Police use water cannons against climate activists of the “Extinction Rebellion”, who blocked the Utrechtsebaan on the A12 road, during a protest in The Hague, on September 9, 2023.
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The green party is on track to lose seats in the European Parliament elections, provisional results showed on Monday, raising concerns that the bloc may soon weaken its climate policy.
The far-left Greens/European Free Alliance will win 52 seats in the legislative branch of the 27-member trade bloc, according to preliminary results. That is lower than the 71 seats secured by the Greens/EFA when the green faction was very happy in the last five years.
It comes amid a wider shift on the right and a green backlash – or “greenlash” – against policies designed to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment.
The far-right Identity and Democracy groups made big gains across the EU, while the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists got a slight rise in the vote.
In Germany, where the Greens govern as part of the so-called “traffic light” coalition alongside the center-left Social Democrats and the pro-business Free Democrats, support for the Greens has almost halved compared to 2019. Provisional results show the party in fourth place out of 11, 9% of the vote.
Support for the Greens also fell in Austria and France, where the far-right outperformed and prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap election.
Across the continent, frustrated farmers have taken to the streets in recent months to push for further exemptions from EU environmental regulations. Nationalist and far-right parties – traditionally skeptical on climate issues – have also been vocal critics of green policies.
If we do not step up our actions here, our European industry will lose this global race and I am worried.
Bus Eickout
Green Party leadership candidate
Bas Eickhout, the Green Party’s leadership candidate, said support for far-right parties in the bloc could jeopardize Europe’s progress on climate action.
“I would say that the global green race is on, and you see that in China, you see it in the United States, so this means that Europe really needs to act,” Eickout told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro.
“I’m not afraid to step back, but if we don’t continue, if we don’t accelerate our actions here, our European industry will lose this global race and that’s why I’m worried.”
Eickhout said in a separate statement on Sunday that the losses in France and Germany were “obviously a blow” and that the rise of the far-right was “extreme for all those who believe in a democratic European Union and in a just and equal society. .”
Ricarda Lang (l-r), Chair of the Federal Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Terry Reintke, the main candidate of the Greens for the European elections 2024, and Omid Nouripour, Chair of the Federal Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, react to the preliminary projection at the Greens’ election party in Columbiahalle Berlin.
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However, the Greens are set to place first in Denmark and the Netherlands – and Terry Reintke, another leading candidate for the party, said in the same statement that a strong result for the party in Sweden and Finland should be seen as “an important milestone for our political family.”
Reintke pointed out that voters have elected MPs from green parties in countries that have never sent greens to the European Parliament before, such as Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia and Lithuania.
“Now it is more important than ever to secure a stable pro-European democratic majority in the European Parliament. This democratic majority must come together in the face of the right,” said Reintke.
Green Deal ‘irreversible’
Ahead of the vote, researchers warned that the outcome of the European elections is likely to put significant pressure on the European Green Deal, the region’s carbon neutrality program.
Pedro Marques, vice president of the centre-left Socialist and Democratic Group, said on Monday that continuing climate policy could be a challenge, given his support for the far right.
“We are concerned, and we certainly will not allow, from our side, (for) this to happen. That means (the) Green Deal cannot return, but we are ready to give this additional twist, which is the Green Deal. , but take care of the transition,” he said Marques told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro.
“Our economy, our small businesses, our citizens, are affected by the transition to this new green economy, so let’s support it – but that means going back with the Green Deal,” he said.
Jorg Asmussen, CEO of the German Insurance Association and former German deputy finance minister, said Monday that he did not expect the European election results to affect the vote in Germany. He added that the country’s current coalition government would continue to “muddle through” until September next year.
“In what I see at the European level, the pro-European and also pro-competitive agenda will not change. So, the influence of extremes on the right or on the left of politics will be limited,” Asmussen told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach. .
“I will see an impact on the migration policy of the EU and Germany as well as on the Green Deal, which will certainly be recalibrated … because there will not be enough support in the European Parliament in the future but of course the climate problem will not disappear,” he added.
An activist shouts slogans during the Friday for the Future climate rally on Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin, Germany on May 31, 2024.
John Macdougall | Afp | Getty Images
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said that, regardless of the election result, voters in the bloc still ranked climate change and saving nature among their main concerns, arguing that a clear majority wanted the EU to act in the area in the next five years.
“This election will not make the climate and nature crisis any less existential,” Greenpeace EU campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo said in a statement. “Floods, droughts and heat waves will only get worse, and all newly elected politicians must act to protect our planet’s ability to sustain life and give our children a future. It is their responsibility.”
