Commissioner Roswall Addresses Landowners and Hunters on EU Wildlife Rules

European Commissioner Jessika Roswall delivered a keynote speech in Brussels at a wildlife management conference assessing the resilience of the EU’s core environmental laws. Addressing lawmakers, landowners, and hunting advocates at the 'Stress Test of the Nature Directives' event, Roswall opened discussions with key interest groups including the European Landowners' Organisation and FACE, the European Federation for Hunting and Conservation, on how the EU handles species management and conservation rules following a summer marked by environmental strain.

The EU’s Nature Directives—comprising the Birds and Habitats Directives—form the legal groundwork protecting European biodiversity across all member states. How these rules are interpreted and enforced directly affects what farmers, foresters, and private landowners can do on their land, as well as how national authorities handle growing tensions between rural economies and strictly protected wild species.

Wildlife management is one of the EU’s most reliably tense legislative battlegrounds, bringing environmental campaigners, agricultural lobbies, and national ministers into direct opposition. Convening hunters, landowners, and MEPs in the same room reflects the European Commission’s perpetual balancing act: keeping rural stakeholders engaged while defending the legal integrity of EU environmental law against demands for deregulation.

The Commission will evaluate input from landowners, hunters, and European parliamentarians as discussions continue over how to apply flexible management tools within the framework of existing EU wildlife law.