Tractor protests threaten to drive the EU’s green farming policies into a ditch

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

WESTROZEBEKE, Belgium (AP) — Across the EU, those battling climate change and defending the environment feel they are ever more on the defensive. A few years ago, the 27-nation bloc agreed its Green Deal with the intention of making the continent carbon-neutral by 2050. Now, one environmental program after another is under threat following EU-wide protests by farmers and with politicians leaning ever more to the right. EU agriculture ministers meet in Brussels on Monday, when they’re expected to approve simplified rules and fewer checks on farms.