The Challenge of Strict Protection:
Under the current legal framework, wolves are under strict protection in Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Annex IV of the EU’s Habitats Directive. This status has significantly limited the flexibility of Member States to adapt their management practices to increasing wolf populations, leading to administrative and legal challenges. These restrictions have not only placed a burden on the Member States, but have impacted the local acceptance wolves themselves, often to their detriment.

Key Points of the Proposal:

• Solidarity and Choice: Member States are not obliged to change their protection status. But for those with wolves in favourable conservation status interested in a status change, a path to greater flexibility now lies ahead – creating the option to change the protection status possibly in the future.
• Balancing Act: It aims to balance conservation with practical management needs, facilitating conflict resolution in rural areas without compromising conservation goals.
• Conservation Status Considerations: Despite continued population growth, the proposal notes that this does not automatically translate to a favourable conservation status, one also needs to consider the habitat and threats of the species. Simply put, as the wolf population expands in Europe, this results in more assessments in unfavourable conservation status at the biographical level.

The European Commission’s initiative seeks to modernise wolf management across Europe, offering a balanced approach that respects existing conservation goals while addressing practical coexistence challenges.