The European Greens need to broaden their base and their topics to stay in Brussels | EUROtoday

Love and pleasure quite than sound and fury. European environmentalists launched their marketing campaign in a local weather of reunion, Saturday February 3 in Lyon, by designating the 2 leaders meant to embody the Greens throughout the 4 months of marketing campaign, which promise to be robust, for the European election in June . The German Terry Reintke and the Dutch Bas Eickhout had been elected by a big majority of the thousand 2 hundred delegates of the European Greens.

Chosen with out shock, the equal duo of outgoing MEPs grasp the technical information and the workings of the Brussels authorities. In the occasion of an electoral victory, Terry Reintke can be proposed for the supreme place of President of the European Commission, in accordance with this unwritten means of “spitzenkandidaten”, which consists of events saying prematurely their leaders meant to guide the European Union. By taking motion very early, environmentalists are giving the sign for a protracted and intensive battle between now and the vote.

“This is the most important campaign we have ever run. This is the fight of our lives.”, warned, in her opening speech, Mélanie Vogel, the environmentalist senator representing French people established outside France. When the result was announced, the French co-president of the European Greens welcomed Terry Reintke, who is her partner, to the stage with three resounding kisses, in front of an enthusiastic amphitheater. By deliberately portraying their couple, the two women send out a political message: that of tolerance, the defense of oppressed minorities and threatened freedoms.

“Environmentalists have the solution”

“A brown wave risks sweeping across the continent”, launched Mélanie Vogel, to thunderous applause. The congress established campaign axes that go beyond the historical roots of the environmental movement. After the green wave which ensured their success in 2019, defending the environment alone is no longer enough to face European challenges, party officials say. “Social and environmental crises are one and the same crisis. This is the crisis of our system. Social justice is not a tool, it is our main goal. We must change the model that exploits the most vulnerable”proclaimed Mélanie Vogel.

European environmentalists are satisfied that latest agricultural protests are grist for his or her mill. “Peasants are our best allies in our struggles”, argued Thomas Waitz, co-president of the European Greens. Himself a farmer, the Austrian ecologist denounced the French authorities's resolution to desert the struggle towards pesticides as the primary response to the agricultural disaster. Promote native merchandise and the round economic system, restrict concrete use, shield soil and biodiversity: “Environmentalists have the solution”hammered Marine Tondelier, secretary normal of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV), from the rostrum.

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