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EU climate negotiations to be led by far-right politicians

Patriots for Europe, an extreme right-wing group, will be in charge of the European Parliament’s work on the new climate target for the bloc, European Union legislators said on Tuesday. This could complicate any agreement on the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 90% by 2040.

The Patriots group is the third largest in the Parliament and includes both the far-right parties of France and Hungary, including Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right, and Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary.

Jordan Bardella, chair of the Patriots Group, said that the group was "resolutely against" the 90% emission target and had bid for the work to assert their vision on the goal.

Bardella said at a press conference that "we are against it" because there are already too many restrictions on the industry in Europe. This would only lead to a de-growth.

Climate change has caused Europe to be the fastest-warming continental in the world. A severe heatwave that swept across Europe last week also caused chaos. However, governments in Italy and Poland have been reluctant to adopt ambitious goals for reducing emissions this year because of concerns about the costs.

Patriots' new role will give them a powerful voice when EU countries, the European Parliament and other legislators negotiate on the EU 2040 climate goal in the next few months.

Patriots are tasked to draft an initial proposal that will represent the position of parliament in these negotiations. Liberal, socialist, and green groups have said that they are preparing a plan, which will be voted on by the Parliament on Wednesday, to speed up the negotiations. This would eliminate the first stage where Patriots could exert influence.

Pascal Canfin, a liberal French EU legislator, told reporters that "we can take back control of the files".

The Patriots Group holds eurosceptic views, including accusations that the EU seeks to replace national governments by a European superstate.

EU officials said that the Patriots won the negotiating role at a meeting behind closed doors on Tuesday morning, by outbidding parliament's largest group, the centre right European People's Party.

The European Commission, after months of delays, proposed the 2040 Climate Target last week. However, Brussels has been unable to garner political support. (Reporting and editing by Mark Heinrich, Deepa Babington and Kate Abnett)

(source: Reuters)