The Commission is tabling a proposal for a Council Decision to adapt the protection status of the wolf under the international Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, to which the EU and its Member States are parties. The wolf's protection status under the Convention was established based on the available scientific data at the time of negotiation of the Convention in 1979. On the basis of an in-depth analysis on the status of the wolf in the EU also published today, the Commission proposes to make the wolf ‘protected' as opposed to ‘strictly protected'. It follows the Commission's announcement in September 2023 that on the basis of the data collected, it would decide on a proposal to modify, where appropriate, the status of protection of the wolf and to update the legal framework, to introduce, where necessary, further flexibility.

Changing the wolf's protection status under the Bern Convention, subject to the agreement of the EU Member States and other Bern Convention parties, is a precondition for any similar change to its status at the EU level. The proposal corresponds largely to the position that the European Parliament expressed in its resolution of 24 November 2022.

The commission has produced a supporting questions and answers document on changing the protection status, available on the website. For more information on the large carnivore conservation status, see also the EU LC Platforms Q&A and Common Misconceptions page.