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Greens ‘will not back von der Leyen’ for re-election if she does deal with far right (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Terry Reintke, the German Green MEP chair, said her group would “absolutely” not support von der Leyen – the incumbent centre-right commission president who is seeking a second term – if she made a deal with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s group in the European parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

Reintke warned that if von der Leyen joined forces with the ECR, which has repeatedly voted against EU green policies, the EU’s plan to tackle the climate crisis would be in danger. “It’s much more likely that the green deal will be killed, or at least slowed down”. She said this would be “a disaster not only for the climate, but also for the economic standing of Europe” in the face of intense competition from the US and China.

"Ursula von der Leyen – when you look at her track record – she very often is a politician that follows the zeitgeist,” Reintke claimed. “And the zeitgeist in 2019 was towards green Europe. Now she has a lot of pressure from her own political group, and we know that EPP wants to turn back and basically say we do business as usual.”

Von der Leyen has twice refused to rule out working with Meloni, who she described as “clearly pro-European”. Rival candidates have excoriated von der Leyen for failing to mention the complaints of Italian journalists who have alleged “suffocating control” from Meloni’s government over their work. Von der Leyen has also glossed over the Italian government’s restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights, merely saying she took a “completely different approach”.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (7 children)

The parties of the EU are quite a mistery to me though. I know my national parties, but what is the european green party? I'm inclined to vote Volt, but are they part of the green party?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago

Volt is not part of the European Green Party. But within the EP European and national parties with overlapping goals form groupings. Volt joined the Green grouping (Greens/EFA) after the last election. As far as I know they might join the green grouping again or go with the liberal grouping (Renew/ALDE). They share goals with both of them. I would label them progressive liberals.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

No, they are not. They are part of "The Greens/European Free Alliance" political group in the parliament alongside the European Green Party and some other smaller green and regionalistic parties.

Edit: however, the quote from the article speaks about the parliamentary group not the party, therefore this would imply that Volt is on board with this statement or Damian von Boeselager is, who is the only Volt MEP to date.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Ah I see. I didn't understand that distinction

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Currently, to my knowledge, there are no real European parties apart from Volt.

The other so-called "European" parties are only loose conglomerates of the individual member states' local parties.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yes they are currently with the Greens/EFA in parliament

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago

Volt and the green party are two different parties. The European green party has roughly the same goals as your national green party but on an European level.

As far as I can tell volt is similar to the green party but with sometimes more radical goals. I'm not sure if I'm understanding the trans European part correctly, but while (for example) the green party members always have their own countries benefit in mind volt works more focussed on European goals, strengthening the EU first and foremost.

If you usually vote green volt seems like a solid alternate choice.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

Oh she WILL cooperate with any party if it means that she can stay in power. Count on that much.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Green members of the European parliament will not support Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as the commission president if she makes a deal with hard-right nationalists, the party’s joint lead candidate has said.

The intervention deepens the dilemma for von der Leyen, the clear frontrunner for the commission top job, after a similar pledge from the centre left, which has said it will not support her if she works with hard-right parties, including Meloni’s Brothers of Italy.

Von der Leyen is seeking a second five-year term as commission president at the EU elections on 6-9 June, where nationalist and far-right parties across Europe are expected to make significant gains at the expense of the traditional centre-right, social democrats, liberals and greens.

While the mainstream centre-right European People’s party (EPP), which includes von der Leyen’s German Christian Democrats (CDU), is likely to remain the biggest force in the parliament, with a possible 175 MEPs, she has to secure a much broader coalition.

So for me, this is going to be the key question: Is there going to be a majority that is continuing the green deal, that is standing firm on democracy, on rule of law, in the next European parliament to back Ursula von der Leyen or whatever other candidate.

Rival candidates have excoriated von der Leyen for failing to mention the complaints of Italian journalists who have alleged “suffocating control” from Meloni’s government over their work.

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