Greens eye EU Parliament’s ruling majority, written commitments, safe Green Deal
The Greens want to team up with other pro-European forces after the June elections to join the ruling majority in the European Parliament, not excluding a coalition agreement, to prevent the Green Deal from being watered down, as it faces strong criticism from businesses.
During the kick-off of the election campaign of the German Greens on Monday (15 April), the party emphasised that they want to join the ruling majority in the European Parliament to “really take the European Union forward,” lead candidate of the European and the German Greens, Terry Reintke said.
The current ruling majority in the Parliament consists of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the Liberals and the Socialists.
Reintke emphasised that negotiations will be especially difficult with the EPP and its German CDU/CSU member, which recently attempted to boycott many of the European Green Deal’s larger files.
“I think we all know that the negotiations will be tough. What is important for us, of course, is how the Green Deal will proceed. We will be very tough in the debates there,” Reintke said.
The launch of an investment programme for infrastructure must also be on top of the agenda, and its absence a red line in the negotiations. A clearer line of the European Commission regarding the rule of law will also be considered.
With their bid to join the ruling majority in the Parliament, the Greens also want to “prevent parts of the right-wing authoritarian group in the European Parliament, for example, from becoming part of such negotiations,” Reintke said.
EPP head Manfred Weber has in recent months flirted with the idea of rapprochement towards the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) that are headed by far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and also includes Poland’s national-conservative PiS or Spain’s far-right VOX party.
“We are currently facing the question of whether this European election will enable the CDU/CSU and right-wing forces to bring down the Green Deal or whether we will manage to make the Green Deal a success,” the Green lead candidate stressed.
The Greens did not support the European presidency of Ursula von der Leyen in 2019, as the party had pledged ahead of the election only to support a nominee that ran as the lead candidate for one of the major European parties.
As von der Leyen was only nominated by the EU countries and never ran for office during the European election, the Greens refused to support her.
Coalition agreement around the corner
With the Greens now aiming to join von der Leyen’s coalition, they will also attempt to ensure that the other parties—and especially the EPP—live up to their part of the bargain following the negotiations.
The Greens are thus planning to have a written agreement with the other parties to hold them accountable.
While the document the Greens aim for falls short of a coalition agreement, Green party sources told Euractiv that it should be far more detailed than the current mid-term agreement between the Socialists, Liberals, and the EPP.
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