EU faces cliffhanger vote on major bill protecting nature and fighting climate change

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Protesters and legislators are converging on the European Union parliament in Strasbourg as the bloc faces a major vote on protecting its threatened nature and shielding it from disruptive environmental change. The vote is a test of the EU’s global climate credentials. Climate activist Greta Thunberg has spurred on hundreds of demonstrators set to demand that the EU pushes through a bill to beef up the restoration of nature in the 27-nation bloc that was damaged during decades of industrial expansion. Parliamentarians were bracing ahead of Wednesday’s vote for a brutal debate over whether to push the plan off the table.