EPP lawmaker Esther Herranz García, who represented her party in the agriculture committee negotiations on the report, told POLITICO in a written statement that the effect the Green Deal had “had on productivity and abandonment of farms makes us think that new times have come.”
“It is not a question of giving up the Green Deal but of giving farmers more time to achieve its goals while ensuring the sector’s competitiveness,” she said.
From hero to zero
EPP member von der Leyen personally launched the European Green Deal in December 2019 on a wave of popular demand for climate action; it later became the flagship policy of her first term.
“Humanity faces an existential threat — the whole world is beginning to see. Forests burn from America to Australia. Deserts are advancing across Africa and Asia. Rising sea levels threaten our European cities as well as Pacific islands,” von der Leyen said at the time.
The Green Deal included dozens of laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect biodiversity, minimize waste and force companies to report on their impact on the environment. Its aim was to make Europe “the first climate-neutral continent” — a goal that has since been superseded by defense, economic and trade concerns.
The original European Parliament water report in February called for “a full implementation of EU Green Deal legislation in order to build a resilient Europe, mitigate climate change, halt biodiversity loss and limit resource use, including water.”
The amended line removes mention of the Green Deal, and balances environmental goals with the goal to “build a resilient and competitive Europe, ensure adequate and regular water resources for agriculture, and to ensure food security and sovereignty in the EU.”
