particularly agricultural, issues. “President von der Leyen is deliberately sacrificing decades of conservation work for her political gain, echoing her political allies’s attempts to instrumentalize the wolf as a scapegoat for socio-economic problems in rural communities,” denounced Sabien Leemans, senior biodiversity policy officer at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s European Policy Office.
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**Farmers have long called for the change, due to the predator’s impact on livestock. But the move is also being denounced by environmental protection organizations.**
Should wolves, which have made a remarkable comeback in Europe over the last 20 years, continue to be strictly protected? At the end of December, the European Commission initiated a process that could lead, in the next few months or even years, to a downgrading of the species’ protection status. This change in status has long been called for by farming groups and certain countries due to the damage caused to livestock by this predator: France, in particular, has already expressed its support for a change in status and hopes that the European Union (EU) will “progress quickly” on the issue. Environmental protection organizations, however, are very concerned and are denouncing an initiative they believe has no scientific basis and whose potential consequences are still difficult to assess.
To widespread surprise, in September 2023, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put on the table the idea of a possible revision of the status of wolves, which have been “strictly protected” (appendix 2) under the Bern Convention since 1982. On December 20, the Commission moved from words to action by formally proposing to the EU Council that the wolf be made only a “protected” species (appendix 3). This change, if adopted, would pave the way for a modification of the EU’s Habitats Directive, which is a result of this convention.
Launched six months ahead of the EU elections in June 2024, this initiative is happening in the context of a heated political battle that is crystallizing over environmental, and particularly agricultural, issues. “President von der Leyen is deliberately sacrificing decades of conservation work for her political gain, echoing her political allies’s attempts to instrumentalize the wolf as a scapegoat for socio-economic problems in rural communities,” denounced Sabien Leemans, senior biodiversity policy officer at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s European Policy Office.
**Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/01/10/eu-may-lower-protection-status-of-wolves_6419483_114.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/01/10/eu-may-lower-protection-status-of-wolves_6419483_114.html)