Greens begin 'uphill struggle'

Leading figures in the European Green party in Brussels said on Wednesday that their expectations for this summer’s elections are relatively modest.

At the inaugural press conference for the new party, one of the 11 MEPs leading the coalition put their best hopes at well under half the seats enjoyed by the main European party, the right wing PPE.

MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit said “We are not Putin fighting for 80 per cent – we aim for between five and 15 per cent”.

Cohn-Bendit said the new party expected to “at least double” the number of German  MEPs, as well as acquiring “one or two” Spanish parliamentarians.

But green insiders admit that the party will struggle to win much support from the ten countries due to join the EU.

One source said that the eco-politicians “face an uphill struggle in the new member states”.

“The greens are not very strong there because economic issues are in the foreground.”

The new party is expected to do relatively well in Latvia, which has a new Green prime minister, and probably Poland, but have difficulty everywhere else.

The greens traditionally done comparatively well in Germany, Austria and Finland, as well as (to a lesser extent) the Netherlands and the UK.

But changes in the French voting system this year could see them lose seats.

Overall the source said he expected the party to maintain the same number of seats after the summer elections – but in an enlarged parliament of 732 MEPs rather than the current 626.

They currently hold seven per cent of European parliament seats – compared to 37 per cent for the conservatives (PPE) and 27 per cent for the socialists (PSE).

All other EU parties currently work together in loose coalitions, and the European Greens claim to be breaking new ground by starting out with a set of shared priorities.

“This is really a first”, said Maltese politician Arnold Cassola at Wednesday’s press conference.

Monica Frassoni MEP outlined the aims of the new party, putting “a strong constitution”, the fight against climate change and the phasing out of nuclear power at the top of the list.

Other priorities will include peacekeeping, gay rights and opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Cassola announced that the party will be campaigning under the slogan “You decide” – in all 20 languages of an enlarged EU.

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