Angry farmer protests are spreading across Europe — and getting results

• The EU wants to become carbon neutral by 2050.
• It also wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
• The farmer protest even stretched across the English Channel to the U.K. at the back end of last week.

The European Union prides itself on being a champion for the environment.

But that reputation is now being firmly tested, after it toned down its climate policies following angry farmer protests that are taking place across the continent.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, now intends to scrap a plan to halve pesticide use. In addition, the institution also decided last week to omit the agricultural sector out of a strict timeline for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% before 2040.

Speaking to CNBC Thursday, the EU's Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said he was "happy" about the U-turns because they were not "fully fair."

"We need to reduce the use of pesticides, but not to force the farmers [to do it]," he said, adding that the solution is to provide more financial subsidies to the sector to incentivize them to pursue greener practices.

The EU wants to become carbon neutral by 2050. It also wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

When asked if these latest changes to policy could compromise those ambitious targets, Wojciechowski said: "This is the general target for the whole economy, but in agriculture, we should take into account the specifics of agriculture."

Europe's re-assessment of its climate policies comes as the bloc approaches EU parliamentary elections in June, which are expected to bring in more far-right and fringe lawmakers into the Parliament.

"The farmers' question is set to