https://www.politico.eu/article/the-far-right-climate-power-grab-green-deal-climate-neutrality/
The Patriots for Europe, a new far-right force in Brussels, has won the right to lead the European Parliament’s 2040 climate target discussions.
BY ZIA WEISE AND MAX GRIERA
BRUSSELS — For years, the extreme right was content pooh-poohing the European Union’s climate efforts from the back benches. No longer.
On Tuesday, the far-right Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament seized control of talks over the bloc’s next emissions-cutting milestone, a surprise move that shocked centrist MEPs.
The Patriots — the political home of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, Matteo Salvini’s League and other far-right forces — have called on the EU to “abandon” the European Green Deal, the legislative framework guiding the continent toward climate neutrality by 2050.
Now they will be in charge of drafting the Parliament’s position on the EU’s 2040 interim climate target — and defending that stance in upcoming negotiations with EU capitals. They will also control the Parliament’s timeline, prompting concerns of deliberate delays as the group explicitly stated its resistance to the law.
The Patriots are “resolutely opposed” to the Commission’s recent proposal to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 percent by 2040, the group’s chairman, Jordan Bardella, told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
“Therefore, we indicated our readiness to work on this report, and we would like to assert our vision,” he said in response to a question from POLITICO. “We are not in favor of declining growth levels. We’re not in favor of abandoning our industrial base and leaving them in the lurch. We are absolutely aware of the very negative and damaging effect of the left and the ecologists, and we want to counter this.”
The reversal comes at a delicate time for Europe’s green agenda, which has faced intense pushback not only from the far right but also from the center-right European People’s Party, the political family of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
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Centrist and left-leaning MEPs were aghast. The Patriots, they feared, would use this position to delay and sabotage the 2040 target.
