EuropeAnalysis

Future of climate reforms ‘at stake’ in European elections

Greens face major battle to hold on to gains made in last European Parliament

Terry Reintke MEP, president of the Greens/EFA group: 'We already see in the ECR [European Conservatives and Reformists] there are a lot of parties that are not only anti-European, but they’re also very, very openly anti-green deal...'
Terry Reintke MEP, president of the Greens/EFA group: 'We already see in the ECR [European Conservatives and Reformists] there are a lot of parties that are not only anti-European, but they’re also very, very openly anti-green deal...'
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Jack Power in Brussels
Mon May 06 2024 - 09:00

When she was elected to the European Parliament five years ago as the youngest MEP ever, aged 21, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen did not know what to expect.

From the Green Left party in Denmark, she said she was put at ease by the atmosphere of the first meeting of the Greens EU parliamentary grouping. Terry Reintke, the German MEP who is now the party’s lead candidate in the coming elections, was walking around the room without shoes, putting on nail polish. It was “chill”, Peter-Hansen said.

Down in the polls, the Greens are predicted to lose a significant number of the seats they won at the last European elections. “I still hope that we can make this election one for nature and the environment,” Peter-Hansen said. Centre-right and conservative politicians will be looking to roll back recent environmental reforms and legislation in the next parliament. “I’m afraid that we’re going to go backwards,” she said.

At a campaign rally in Brussels in recent days, activists, politicians and party staff mingled in a trendy events centre. Speaking to journalists beforehand, Reintke said there was a “clear danger” that there could be a push back on climate policy, if there was no “strong green voice” in the next parliament.

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The 36-year-old German, who has been an MEP since 2014, said she had been talking to farmers and “petting a lot of calves” on the campaign trail. “We want farmers to be able to live off what they are producing but at the same time also make it possible for us to meet climate and biodiversity goals,” she said.

“I come from a very industrial area in Germany… I don’t only want to convince the people who are taking decisions in companies, in terms of like the CEOs, I want to convince the workers. I want the workforce to see Greens as a credible option for them,” she said.

If there was not a clear mandate from voters for climate policies, the achievements of the outgoing parliament could be reversed, she said. In the last year, major environmental reforms have come under repeated attack, as the political system tacked to the right. Several elements of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s landmark green deal have been shelved or watered down, in the face of opposition from farmers and industry.

The other half of the Greens’ leadership ticket in the election, Bas Eickhout, a Dutch MEP, said the future of the green deal was “very much at stake” when people voted in June. Eickhout, who was seen as one of the better performers during the first joint debate of the campaign in Maastricht, said the far right had tried to make climate policies part of a “culture war”. Europe kicked off the “race” to transition towards a green economy, but China and the United States had followed afterwards, he said. Any attempt to hit “pause” on green reforms now would not help the EU win that race, he said.

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On the back of a wave of support, the Greens won a record number of seats in 2019, up from about 50 MEPs to north of 70. Some of that number are not standing again, like Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, a colourful and well-respected figure in the parliament, who is known to hand out homemade jam to colleagues.

German Greens Ska Keller and Reinhard Butikofer, Heidi Hautala from Finland and Danish MEP Margrete Auken are also not running again. Others, it seems, are certain to lose their seats. Current polls in the party’s heartland of Germany show it is in fourth place, behind the centre-right Christian Democrats, far-right Alternative for Germany and centre-left Social Democratic Party.

The expectation heading into the coming elections is gains for the far right will significantly shrink the current governing majority in the European Parliament, made up of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), centrist Renew and centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

The hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) groups look set to return with a bigger share of seats than the Greens. That may mean a much reduced Green group on the left and the ECR on the right could each be vying to be king makers in the next parliament.

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The Greens would be willing to support the existing governing parties to keep the ECR “out of power” in parliament, Reintke said. “We already see in the ECR there are a lot of parties that are not only anti-European, but they’re also very, very openly anti-green deal, very openly attacking fundamental rights, the rule of law in their respective member states,” she told The Irish Times. It would be very “detrimental” if the ECR were brought into the fold of the governing majority, she said.