STRASBOURG, France (LifeSiteNews) — The European Union (EU) has backtracked on some of its green agenda measures in response to the large-scale farmers’ protests.
On Tuesday, February 6, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU will remove a provision to reduce nitrogen and methane emissions by nearly one-third, as well as its plan to cut pesticide use by 50 percent by 2030 from its “Net Zero” plan. To quell the rage of farmers, the EU also agreed to water down its plans for so-called animal welfare and the restrictions on land use for agricultural purposes.
“Our farmers deserve to be listened to,” von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Tuesday, the Telegraph reports.
“I know that they are worried about the future of agriculture and their future as farmers.”
“But they also know that agriculture needs to move to a more sustainable model of production so that their farms remain profitable in the years to come,” the Commission President added.
She admitted the plan to cut pesticide use had become a “symbol of polarization.”
Last week, the continent-wide protests reached the heart of Europe as farmers arrived with their tractors in front of the European Parliament in Brussels.
The protest in Brussels happened in the context of a continent-wide uprising, including in France, where 10,000 farmers erected more than 100 blockades on important roads across the country. Farmer protests also took place in various other countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Germany, Scotland, and Ireland.
READ: Farmers’ protests reach the heart of the EU as chaos unfolds outside European Parliament
It remains unknown if and for how long the EU will uphold the concessions made to the farmers. The rollback of the green agenda measures might be an attempt to prevent a disaster at the ballot box, as the elections of the European Parliament in June 2024 are fast approaching, and right-wing populist parties have been gaining significantly in the polls.
German MEP and president of the neo-conservative European People’s Party Manfred Weber expressed his concern that farmers might vote for right-wing, anti-globalist parties in the upcoming election.
“We always realized that farmers are citizens and don’t want Left-wing ideologies that dictate everything to them,” Weber said in the European Parliament on February 6.
Dutch political commentator Eva Vlaadingerbroek wrote on X, formerly Twitter to say:
This is good news because it shows that protesting WORKS and putting pressure on our overlords WORKS. However, just dropping the requirements for 2040 is not enough. The entire agenda has to go. The Green Deal and the NetZero scam has to go. We’ve won a battle, not the war.
READ: EU fiddles with language while farmers’ bonfires burn
Correction: This report originally stated that the European Commission president announced the EU would remove a provision to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040. The EU is actually still committed to that target, but it has removed a provision to reduce “nitrogen, methane, and other emissions linked to farming by almost a third,” per the Telegraph.