European lawmakers voted Thursday to back the weakening of landmark EU environmental and human rights rules, as part of a business-friendly drive to slash red tape pushed through with far-right support.

Parliament’s biggest centre-right bloc joined forces with the hard right to back amending the legislation on corporate sustainability — a law approved only last year that was hailed by green and civil society groups but loathed by firms.

The outcome triggered an outcry among the traditional partners of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) on the left and centre, who denounced what they saw as an unholy new alliance on the right of the EU assembly.

Rene Repasi of the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) accused the EPP of having “torpedoed any middle-ground compromise”.

“The conservati

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