“As part of our determination to deliver the Green Deal, it is important that we enable farmers to participate in a more sustainable farming future.” De Croo wrote about X.
His reaction quickly drew the ire of his Green coalition partners, saying electoral politics in Belgium, which will hold a general election in June, the same day voters will elect a new European Parliament, are under threat as an honest intermediary between 27 countries and territories. It has reignited concerns that it could affect the government’s ability to act. Countries.
Deputy Prime Minister Petra de Sutter, who heads the Flemish Green Party in East Flanders, slammed Mr de Croo. saying “A better environment is not the enemy of agriculture. On the contrary.”
Climate and Environment Minister Zakia Khattabi, a member of the French-speaking Green party Ecolo, also lamented that by delaying action on pesticide use, “we are giving in to the easy way out and putting land and human health at risk.” . .
This is not the first time Belgian ministers’ differing views on the environment have surfaced over the EU presidency.
The country’s agriculture minister, David Clarinval, a member of the liberal Moveman Reform Party, branded the Green Deal a “punitive ecology” and blamed “excessive” environmental regulations for the farmers’ protests. angered coalition partners.