The European Union is facing a budget reform that could seriously damage nature conservation. The European Commission's proposal merges existing financial programmes into a single €409 billion "Competitiveness Fund", as Marianne Gros and Leonie Cater report in Politico.
However, the move raises concerns as biodiversity loses dedicated funding and has to compete with other objectives such as climate change or the circular economy. Conservationists warn that funds will go to industrial projects while environmental programmes will remain underfunded.
According to Esther Asin, Director of WWF's European office, threatens to "biodiversity will be sidelined in favour of industrial priorities that can be presented as green investments". The EU already faces an annual deficit of €37 billion on biodiversity, according to the Commission. The LIFE programme, with €5.45 billion so far, will be merged with funds for digitalisation and defence. Money for nature protection will thus merge with the general objective of "environment and climate".
The Commission says 35 % of the budget - around €700 billion - will support the European Green Deal, with 43 % of the Competitiveness Fund going to climate and environmental objectives. Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for the Environment, told Politico: "This budget takes a comprehensive approach to the issue. We have good legislation, but we need results".
Sustainability should be a horizontal priority, underpinned by the principle of "do no harm".However, Anouk Puymartin from Birdlife Europe warns: "This is a devastating blow to European nature". Cornelius Müller, an expert on sustainable banking, stresses the need to integrate sustainability into the budget structure.
Without transparent monitoring, the targets risk remaining a PR exercise, as Asinova points out. Other sources, such as the WWF report (2025) and Birdlife Europe's analysis (2025), confirm that the lack of dedicated funds threatens biodiversity and water resilience, which is a particular concern for countries such as Spain and Portugal.
Politico/gnews.cz - GH
English 
Czech 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
Russian 
Chinese 
German