Skip to content
Adopted text

Standing Forest and Forestry Expert Group

TA-10-2025-0241 · P10_TA(2025)0241 · PE766.936

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament's amended version of the proposal to amend Council Decision 89/367/EEC renames the Standing Forestry Committee as the Standing Forest and Forestry Expert Group and updates its tasks and composition. The expert group shall advise the Commission on forest-related Union policies, assist in preparing initiatives, foster cooperation and knowledge exchange, and formulate opinions that the Commission must consider and provide feedback on. Member States are encouraged to designate national experts, and the group's chair may present its annual working plan to the European Parliament.

Key points

  1. The Standing Forestry Committee is renamed the Standing Forest and Forestry Expert Group, reflecting its role as an expert group rather than a comitology committee.
  2. The expert group shall advise the Commission on any aspect of forests and forestry arising from relevant Union policies, on its own initiative or at a Member State's request.
  3. It shall assist the Commission in preparing and implementing legislative proposals, strategies, communications, guidelines or other initiatives with significant impact on forests or forestry.
  4. It shall provide advice to ensure an adequate contribution of Member States' forestry sector to Union objectives, promoting coherence and eliminating inconsistencies between Union policies, and addressing their cumulative impact and compatibility with subsidiarity and proportionality.
  5. It shall enhance cooperation between the Commission and Member States, including under the common agricultural policy, considering sustainability, synergies between forests and agriculture, and socio-economic development of forest-dominant rural areas.
  6. It shall foster exchange of knowledge and good practices, act as a forum on emerging issues and multiple forest functions, and exchange views on applicability and implications of Union policies.
  7. It shall seek synergies and avoid conflicts between national and Union forest-related policies, considering international developments.
  8. It shall formulate opinions on relevant legislative proposals and initiatives; the Commission shall take them into consideration and provide feedback on how it did so.
  9. The European Parliament and the Council may assign other temporary tasks to the expert group on a proposal from the Commission.
  10. Each Member State shall be invited and strongly encouraged to designate national experts and facilitate their participation in meetings.
  11. Member States shall nominate representatives ensuring active engagement of relevant authorities, able to represent their interests and experience on all relevant policy objectives.
  12. The expert group shall be chaired by a Commission representative, who may present its annual working plan to the European Parliament.

Who is affected

  • The Commission, which receives advice and opinions from the expert group and must consider them.
  • Member States, which are encouraged to designate experts and nominate representatives from relevant authorities.
  • The forestry sector and forest-dominant rural areas, which benefit from enhanced cooperation and socio-economic development.