JAKARTA — The European Union (EU) will be facing a series of lawsuits filed at the World Trade Organization (WTO) by countries being discriminated by its regulations, Indonesian Ambassador to European Union (EU) said.

Indonesian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and EU, Andri Hadi said that the lawsuits will include those filed by palm oil producing countries, including Indonesia. “Possibly, next year the WTO will have to try many trade cases. It seems that due to its regulations, the EU will harvest many lawsuits from many countries, including from palm oil producing countries like Indonesia,” Ambassador Andri Hadi was quoted by Elaeis.co as saying recently.

According to Andri, one of the regulations of EU that is considered to have hindered palm oil is the European Green Deal as contained in European Union Climate Law (EUCL) that has been adopted by the European Council and European Parliament on 21 April 2021. The regulation was designed to meet the target of reducing emissions up to 55% in 2030 and net zero emission in 2050.

Andri said the EU’s ambitious target will affect Indonesia’s palm oil exports to Europe. “This is quite a tough challenge as its 27 member countries are very obedient to the policies of EU parliament,” he said.

He noted that besides Indonesia, China, India, and even the USA are expected to file lawsuits against the EU’s European Green Deal at WTO. “The target is very ambitious. As a result, all sectors will be affected by the European Green Deal, including palm oil,” he added.

But Andri said that regarding the palm oil the EU is taking an ambiguous position. The EU member countries are required to use biodiesel for their transportation sector. But while allowing the use of any vegetable oils to produce biodiesel, the EU requires that the vegetable oils are produced without causing deforestation, a ploy that is designed to vilify the palm oil with baseless environmental accusations, including deforestation.

“The EU has only required that the vegetable oils used for biodiesel production are not produced by causing deforestation. Seemingly, such requirement is aimed at targeting the palm oil which has been always attributed by the EU to the cause of deforestation,” he said.

Andri doubted the true intention of the European Green Deal as it seems hiding the real intention to protect their vegetable oils which are outcompeted by the palm oil.

The EU has been repeatedly facing lawsuits filed by palm oil producing countries, especially Indonesia and Malaysia. On 19 December 2019, Indonesia filed a lawsuit against the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) and Delegated Regulation at the WTO. The two regulations are considered to have discriminated Indonesia’s palm oil products. Then in 2020, Indonesia filed a lawsuit at the WTO against the EU black campaigns and higher tariff on palm oil if compared to other vegetable oils. “All of the lawsuits are still being processed by the WTO,” he said. (*)

Source: wartaekonomi.co.id |  Featured image via worldwildlife.org