
The European People's Party (EPP) group’s campaign to block EU financial support for non-profit environmental groups has taken a blow after a trio of conservative lawmakers broke ranks and voted down a motion to censure the European Commission over its use of public funds.
The motion was jointly tabled by Dutch lawmaker Sander Smit of the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), who sits with the EPP in the European Parliament, and the eurosceptic ECR group member Pietro Fiocchi, of Italian premier Giorgia Meloni’s populist Fratelli d’Italia party.