European Green Party holds conference
Plan to gain stronger presence in European Parliament

European Green Party Congress, Geneva

For two days in October, more than 600 Greens from 35 Green Parties across Europe gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for the 2nd Congress of the European Green Party (EGP).

Delegates debated Green priorities for Europe, with the aim of influencing current policy. They also made plans for building a common European Green platform for the European Parliament elections of 2009 and how to increase the number of Green seats in that body. 

'A Green Future for Europe' resolution was passed that began with a prologue entitled 'Our European Perspective':

"The increasing lack of social justice, especially concerning jobs and future perspectives for young women and men, the running down of human and citizens' rights in times of terrorism, the growing influence of organized crime, the nuclear backlash as well as the deterioration of ecological criteria and of course the stalemate at the EU institutional level are, among other things, of deep concern for Greens all over Europe - within and outside the EU."

Concerning the failed European Consti­tution Process, which saw defeats for the Draft Constitution in national referendums in France and the Netherlands in early 2005, the resolution stated a need to deal with these aforementioned real world problems in the daily lives of Europeans, before they would be ready to pass a continental level constitution:

"From our point of view the European Union needs to re-launch the constitutional process - simultaneously with radically improving its political performance. Democratization and further steps to establish a European constitutional treaty has to go hand in hand with a change of the political orientation of the Union by the adoption of political initiatives and rules that respond adequately to the fears and the needs of the population. This implies, to tackle among others, the problems that people are facing in the social, economic, energy and environmental fields. The acceptance of the Union will only be enhanced if the citizens feel that the EU is not only focusing on completing the single market but strives to find answers that the current situation requires."

In 2004, European Greens won 34 seats in the European Parliament in 12 countries, making them the fourth largest group in the European Parliament, but the Greens won no seats in the ten new EU countries in the East.

Delegates also adopted a Green Charter of Principles, which update the criteria for parties that want to join the Euro­pean Greens, which now has 35 member parties from 31 countries. 

European Green Party Congress, Geneva (October 13th-15th)

Organizing on the European level goes back to July 1979, with the forming of the Coordination of the European Green and Radical Parties. By 1984 the Coordi­na­tion left the non-Green parties behind, firmed up its constitution, agreed to a Joint Declaration of Aims and changed its name to the European Coordination of Green Parties - or simply "The Euro­pean Greens." In March 1985 the Second Conference of the European Greens was held in Dover, England and attracted over 700 delegates from 20 countries from all over the world - by far the largest international Green meeting held to date. 

By the early 1990s, as the European integration process picked up steam, the need for Greens to speak with a common voice on the European level became apparent. In June 1993 twenty-two Green parties met in Finland to approve a common program and new representational structure, which also brought about a name change to the European Federation of Green Parties. This marked a change from a networking to a policy making structure, with the goal of establishing for the first time, a common European Green platform for the upcoming European Parliament elections. 

In 1994, 21 Greens from seven countries won seats to the European Parliament. With three more seats added later by appointment, Greens made up a 24-member Green Group in the European Parliament - the first time Greens existed by themselves without the need to be part of a larger coalition in order to access sufficient parliamentary resources to be effective.

In 1999 European Greens increased their European Parliament representation again, this time to 35 seats from 12 countries. Together with 10 other members from regionalist parties (or as independents), they formed the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA), the fourth largest group in the parliament, giving Greens unprecedented clout. 

During these same years, Greens continued to meet in European wide Con­gresses as a Federation of national parties (Vienna 1996, Paris 1999, Berlin 2002). But in 2004, they met in Rome with the objective of also forming into a party on the European level, and changed their name yet again, this time to the Euro­pean Green Party.

In the 2004 European Parliament elections, the European Green Party ran a pan-European campaign, with candidates in one country crossing borders to campaign with their Green colleagues in the next - the first European party to ever campaign that way in a systematic manner. Greens won 34 seats from 12 countries, holding their own in the previously existing EU countries in Western Europe, but not picking up any new seats in the ten new 'ascending' nations joining the EU from the east. However, the June 2006 election of Greens to the Czech parliament and the entering into coalition government by the Czech Greens in January 2007 give hope for that to change in 2009.

For more information: www.europeangreens.org 

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