Kira Marie Peter-Hansen made history five years ago by becoming the youngest MEP ever elected to the European Parliament at 21. Reflecting on her term, Peter-Hansen says she was comforted by the casual and laid-back ambiance of the first Greens EU parliamentary session. Peter-Hansen hails from Denmark’s Green Left party and fondly remembers seeing Terry Reintke, a German MEP who is currently the leading candidate for the party, walking barefoot and applying nail polish.
However, the current electoral predictions suggest a steep downslide for the Greens. This is a cause of concern for Peter-Hansen who worries that they may lose many of the seats they gained in the previous European elections. She expresses her hope that the forthcoming elections will allow them to rally for nature and the environment. She fears that the imminent parliament, likely to be dominated by centre-right and conservative politicians, might strip away recent environmental reforms and laws.
Reintke also voiced fears about the possible revoking of climate policies without strong green representation in the upcoming parliament at a recent campaign gathering in Brussels. Reintke, who has served as an MEP from Germany since 2014, recalled engaging with farmers and interacting with calves on the campaign trail. Her mission is twofold: to support farmers in making a living out of their produce, and helping fulfil climate and biodiversity goals.
Originating from an industrial region of Germany, Reintke aims to influence not just corporate decision-makers but blue-collar workers as well. She wants to persuade them to consider Greens as a viable choice. Reintke warned that failure to secure a strong electoral mandate for climate policies could lead to the reversal of progress made by the outgoing parliament.
In recent times, we’ve witnessed a growing onslaught on significant environmental reforms as politics lean towards the right. The ambitious green deal envisioned by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has suffered setbacks or dilution due to pushback from farmers and the industrial sector.
According to Bas Eickhout, a Dutch MEP and one of the top figures in the Green party, the potential of the Green deal hangs on the results of the election in June. In the first campaign debate which was held in Maastricht, Eickhout emerged as one of the strongest fellows. He opined that elements in far-right politics attempted to politicise the issue of climate policies as a “cultural warfare”.
Eickhout mentioned that the mission for a green economy proceeded in Europe, with China and the United States subsequently leaping in. He was of the view that any efforts to bring the green reformations to a standstill won’t do any favours for the EU in their advancement towards a green economy.
In 2019, the Green party saw remarkable accomplishment and gathered an unparalleled number of seats, going beyond 70, a drastic rise from the count of about 50 MEPs. Notable politicians like Philippe Lamberts from Belgium, who enjoys respect within the parliament, won’t be seeking re-election. A contingent of other Green party leaders including Ska Keller and Reinhard Butikofer from Germany, Finland’s Heidi Hautala and Margrete Auken from Denmark have also chosen not to run again.
Current polling estimates in Germany, the epicenter of the Green party, presents it trailing in fourth place after the Christian Democrats in the centre-right, the Alternative for Germany far-right, and the Social Democratic Party in the centre-left.
As per the forecast, a rise for the far-right in the forthcoming elections could diminish the prevalent dominance of the European parliament consisting of the European People’s Party (EPP) on centre-right, Renew in the centre and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) on the centre-left.
The far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) entities along with the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) are projected to clinch a more substantial bulk of seats, over-shadowing the Greens. This could potentially lead to a slimmed down Green group on the left trying to contest against the powerful ECR on the right in shaping the next parliament.
Reintke indicated that The Greens are prepared to back the current ruling parties in order to prevent the ECR from gaining power in parliament. She pointed out that numerous parties within the ECR are not just anti-European, but are hypercritical and aggressively against the green deal, directly assaulting basic human rights and the jurisprudence of their corresponding member states. She expressed that it would have harmful repercussions if the ECR were to be included in the governing majority.