| Dear readers,
A majority of EU member states gave the final green light to the Nature Restoration Law on Monday (17 June) during a Council meeting in Luxembourg, marking the last step for one of the Green Deal’s most controversial files.
A last-minute position change from Austria, announced on Sunday by Vienna’s environment minister Leonore Gewessler, paved the way for the approval.
Slovakia, which had previously publicly voiced doubts about the proposal, also backed the text during the crucial vote, allowing the law to pass with a narrow majority of 20 countries representing 66% of the EU’s population. The threshold for approval by a qualified majority at the Council is 65%.
Countries such as Italy, Sweden, and Finland had long opposed the text. Hungary dropped its support in March, just ahead of the final vote. Poland subsequently indicated that it would no longer support the proposal.
EU negotiators from the European Parliament and Council had reached a hard-fought agreement on the legislation in November. | 
