Could this be true, or is it in someone's interest for people to think so?

"Experts" reckon that criminal laws regarding forests in Central and Eastern Europe "might not be operating strongly enough".

Some Central European countries have previously had serious problems with controlling illegal logging, which could become a growing issue in the region following the European Commission's proposal this week to tighten legislation on environmental crimes.

The directive on environmental criminal offences will supposedly "strengthen the rule of law on environmental issues" and "will provide for much more serious sanctions for individuals and companies that break the rules, for example, by illegally trading in waste or illegally sourcing timber", Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius stated at a press conference.

Central and Eastern European countries quite often come into conflict with the not-entirely-competent European Union institutions in the field of forest management.