The European Commission’s latest proposal for a temporary relaxation of the GAEC-8 standard on brownfield sites did not receive the necessary qualified majority of Member States in a vote in the relevant Council committee on Friday. The German government also abstained, which effectively counts as a vote against in the voting procedure. The Commission already proposed a derogation for 2024 at the end of January as a concession to the protesting farmers, but recently extended this significantly once again – according to a Commission spokesperson at the request of some member states.