When the application of the European deforestation regulation was pushed back from late 2024 to late 2025, something dimmed in Brussels. Many took it as the first perceptible breath of the new wind now blowing within the borders of the European Union. A political, Eurocentric reading of a decision that has a far broader impact, both geographically and socially. When it was decided to move from the EUTR (European Timber Regulation) to the EUDR (European Deforestation Regulation), the requirements for placing any product potentially linked to illegal timber trade on the EU market were also raised.

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Our health, food & economy depend on forests. Yet, 10% of the 🌍 forests have been lost in the past 30 years to deforestation.

The #EUDR ensures certain products on the EU market don't contribute to deforestation 👉 europa.eu/!m8y8MD

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♥ 203💬 5 21 mar 2025 · Apri su X →

By raising the bar, even if behind schedule, the aim was to trigger a cascade of economic, environmental and social dynamics previously unseen — not so much for those already within the Union, but for those seeking to enter it not only as market players but as members. While all attention focuses on the flow of deforestation-risk products imported from South America, just a little to the east of our mare nostrum, there are countries on the waiting list to join that could turn the EUDR into an opportunity.

The delicate transition from EUDR to EUTR is now in the balance

Before exploring the Balkan forests, however, it is necessary to define the contours of the hybrid phase in which European anti-deforestation rules currently find themselves. The one currently in force (EUTR) requires companies introducing timber products or products containing wood fibre into Europe to accompany them with a due diligence statement guaranteeing their non-illegal origin. A piece of paper — sometimes digitised — with no obligation for on-the-ground checks, except after a couple of years, on a sample basis, and only upon explicit and rare request.

Approved in 2010 and entering into force in 2013, this regulation is set to give way to the similarly named EUDR, gradually and in two phases: by 30 December 2025 for large and medium-sized enterprises, and by 30 June 2026 for micro and small enterprises. Ratified in 2023, this regulatory evolution will oblige — twelve months later than originally expected — operators to also provide geolocation data, "attaching" it to the existing documentation. For those who do not comply, entry into the EU market is prohibited and fines of at least four per cent of total sales turnover achieved in Europe in the previous year are imposed. This qualitative leap will likely increase the effectiveness of anti-deforestation policies; it certainly already requires investments and human resources that not everyone possesses. Many countries already part of the EU need a significant push to acquire them in time; those in the process of joining need a triple jump. Into the dark? That depends: to meet Brussels' new demands, one can choose the well-worn path of corruption, or inaugurate one of ethical management of one's precious resources.

Among the countries facing this crossroads are Albania, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. All three are awaiting entry into the European Union, but each will need to find its own strategy for adapting to the EUDR. While they search for it, Italy watches on, tempted to look the other way, not fully aware of the weight its timber imports carry for the economies of these states. Of the 346 million euros worth of timber imported from non-EU countries recorded in the first four months of 2024 by the sector, the percentage arriving from Albania, Bosnia and North Macedonia is minimal. Yet for their exports, we account for 11, 47 and 3.5 per cent respectively.

The radical turning point needed to save Albania's forests

In 2020, Albania had 673,000 hectares of natural forests; in 2023 alone it lost 2,200, and from 2001 to 2023 a total of 46,000, primarily due to silviculture, according to Global Forest Watch — while the role played by fires and agricultural conversion is minimal.

Despite this, the country continues to have the fortune of hosting considerable forest resources on its territory, but these are "forests at a crossroads", whose fate is bound to the fluctuations and political and social pressures of an economic transition not yet completed. Their degradation is causing serious environmental damage — to the soil, to biodiversity and to ecosystem services — but also an invisible and widespread fragility among rural populations.

In this country, the effects of the EUDR's emergence overlap with those of the ongoing disappearance of forests, highlighting governance shortcomings that were already well known. These had already come to light with the decade-long moratorium of 2016, which still theoretically bans all export of timber and timber-derived products. A measure that, according to many, has done nothing but "push illegal logging into clandestinity, into remote and less controlled areas, employing more destructive methods". Among the experts who support this view is Abdulla Diku of the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), who attributes the failure of this measure "to the extreme politicisation of the administration and the dismissal of forestry specialists, who now make up only 25 per cent of the workforce".

IUCN Eastern Europe and Central Asia ✓ @IUCN_ECARO

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🌳 #Deforestation in Albania & North Macedonia threatens biodiversity, including the Balkan lynx. The Northern Forests Initiative is working to restore #forests, support sustainable management, & promote regional cooperation.

Thanks @PPNEA and all participants for an inspiring

♥ 3 6 dic 2024 · Apri su X →

He speaks explicitly of a "timber mafia", considering it a problem that will not be solved by the mere legislative alignment Albania is limiting itself to in order to draw closer to the EU and its stricter anti-deforestation measures. In his view, inadequate documentation standards, limited funding, insufficient staff and outdated technologies currently make it impossible to hope for effective enforcement of the EUDR. In future the situation could change — if the country wants to export its timber to Europe once the moratorium ends, it must.

How? "By reorganising the entire forestry service, deploying certified professionals in the field and a drone-based surveillance system, and formally regulating activities in forests (around 90 per cent of firewood and almost one hundred per cent of non-timber products are neither taxed nor regulated) — Diku proposes — and by supporting civil society and NGOs, because with their help the fight against illegal logging could open up space for potentially beneficial alternatives for the environment and local communities."

Ecotourism, for example. Given the recent and growing interest Albania is generating — especially among German, Italian and Austrian tourists — why not leverage its still-green landscapes to develop sustainable hospitality activities? These could represent new sources of income for that segment of the rural population currently in part "forced" to deforest in order to survive. Even forestry itself, if practised responsibly and well integrated with agriculture, could provide livelihoods, fostering a sense of civic responsibility through concrete technical and financial support.

To align with Europe's future environmental requirements, a transformation pathway needs to be mapped out. Embarking on it is still possible, but only by making a radical turnaround.

Gjon Rakipi, journalist

Training and infrastructure to better protect North Macedonia's forests

For North Macedonia's forests too, Global Forest Watch's "diagnosis" speaks of "deforestation", responsible in 2023 alone for the disappearance of 2,660 hectares of forest, yet the overall national picture is entirely different. Data provided by the forestry agency Penf, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy (Mafwe) and the State Statistical Office (Sso) of the Republic of North Macedonia describe a steady increase in woodland cover over the past century, rising from 615,261 hectares in 1938 to 1,001,067 in 2020 (FAO, 2020). Yet the 39 per cent of the territory currently covered by woodland is not enough to meet the minimum needs of the sector, which processes timber from approximately 100,000–120,000 square metres of Macedonian territory, importing the rest, processing it and then exporting it, primarily to Germany, Bulgaria and Greece (OEC).

Although entirely different from Albania's, North Macedonia's market dynamic also requires prompt alignment with the incoming EUDR if the country is to remain in the game. In the market. "We are not yet obliged to implement anything, but in the draft forestry law being prepared, some requirements of this regulation have been included — explains Sasho Petrovski, president of the Regional Centre for Forestry and Rural Development — to implement it, however, sooner or later administrative and oversight improvements will be needed, as well as enforcement and monitoring. I wonder whether we are truly ready."

Petrovski is concerned because, he explains, "the state inspectorate for forests and hunting has lost human resources, dropping from 20 to 12 forestry inspectors, and there is no organisation to take control of implementation, coordinating the various customs services with each other and with the other institutions involved." In his view, legislative and economic measures are needed, but so are investments in training and technological innovation. To avoid severe blows to exports in future, new GPS-coordinate-based tracking systems for forests "alone would not be enough — he points out — because we have slightly different classifications and they could become problematic. It will be complex to adapt and to align the legal framework, but it could be an opportunity to create more comprehensive mechanisms for monitoring timber and forests in both the public and private sectors, and to activate measures and activities to protect biodiversity."

The country is already trying to seize this opportunity by leveraging European Union support mechanisms (IPA) to equip itself with an advanced information system complete with electronic delivery notes and digital traceability "from the stump to the end consumer." These are first steps, but ambitious ones, and according to Petrovski they represent "an important change whose first results are already visible: within the framework of the EU-funded project Support to Forest Reform in the Republic of Macedonia, it has obtained for the first time an internationally recognised PEFC certificate."

Alignment efforts on the training side appear more behind schedule, yet they remain fundamental for any other type of intervention to genuinely and permanently take root on the ground. According to Petrovski, programmes are needed for forestry sector employees, but also for small businesses, providing not only skills but also digital and operational support. The Ministry of Agriculture is working hard on this, while seeking to coordinate as effectively as possible with EU authorities "to ensure consistent implementation and help all stakeholders."

Despite seeming to have set out on a promising path, Macedonia is well aware of the challenges that lie ahead and knows they are numerous. Petrovski immediately cites infrastructure and IT skills — both still severely lacking — but does not underestimate the need for administrative progress, above all in terms of "coordination between different bodies and consistent application of the new requirements". He acknowledges the complexity of the steps to be taken but believes that the benefits could be threefold: economic, environmental and social. "There will be new opportunities for our companies to access the EU market, and new jobs in monitoring and compliance roles, but I also hope that forest and biodiversity protection strategies will be improved – he explains – this would create space for