Bullets not bees: EU ditches green focus ahead of June election

A draft priority list for the next five years goes heavy on defense, barely mentioning climate change.

A quick scan of a leaked EU priority list for the rest of the decade reveals a telling quirk: The only mention of “environment” is a promise to create a “business-friendly #environment.”

Instead, the document — essentially a mood board EU leaders compile every five years to guide the incoming EU executive in Brussels — is littered with references to defense, security and migration. Climate change is barely mentioned. Nature and biodiversity don’t feature at all.

The draft, still subject to change before EU leaders endorse it after the June European Parliament election, reflects months of talks between European Council President Charles Michel and the heads of state and government he represents. And it serves as a neat illustration of their shifting priorities

It’s a marked difference from 2019, the last time EU leaders set out their vision. That “strategic agenda” put climate change front and center, calling it an “existential threat.” One of the #EU’s top four priorities was “building a climate-neutral, green, fair and social #Europe.”

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/leaked-eu-priority-list-reveals-absence-climate-change-focus/

#ClimateChange #Ukraine #Election #Politics