The EU’s Great Green Extinction has been nothing short of spectacular. As aggressive lobbying and violent protests by farmers increased last year, Brussels killed plans to halve pesticide use, switch to organic farming practices, ban toxic chemicals “forever,” cap livestock emissions, and last week restore 20 trillion tons of Europe’s land and seas.

The aim may have been to create breathing space. Predictably, it didn’t work. The bloc’s anti-deforestation regulation seems likely to be another green reform for the move, with 20 agriculture ministers reportedly calling on Monday for its repeal and suspension, citing “administrative burden.”

Why is this happening? It is clear that the centre-right parties are worried about the expected far-right uprising in the June parliamentary elections. But experienced observers also see a strategic effort to set a “brown” agenda for the next European Commission, just as the Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion youth protests of 2018 set a green agenda for the current one. (Arthur Neslen, more at theguardian.com)