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Greens make big gains in EU parliament vote

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-09 15:58

LONDON - Polar bears have taken over screen savers. Two of the last five Nobel Peace Prizes have gone to eco-campaigners. Climate change has crept onto government agendas.

And now the European Parliament itself has gone a bit more green.

Riding a wave of public concern over the effects of climate change, the Green-European Freedom Alliance bloc captured 53 of the EU parliament's 736 seats, compared with 43 spots in the last 785-seat assembly.

"To have increased our side with the parliament seats going down in number is a nice surprise," said Greens-EFA spokesman Chris Coakley.

Austrian Green Party top candidate for European parliament elections Brigitte Lunacek (L) and Green Party leader Eva Glawischnig pose for photographers in their party headquarters in Vienna June 7, 2009. [Agencies]

Green candidates now account for 46 of their Green-EFA's seats, compared with 36 previously, according to the political bloc, which also includes independents and members of smaller pro-EU national parties. The bloc's final size could change slightly, depending on alliances.

Europe's Greens were the only major bloc whose parliamentary proportion increased - from 5.5 percent to 7.1 percent in this election. Far-right groups and anti-EU parties, including the UK Independence Party, also saw big increases in the independent group.

"People know you can't deal with climate change without the EU. It's probably the easiest link to make on what the EU is actually for," said analyst Hugo Brady from the London-based Center for European Reform.

The Greens - unique in campaigning on a common Europe-wide platform - proposed a "Green New Deal" economic plan to invest in environmental initiatives that would create "green-collar" jobs in renewable energy, social care, sustainable housing and public transportation.

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"The Greens were the big winners in this election," said Jan Sundberg, professor of politics at the University of Helsinki. "They managed to get a united message out."

Looking ahead, the Greens said they would be pushing the agenda for renewable energy. Coakley said they would also like to see more funding for green initiatives, including from the European Investment Bank.

To advance their plans, however, the Greens must build consensus within Parliament's six other major political blocs and smaller groups.

Europe and individual European governments plan to spend about $54 billion in economic stimulus funds on green initiatives, according to a February report by HSBC Bank plc. By comparison, the US will invest $94 billion of its recovery plan on environmental-improvement projects, and China will spend $221 billion.

"Europe is prone to use green words, but most governments are not putting their money where their mouth is," said Philippe Lambert, an EU lawmaker and spokesman for the European Green Party umbrella group. "Only the Greens have a sense of urgency about this."

For example, it was the Greens who insisted that the EU's December agreement to use 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 include a requirement for nations to give progress reports every two years. And Greens were closely involved with the EU parliament's push to make the chemical industry provide data on hazardous products.

"Just because the other parties have put the environment on the agenda doesn't mean the level of ambition is anything like what's needed. Our job is to push other groups to be more ambitious," said Caroline Lucas, the top returning green candidate from Britain who helped push recent EU legislation banning toxic toys from China.

The Greens saw their biggest electoral surprise in France, where the Europe Ecologie party took third place nationally. Acknowledging that support, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France's governing conservative UMP party would make tackling the economic crisis and global warming its priorities in the European Parliament.

Greens also took third place in Germany, where they pushed the campaign for renewable energy. Greek Greens won one seat for the first time, while Green candidates from Sweden and Finland went from one to two seats each.

There were some setbacks. British Greens failed to add to their two seats, Italian Greens fell short of the 4 percent threshhold for a seat, and Austrian Greens lost one of their two seats.

Analysts suggested Greens are hamstrung by being perceived as a single-issue party, although they have adopted views on issues ranging from social services to caring capitalism. Greens are also limited by the fact that mainstream parties often hijack their environmental platform.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government jumped on the green bandwagon two years ago with a popular discount for people buying low-emission cars.

"It is because of the Greens that some issues gain prominence," said Greenpeace's director in Brussels, Jorge Riss. "They have been very important in setting the standards ... in bringing issues to light."