Luxembourg, Luxembourg (AFP) – EU member countries on Monday gave final approval to a key biodiversity measure, a bloc-wide nature restoration law, after Austria’s climate minister defied her chancellor to back it.

The about-face by the minister, Leonore Gewessler, gave the law the majority backing it needed to be adopted, confirmed Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer declared her decision “unlawful”.

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© Agence France-Presse

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