BRUSSELS/DRESDEN, Germany – Millions of young people took to the streets across Europe in 2019 demanding action climate changeshelping the Green Parties secure their best ever election results in the EU and giving them influence over the climate policies that Brussels has since adopted.
That looks set to change. Polls suggest the Greens will do worse than any other political group in June’s EU elections, which will form the next 720-member European Parliament. They look set to lose almost a third of the current 72 EU lawmakers.
Green EU lawmaker Anna Cavazzini said: “Of course it’s a great feeling in 2019. Everyone loves us and climate is the number one topic.” Reuters.
“Of course, that’s a little different now. Overall, I would say there’s a bit of a societal backlash against climate protection.”
Instead of crowds of young supporters on the streets, several Green Party candidates running this year have reported physical attacks and vandalism on the campaign trail.
Fewer Greens in the next European Parliament will influence EU climate policy over the next five years, as the bloc’s “Green Deal” moves into a politically sensitive period in which the impact The economics of Green goals will become clearer.
“The election will be about the future of the Green Deal,” said Bas Eickhout, a Dutch lawmaker in the EU who co-leads the Green Party in the EU election.
COMPETITIVE CONCERNS
Analysts and EU lawmakers from across the political spectrum attribute the Green Party’s expected decline to factors ranging from voter reaction to the cost of living crisis, concerns over issues such as migration – which have fueled support for far-right parties – and anger at unpopular moves. by Green politicians in the national government.
“The big topics today are competitiveness, security, social issues, immigration and these are topics where the Green Party has to fight a little bit more,” Davide said. Ferrarihead of research at the EU research platform Matrix.
Climate change has accelerated since the last EU election, pushing the world this year for its first 12 months of temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Polls show that most European voters – about three-quarters – remain very concerned.
But other concerns have taken center stage.
In an Ipsos poll of 26,000 Europeans published by Euronews in March, respondents ranked climate change as only the sixth priority issue for the EU to tackle – after inflation, immigration illegal and unemployed.
In Germany, where the 25-member Green Party in the European Parliament is far larger than in any other EU country, the party’s role in government has also dented its popularity.
A stagnant economy and unpopular policies, including a draft plan to phase out fossil fuel boilers, have pushed down Germans’ satisfaction with their government. record low of 27% in January.
A YouGov survey shows that the approval rating for Economy and Climate Secretary Robert Habeck, Europe’s most senior Green Party politician, has almost halved between June 2022 until May 2023.
“The German economy is now entering troubled waters,” said Stefan Marschall, a political scientist at the University of Duesseldorf.
He added: “As soon as environmental policy is designed in specific terms, it becomes clear that this is also a costly affair… leading to people turning away.”
FIGHT BACK
Polls suggest gains in next month’s election for right-wing and far-right parties could erode the ability of the next EU council to pass ambitious new climate policies .
Key climate decisions for the next EU Parliament include a decision on the EU’s legally binding 2040 climate target. To date, the EU has maintained a target of 90% consistent with science emissions cut the proposal under pressure from the Green Party.
The EU has passed more than two dozen emissions-cutting policies into law, including renewable energy targets and a ban on CO2-emitting new cars by 2035.
Those policies cannot be revoked, but many are scheduled for legal “reviews” over the next few years, which some EU officials say a more climate-skeptical parliament could use. used to fill loopholes or repeal parts of the law, slowing Europe’s Green transition. .
With two and a half weeks to go before EU citizens go to the polls, the Green Party is highlighting what it sees as the danger posed by the far right.
Sybren Kooistra, the Green Party’s EU election strategy manager, said that in the last EU election, climate change was the top issue, but not anymore.
“It doesn’t operate with the same fire and emotion as when we talk about freedom and the far right,” Kooistra said. Reuters. “This is more about fighting the far right.”
The Greens in today’s election campaign emphasize their platform includes social justice and support for European industries to remain competitive, while attacking the far right.
German climate activist Luisa Neubauer, a prominent figure in the Fridays For Future youth movement, which organized mass climate protests ahead of the 2019 election, said other parties were pay more attention to the climate, but the Green Party still sets the standard.
“If the Green Party in the European Parliament compromises on climate, on the environment, they will lower the standards for everyone else,” Neubauer said.
Talking to Reuters During an afternoon of door-to-door campaigning in the eastern city of Dresden this month, lawmaker Cavazzini described the Green Party as also an antidote to the far right.
“They hate everything we want. We also find everything they want terrible,” she said.
