Dr. Humberto Delgado Rosa:

I thank the Vice Chairman for the very interesting question. Overall, there is widespread support among the majority of the public for the measures from the European Green Deal, including the nature restoration law and many others as we have captured in the public consultations and Eurobarometer surveys we carry out. That does not preclude the possibility that support for these measures is not evenly distributed. It is very obvious that, on several issues - it is not only nature policy, climate policy is also an example - there is a rural-urban divide, especially in some areas of Europe. This is, of course, a cause for concern. We need to broach views and achieve consensus, particularly on things that are relevant to rural communities, which is not necessarily where most voters are. An understanding of the divide between more urban society and more rural society is needed. We understand that these proposals can be used for scaremongering among rural communities when there is no reason for it. There may be reason for concern or caution or for drawing attention to particular needs but we see people saying that all agricultural land will be flooded or that we are aiming to transform one country or another into a nature reserve. That is one kind of scaremongering but, if you dig into our proposals, you see these are not their aims at all. They aim to bring society towards a better world with no one left behind. We know that it will not be an easy transition. As an individual, I do have a concern about this divide. We try, as much as we can, to explain, to listen, to learn and to very humbly come up with the best proposals we can.