Cutting Deals: Transnational Advocacy Networks and the European Union Timber Regulation at the Eastern Border

ABSTRACT

The European Union’s (EU) Green Deal gives increased attention to the sustainability of international product cycles by implementing ‘due diligence’ requirements. We examine the difficulties in the implementation of the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) in two countries with weak management capacities such as Romania and Ukraine. We find that domestic and transnational civil society actors can support the implementation of due diligence requirements mainly by challenging the dominant position of private and state actors engaged in cutting deals with the EU-based wood industry, as well as contributing to increasing politicisation, raising awareness and public mobilisation.

KEYWORDS:

• corruption
• illegal forest activities
• civil society
• Green Deal
• Ukraine
• due diligence

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the UACES Research Network ‘The Role of Europe in Global Challenges: Climate Change and Sustainable Development’ for the organisation of a dedicated online workshop. We thank the co-editors for bringing this special issue to fruition, as well as the journal editors and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The Jean Monnet Network ‘Governing the EU’s climate and energy transition in turbulent times’ (GOVTRAN:  www.govtran.eu), which is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, deserves credit for additional support.

Notes

¹ Several ministerial orders (OM) and government decisions (HG) were issued, without implementation: OM 583/2008 SUMAL Methodology; OM 584/2008 ITRSV SUMAL Accord; OM 596/2014 SUMAL Testing; HG nr. 1.004/2016 on the origin, movement and marketing of timber; and finally HG 497/2020 on the origin, movement and marketing of timber and implementation of EC Regulation 995/2010. The latest updated version of SUMAL was launched in Romania on 30 January 2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Simona Davidescu

Simona Davidescu is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of York, York, United Kingdom, and a Research Fellow with the EU-Asia Institute, ESSCA School of Management, Angers, France.

Aron Buzogány

Aron Buzogány is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Forest, Environmental, and Natural Resource Policy, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria. Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @BuzoganyA