Bloom study lauds Left’s environmental record, lambasts right, centre in European Parliament
Leftists in the European Parliament claimed the top spot in the ranking of political groups’ environmental performance published by the French environmental association Bloom on Wednesday (March 20), with those on the right relegated to the bottom of the table.
In its report, Bloom, which specialises in ocean protection, examined the environmental votes of the 853 lawmakers who have sat in the Parliament during the current term to establish a score for each group, delegation and party present in the hemicycle.
The NGO studied four themes, spread over 52 texts and 150 votes: preserving the ocean and small-scale fishing, combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, and defending environmental justice and rights.
The right-wing and far-right parties were considered to be the worst performers, “the breakers”, according to Bloom, whose president and founder, Claire Nouvian, is also the co-founder of the Socialist-related party Place publique (Socialists and Democrats, S&D).
The centrist liberals in Renew Europe are described as “hypocrites”, while the left-wing delegations and ecologists as “builders”.
Alessandro Manzotti, researcher and advocacy officer for Bloom, explained the ranking methodology to Euractiv, saying that “to judge the environmental performance of the votes, we based ourselves on our expertise and that of other NGOs recognised by civil society, such as the European Environmental Bureau and Greenpeace”.
The Left very close to the title
Bloom particularly commended the work of The Greens/EFA group, whose average score was 19.8/20, led by the top five national delegations, with the Danes (19.9/20) and the French (19.9/20) in the lead.
The Left group follows close behind with an average score of 19.04/20.
S&D took a distant third place with an average of 16.6/20. This was marred by the slightly lower score (15.7/20) of the Spaniards, the largest delegation in the group, due to their singular position when it comes to the exploitation of fisheries resources.
unnamed [Bloom]
The right in a relegated position
The right-wing camp gathers the poor performers, with the Parliament’s largest group, the European People’s Party (EPP) and its 177 MEPs, posting an average of 3.8/20.
The group’s 30 German Christian Democrats, the largest delegation in the Parliament, scored 2.5/20. Alongside them, the eight French MEPs scored 5.5/20, while the one Hungarian MEP in the EPP did not exceed 1.8/20.
He was followed by the four Spaniards (1.9/20) from Vox and the 27 Poles from PiS (2.1/20), members of the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group (25/20), which on average did worse than the other far-right group, ID (3.3/20).
The 22 Italians from La lega, the biggest delegation in ID, scored just over 2.1/20, while the 18 French members of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement national (RN) fared better at 3.8/20.
Renew ‘without compass’
The centrist Renew Europe, with a score of 11.9/20, is marked by a strong polarisation of its delegations.
While the three Slovak MEPs achieved 17.3/20, the 23 French MEPs, led by Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance, scored 14.6/20, while the seven German MEPs from the FDP party struggled to exceed 5.5/20.
Renew Europe is a “coalition without a compass and without political conviction, jeopardising essential bills, sometimes leading to their rejection”, Bloom wrote, adding that with this group, “every vote becomes Russian roulette”.
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Methodology
To assess the environmental performance of the groups and delegations, the association has had to make methodological choices.
A number of texts and amendments in favour of the development and use of renewable energies were taken into account by the study.
However, support for the development of nuclear energy, for example, was not taken into account in the calculation, even though it is a low-carbon energy source.
“We don’t have the necessary expertise to express an opinion on the subject,” Manzotti added.
15 recommendations
The association has not yet released the scores for each political party, but its communications department told Euractiv that this should not “change the overall picture”.
In the meantime, Bloom has already sent the candidates in June’s European elections 15 proposals for the next 2024-2029 mandate, with particular reference to ocean preservation.
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