EU takes the ax to green farming rules

In the draft measures, the Commission argues that farmers will be able to meet the CAP’s environmental objectives in a “more realistic” way. EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told POLITICO this week that the bloc could accelerate green efforts once the frenzy around June’s election to the European Parliament dies down.

One EU diplomat told POLITICO that the measures would undo the legacy of overzealous eco-activism by the likes of Frans Timmermans, the former Commission vice president and architect of the Green Deal, who left Brussels last year to return to national politics in his native Netherlands.

“This legislative period has been extremely focused on only one pillar of sustainability, the environment, but we also need economic and social prosperity,” said the diplomat, who was  granted anonymity to express themselves freely.

“It’s not about rejecting the Green Deal, but about talking to farmers about how to achieve it.”

The diplomat added that the environmental requirements could be restored when the farmers’ economic situation improves.

A Commission official, concerned about the raft of measures being prepared by the executive institution, disagreed.

Source: politico.eu