BRASÍLIA — Brazilian lawmakers are pushing a historic rollback of environmental rules that would strip protections from the Amazon — less than a week after the country wraps up hosting the U.N. climate talks. Since last week, Brazil has welcomed representatives from almost 200 countries to this year’s U.N. climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belém. The country has used the conference to showcase President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s success in slashing deforestation rates in the world’s most important rainforest. But 1,600 kilometers farther south in the capital Brasília, Lula’s opponents have a different agenda — and they are planning to use the moment after the summit ends to push through a series of changes to the law that Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva told POLITICO would amount to a “severe weakening of Brazil’s environmental rules.” The move exposes the balance of power in Brazil, where the leftist president is faced with a Congress dominated by politicians aligned with industrial interest groups, particularly the agriculture sector. Lula’s opponents are seeking to use their majority in the Congress to ram through changes that would hand companies the power to conduct their own environmental checks to gain the licenses needed to operate potentially destructive new projects designated “medium impact.” This could include dams, mines, industrial plants and oil and gas production. The licensing of large infrastructure projects could be authorized by a different process, called “special environmental licensing.” Projects deemed as strategic would be fast tracked, bypassing environmental checks. Also, the farming sector would largely be exempted from environmental planning oversight. Another proposal would strip Indigenous oversight of projects that affect their traditional lands. This change would affect Brazil’s Amazon region, around a quarter of which is managed by Indigenous people. Silva said that passing these into law “would be a setback that dismantles policies consolidated over decades … creating loopholes that would allow high-impact projects to bypass essential technical analyses, putting at risk entire river basins, biomes and the communities that depend on these territories for their livelihoods.” LULA’S VETO Both houses have already passed the law once, with large majorities. But in August, Lula struck down 63 of the most environmentally damaging aspects of the bill, which include the aforementioned provisions, while signing the rest into law. The Congress can overturn some or all of Lula’s vetoes with a majority in both houses and he would not be able to veto again. On Wednesday, senators indicated they wanted to hold a vote in both houses of Congress on Nov. 27 on the vetoes — only six days after diplomats are scheduled to leave Belém. The Congress is likely to repeat its previous vote and overturn the president’s vetoes, said Suely Araújo, the former president of Brazil’s government forest protection agency, now a public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory NGO. “I really don’t think that Lula has power enough to stop this,” she said, adding:“I’m sure that we will have problems of deforestation increasing” if the vetoes are struck down. This view was echoed in a report by two of Brazil’s leading experts in environmental management who said it would “generate significant environmental degradation.” Araújo said environmental groups were planning to take the issue to the Supreme Court. Mauricio Guetta, legal policy director at the campaign group Avaaz, said it would be “the worst environmental setback in our history.” POLITICO contacted two lawmakers who support agribusiness, plus the Instituto Pensar Agropecuária, a non-profit group that represents the sector. None responded to requests to comment for this article. Mato Grosso do Sul Governor Eduardo Riedel, from one of Brazil’s center-right opposition parties, reportedly told an event at the COP30 climate conference that the General Environmental Permitting Law, as it is known, reformed the planning system in a way that was vital for delivering projects at speed. “Society increasingly demands increasingly agile responses due to the magnitude of development and growth so it is also not an obstacle to development,” said Riedel. AMAZON ON THE BRINK The stakes are global. Large scale deforestation and climate change are pushing the Amazon toward a tipping point that scientists warn could see the forest’s rain cycle collapse. This would lead to increased fires and, eventually, replacement of the trees that store huge quantities of carbon, with grasslands. This would, in turn, accelerate global warming with consequences everywhere. Coming just days after Brazil’s Amazon climate conference, passing the reforms wholesale would show Brazil had “regressed,” said Nilto Tatto, a member of Congress from Lula’s Workers Party. “It’s very bad for Brazil’s image. It’s very bad because of everything that the COP here in Belém represents.” Silva said the potential rollback “undermines the international commitments Brazil has assumed, including those related to the Paris Agreement.” Tatto added that it could have implications for trade with the European Union, which has sought to regulate its supply chains to discourage environmental harms. The government could try to delay the vote, which has already been pushed back once, partly to avoid colliding with the U.N. talks. Lula arrived at COP30 with a strong record on stamping out deforestation that soared under his rightwing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. But the current administration has needed to balance Lula’s promises of environmental protection in Belém and the political and economic reality of Brazil. Next year, Lula will stand for a fourth term as president against an as yet unknown candidate, who will likely be drawn from the hard right and would almost certainly walk away from efforts to protect the environment. Just ahead of COP30, Lula’s government approved new oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon River, while Lula has backed a 900-kilometer highway redevelopment that environmental and Indigenous groups say would provide access for extractive industries and threaten huge new areas of forest. “They are very weak,” Araújo said of the government. Aitor Hernández-Morales contributed reporting from Brussels.

PARIS — Newly appointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will have to hit the ground running, taking the reins of government just as protesters seek to bring France to a grinding halt. Authorities are bracing for demonstrations and blockades on highways, train stations, airports and refineries as part of an online movement called “Block Everything.” Paris Police Chief Laurent Nuñez said an “exceptional” deployment of close to 80,000 security forces across the country is planned for Wednesday and that authorities will “intervene systematically” to remove any blockades. The shutdown campaign began gaining steam after outgoing Prime Minister François Bayrou unveiled his plans to squeeze the 2026 French budget by €43.8 billion in July. Lawmakers on Monday torpedoed Bayrou’s government over those spending plans, which the longtime centrist argued were necessary to rein in excessive public spending. The French president appointed Lecornu a day after Bayrou’s downfall, responding to calls quickly replace the outgoing prime minister at a time of deep political tension. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau himself called on the president to fill “the power vacuum.” The scale of the unrest will be a major test for Lecornu, one of Macron’s closest allies since he came to power, and the former armed forces minister will see his authority and popularity tested on his first day on the job. A discreet political operator, Lecornu has earned plaudits for shepherding France’s rearmament in the wake of the war in Ukraine, but will be thrust in the limelight like never before. In addition to responding to any violence during Wednesday’s protests, Lecornu will have to jumpstart budget talks through a paralyzed parliament without a majority. And even more widespread strikes are planned for next week. ‘NO ORGANIZERS, NO ONE WE CAN TALK TO’ In addition to its big security rollout on Wednesday, the French government is also investigating whether foreign agitators attempted to amplify the movement, though one official said the effect had so far been “marginal.” While comparisons have been drawn between “Block Everything” and the Yellow Jackets, an analysis by the Jean Jaurès Foundation concluded that the two movements are “profoundly different,” with Wednesday’s plans driven in large part by the radical left. Wednesday’s campaign, however, is supported by 46 percent of the French, according to a recent survey by pollster Ipsos. The shutdown campaign began gaining steam after outgoing Prime Minister François Bayrou unveiled his plans to squeeze the 2026 French budget by €43.8 billion in July. | Remon Haazen/Getty Images Unlike the Yellow Jackets, which began online in opposition to a fuel tax hike before entering the mainstream and bringing the country to a standstill, the “Block Everything” crusade’s goal is much more nebulous. Online accounts claiming to belong to the Sept. 10 movement are calling for a range of things, from an end to political parties to a boycott of the banking system and Macron’s resignation. Nuñez said that the leaderless nature of the movement has fueled concerns about its unpredictability. “It’s not like a demonstration, there are no organizers, no one we can talk to, just calls to block everything,” said Nuñez. “And more worryingly, the calls have been relayed by radical extreme-left [groups] who are calling for hardcore, sometimes violent acts.” Authorities also fear that whatever happens on Wednesday will inflame protests next week, which are organized by French trade unions.

A Cabinet member in a council run by Reform UK accused colleagues of sacking him in an “ambush” hours after national leader Nigel Farage came to visit. Bill Barrett lasted less than two months overseeing transport on Kent County Council, where Farage’s right-wing populist party won 57 out of 81 seats at May’s local elections. Farage visited the council on Monday and gave an interview saying Kent’s £98 million-a-year budget for home-to-school transport was “beyond belief.” Later that day, council leader Linden Kemkaran issued a statement saying she had “made changes to my Cabinet team” and Barrett had left his role.  Her chief whip Maxwell Harrison told KentOnline on Monday: “Bill wasn’t sacked. He agreed to leave — it was an agreement. Bill was doing a good job and there was no bad blood.” Speaking to POLITICO Wednesday, however, Barrett said that story was “completely false.” He added: “It’s a complete lie. There was no mutual arrangement that we left. I walked into an office basically to an ambush, where they basically spent 50 minutes saying how shit I was.”  ‘I WALKED IN TO AN AMBUSH’ Farage met members of Kent’s Cabinet on Monday morning, a meeting in which Barrett spoke at length about transport and potholes on the county’s roads. “He walked over to me, shook my hand, and he smiled, and he said, well done,” said Barrett of Farage. Barrett said after lunch he went to a meeting with Kemkaran to find her deputy Brian Collins and Harrison also in the room. He said Collins questioned him about why he was not visiting highways inspectors in person to examine their work. Barrett also said that Kemkaran gave him one month to find cuts from a dossier on the highways department which officials had drawn up in recent weeks. Barrett, who accused his senior colleagues of being “conniving” and running a “toxic environment,” said he eventually walked out of the meeting after being warned that if he left, he would be gone. Barrett added: “My opinion is 100 percent that I’ve been sacked. I did not resign in paper, email or any other form. I walked out of her office. They were abusing me and bullying me.” He made no suggestion that Farage was responsible for his sacking. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage attends a meeting alongside the Head of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran, during his visit to the Reform UK group at Kent at Kent County Council at County Hall, Maidstone. | Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images ‘DISAPPOINTING’ Kemkaran pushed back at Barrett’s criticism, saying in a statement Wednesday evening: “Naturally it’s always slightly disappointing when a colleague who’s been given every chance to step up and improve their performance declines the opportunity and instead walks out of a meeting, knowing that it would mean they’d lose their position.” The council leader added: “We have a new cabinet member for highways and transport firmly in place and as far as we are concerned it’s business as usual, serving the people of Kent. “What I’m not going to do is give a running commentary on the Members’ positions here at KCC. We’re simply getting on with the job.” The incident shines a spotlight on Reform’s push to cut home-to-school transport costs, many of which are spent on children with special educational needs. More broadly, it comes as Reform gets to grips with running 10 councils in England where it gained overall control in the May local elections. Farage’s nascent party has only four MPs — a fifth, James McMurdock, gave up the whip this week after seeking legal advice about business loans during the COVID pandemic — but is leading U.K. national opinion polls. Barrett said he has filed a formal complaint to Reform’s National Chairman David Bull and to Kent County Council Chief Executive Amanda Beer.

BJOERN SEIBERT, THE POWER BEHIND QUEEN URSULA’S THRONE Von der Leyen’s chief of staff is the man to call to get things done in Brussels. But for a growing number of critics, he has too much control. By NICHOLAS VINOCUR, MAX GRIERA and NETTE NÖSTLINGER Photo-illustration by Daniel Benneworth-Gray for POLITICO He’s known as the man to call to get things done in Brussels. He leans on party bosses to exert his sway over the European Parliament. And he manages the European Commission, an institution of 32,000 employees, like an extension of his brain, watching over everything from social media posts to mid-level staff appointments. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s right-hand man, Bjoern Seibert, is the ultimate behind-the-scenes Brussels power broker. Never heard of him? That’s exactly how he likes it. At von der Leyen’s side for about a decade, the soft-spoken 45-year-old has built up a reputation as a tireless worker, astute political strategist and ruthlessly efficient operator who delivers on promises. Advertisement For top officials in Paris, Berlin and Washington, it’s a dream come true. Finally, they have someone who can pick up the phone and deliver, a huge asset at a time when Europe was being buffeted by crises. “He is incredibly influential,” said Phil Gordon, former national security adviser to Kamala Harris when she was U.S. vice president. “No one was seen as better understanding the EU and how to get things done.” Others agree, praising Seibert as “very clever” and a “strategic thinker.” “He is the most powerful official in Brussels by some distance,” said Mujtaba Rahman, head of Europe at the Eurasia Group, a think tank. OVERMIGHTY ADJUTANT More comfortable behind the scenes than in the limelight, Seibert is intensely private. Publicly known facts about him include that he is married with two children and works incredibly long hours. That’s about it. But as he embarks on his second five-year term as von der Leyen’s head of Cabinet, Seibert — at times referred to as the Commission’s unofficial “co-president” — faces increasing criticism from those who think his power has grown too large. In an interview with POLITICO in early June, the EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier lamented what he called an “authoritarian drift” in Brussels under von der Leyen and her “powerful chief of staff.” That chimes with what six current and former Commission staffers told POLITICO, namely that Seibert’s insistence on signing off on everything from the public speaking points of his commissioners to the the names of individual Cabinet picks leads to bottlenecks, delays and demoralization. In person, Seibert is a discreet if physically imposing figure — tall, a speaker of perfect English with traces of dry humor. | Olivier Hoslet/EFE via EPA Another effect is fear. Out of the 25 EU officials, diplomats, lawmakers and experts in total we spoke to for this article, just three agreed to speak on the record and only one of those voiced any criticism. Several people cited fear of professional reprisals as their reason for wanting to remain anonymous. Others say his German conservative leanings are overbearing in a town that is already preponderantly German and conservative. They point to when Seibert insisted on backing a German conservative for a top EU business envoy post, only to see the appointment lead to a major political backlash. Still others point to his close working relationship with the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, which they say became a liability after Donald Trump’s election. “He derived a lot of his power from his direct line to the White House,” said a former Commission official. “That’s not the case anymore with Trump. Everything needs to be rebuilt.” Advertisement A Commission official pushed back on this characterization, underscoring regular continuing contacts with the White House. A spokesperson for the Commission declined to comment for this piece. Seibert himself declined to be interviewed. Other Commission officials pushed back against criticism saying he has generous time for debate — amounting to hundreds of hours, according to a tally shared with POLITICO — and that centralization has made the EU far more efficient. Bottlenecks and delays, Seibert’s defenders argue, are partly due to staffers seeking input on files where more senior direction is not necessarily warranted. But this account is disputed by others who say that only Seibert and von der Leyen can be held responsible for a system they have created. “This Commission is very hierarchical with nothing passing Bjoern without his consent,” said Bas Eickhout, co-chair of the Greens group in the European Parliament. Seibert, wearing New Balance sneakers, looks at papers while von der Leyen talks to the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images Indeed, Seibert isn’t the first EU civil servant to prompt fear and fascination in Brussels. Before him, there was Martin Selmayr, another German who held sway under ex-President Jean-Claude Juncker and was known as the “Monster of the Berlaymont.” But most people agreed Seibert is now the more formidable figure — a merciless T-1000 liquid metal Terminator versus the laconic, clunkier older generation T-800 model played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. “He’s far more powerful today than Selmayr ever was,” said a former French government official. I DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING Anyone seeking insight into Seibert from his personal history is in for disappointment: Little from his youth has filtered into the public domain, and a Wikipedia entry offers as many clues as a broken Babylonian tablet. In person, Seibert is a discreet if physically imposing figure — tall, a speaker of perfect English with traces of dry humor, he can be spotted in the vicinity of his boss, wearing New Balance sneakers and clutching a packet of files. He’s quieter than Selmayr, but also wields a bigger stick: One Commission official described him as a “quiet killer.” Seibert graduated with a degree in social science from Erfurt University in the eastern German state of Thuringia in 2005, per the university, then went on to pursue a string of research fellowships at U.S. academic institutions including MIT focusing mostly on defense and security. Advertisement Upon his return to Germany, he moved to the German defense ministry where he initially worked at the politics department, according to a former colleague, who also said he impressed colleagues by going against Bundeswehr orthodoxy. At the time, his ability to work seemingly inhumane hours made an impression — and helped win him promotion to the office of von der Leyen, who was then defense minister. That was the beginning of the “Bjoern and Ursula” double act that would come to rule over Brussels. An episode from 2019, after von der Leyen had been picked by EU leaders to be the next head of the Commission, reveals a key ingredient in their partnership. Seibert had been called upon to testify in front of an investigative committee of the German parliament looking into how lucrative contracts from the defense ministry while von der Leyen was in charge were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight, and whether a network of informal personal connections facilitated those deals. At the center of the committee’s investigations was Katrin Suder, a former McKinsey consultant who became von der Leyen’s deputy in charge of the defense ministry’s arms department. In 2014, she brought Seibert into her department, quickly promoted him to be her chief of staff and later recommended him to do the same job for their common boss, von der Leyen. His performance before the investigative committee would have pleased the most demanding of mafia bosses. “Seibert declared in an endless loop that he could not remember anything, absolutely nothing,” according to a German media account of his performance from the time. ‘HIS RESPONSIBILITY’ Seibert’s loyalty would soon be tested again. After von der Leyen won the nod from EU leaders to become Commission president, she needed a two-thirds majority in the European Parliament to be confirmed in the role. Normally, the task of cobbling together a majority would fall to Manfred Weber, a powerful German conservative who oversees the umbrella group of center-right European parties. But Weber was licking his wounds from having been passed up for the top EU job in favor of von der Leyen. So the task fell to Seibert who, despite having no experience as a political operator, managed to pull off a nine-vote majority for von der Leyen by reaching outside the normal circle of so-called governing parties to the right-wing populists. It was thanks to Seibert’s “significant contribution” that von der Leyen was confirmed, a German colleague said at the time. Seibert isn’t the first EU civil servant to prompt fear and fascination in Brussels. | Olivier Hoslet/EFE via EPA Once installed at the Commission, the pair faced a wall of skepticism. “When the Commission started there was lots of skepticism about whether von der Leyen and Bjoern would be able to control the institution, as they didn’t know how it worked,” a former French official said. “They disproved this within days.” Seibert, in particular, impressed counterparts. “He was exceptionally well-prepared,” the same official said. “He would always show he knew exactly what was going on in French politics. It was clear that this was someone you could trust, but who is also about control, about power.” Working in a tight unit with a small cadre of mainly German-speaking advisers, von der Leyen and Seibert used the Covid-19 pandemic to consolidate power. When the time came to negotiate vaccine contracts, they split the work among several sections of the Commission, giving Single Market Commissioner Thierry Breton oversight of vaccine supply chains. Advertisement But the negotiation of contracts itself was given to Sandra Gallina, a senior health official in the Commission. In reality, according to two former Commission officials, it was Seibert and von der Leyen who steered negotiations, culminating in the president’s December 2020 announcement of a deal to buy millions of doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech and a subsequent New York Times interview in which she said she’d agreed on the deal via text message exchange with Pfizer’s chief executive. In the ensuing “Pfizergate” scandal, von der Leyen faced criticism — and a judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union — for having failed to conserve the messages. But some of that criticism should have been directed at Seibert, the former officials said. “It was his responsibility,” said one of the two ex-officials. “He is the reason for monumental mistakes committed by his president.” A spokesperson for the Commission declined to comment. LOYAL TO A FAULT Loyalty would once again come into play in the final months of von der Leyen and Seibert’s first Commission term. As von der Leyen prepared for a reelection bid (with Seibert as her campaign manager), their decision to nominate a German conservative loyalist to the role of EU envoy for small and medium businesses sparked a revolt. Four commissioners, including Breton, questioned the decision to nominate Markus Pieper over two women who had reportedly scored higher in the selection process. Advertisement Two former officials recall that Seibert had defended the nomination internally, saying he had “no flexibility” in the matter. That argument didn’t go down well. The leadership duo would end up having to retract Pieper’s nomination. Critics argued that the episode underscored a lack of political sensitivity, as Seibert had failed to anticipate the blowback which came primarily from Breton along with then-top diplomat Josep Borrell; Luxembourgish Socialist ex-Commissioner Nicolas Schmit and Italian Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni. “The problem is a lack of management experience,” the same former official said. “It leads to a tendency to do things in an authoritarian way.” EVERYTHING GOES THROUGH BJOERN Von der Leyen and Seibert had learned their lesson. When it was time to choose commissioners after von der Leyen was reelected in 2024, they forced out the rebellious Breton and stocked the College with less-experienced candidates. Here again, Seibert was on the front line, negotiating with political bosses in the European Parliament who needed to sign off on nominations during hearings. One senior Parliament official described Seibert as someone who is “very professional” but also quick to use pressure when things aren’t going his way. “I’m noticing more and more that he doesn’t deal well with contradiction … He is not used to be contradicted in this sense.” Once the hearings were over, Seibert got to work name-checking nominations of individual Cabinet members based on criteria of gender and nationality. Each commissioner had to send their list of Cabinet picks to the 13th floor, where the president’s chief of staff would personally approve or reject the names. Seibert, behind the table, listens to von der Leyen speak to commissioners-designate in September 2024. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images “This is a taste of the Seibert style,” said a current senior Commission official who pointed out that Seibert was the first head of Cabinet to have his name posted on a panel, right below the president’s name, in front of the elevator on the Berlaymont’s 13th floor. “He is not leaving anything to chance.” Since then, Seibert’s grip on power in the Commission has only tightened further. A case in point: the recent restructuring of the Commission’s Secretary General office, planned and submitted for approval in January. A green light came three months later not due to any problem but because Seibert hadn’t been able to look at it yet. A Cabinet member of a European prime minister quipped: “I know that he is a guy who does not know how to delegate, and that this inability to delegate and obsession to co-govern the commission with Ursula has caused bottlenecks and frustrations in the cabinets.” MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY In other cases, critics chafed at Seibert’s tendency to steamroll opposition. A senior Parliament official echoed the concern about Seibert’s power: “He’s in such a stage of full power that he speaks directly with the commissioners. He speaks directly with politicians. He is forgetting a little bit what his place is.” Even as he wields his power in Brussels, Seibert now has to rebuild his relationship with Washington. Identified as “Biden’s man” due to his relationship with ex-national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Seibert played a key role in building the tightest transatlantic relationship in decades. Advertisement He and Sullivan would issue joint communiqués and worked in lockstep on rolling out sanctions against Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When Biden’s announcement of the Inflation Reduction Act threatened to fray ties between Brussels and Washington, it was Seibert’s behind-the-scenes diplomacy with the White House that led to a rare Rose Garden joint press conference by von der Leyen and Biden, according to a former high-ranking Commission official. But this closeness hasn’t helped Seibert under Trump, who refused to speak to von der Leyen or any other EU official for months after his election. Seibert has recently accompanied top trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič on negotiation trips to Washington D.C., but any hint of the old special relationship appears to be gone as Europe faces sky-high tariffs. The Commission’s approach has been to tread carefully to avoid irking Trump, avoiding action — such as imposing a fine on Elon Musk’s X for violating the Digital Services Act — that might prompt a furious tweet or sudden retaliation. Seibert’s reputation reflects the town he lives in: bureaucratic, power-mad, largely opaque. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images But this approach, which now includes potential far-reaching concessions on Europe’s digital rulebook to clinch a trade deal, is undermining European sovereignty, according to critics who say the EU should defend its rules no matter the cost. “This is all due to fear: fear of offending the Americans,” the former official said. A Commission official who declined to be named underscored what they called regular contacts between Seibert and members of the Trump administration as well as in-person engagement, including Seibert’s trips to Washington. FEAR OF THE BEAR All in all, Seibert’s reputation reflects the town he lives in: bureaucratic, power-mad, largely opaque. It generates myths around powerful civil servants who operate in the shadows, first Selmayr, now Seibert. Few people interviewed for this piece voiced serious alarm about Seibert’s influence. But it’s telling that only one person out of 25 — a Dutch lawmaker no less — was willing to share a critical thought on record.