However, the treaty countries have taken an important step towards more flexibility in wolf management. The countries agreed to amend the protected status of the wolf. Lowering the status means that local authorities will have more options to address problem wolves.
Now the European Habitat legislation, which was based on this treaty, still needs to be amended. This will happen through the regular process, in which the EU countries and the European Parliament make the final decision. In practice, this means it will still take some time before EU countries will notice any changes from this adjustment.
A year ago, the (previous) European Commission made a proposal to lower the protected status of the wolf from 'strictly protected' to 'protected'. The Commission based this on an analysis of the wolf situation in the European Union. This showed that there are now more than 20,000 wolves in 23 different EU member states.
Now that the lowered status has been adopted, the treaty amendment will take effect on March 7, 2025. Only then can the European Commission make a proposal to amend the EU Habitat Directive. This European law determines the level of protection for a species and therefore must be adjusted to transfer the wolf to a lower protection level.
After approval of this legal amendment by the European Parliament and the relevant European ministers, the European part of the process will be completed. It is still unclear whether an ordinary or a (broader) qualified majority will be required in the EU Council of Ministers for the amendment of the Habitat Directive. After that, it will be up to The Hague to change the lowered protected status of the wolf into Dutch law.