Translation Gwendolyn Albert
From 4 – 7 June, EU citizens were called to the polls to elect their European Parliamentary members for the next five years. The results of the Greens/European Free Alliance club at the EP are more than impressive, but also alarming, given that the expectedly low voter turnout was only 43.09 %
According to the most recent vote count on 8 June 2009, the Greens/EFA will have 53 seats in the new EP, which will have its first session on 14 July in Strasbourg. They have gained more than 10 seats against the results in 2004.
If we look at this success through the lens of the various Member States, we see that in addition to 14 German MEPs, the French Greens led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit in the new “Europe Ecologie” movement scored a spectacular success and increased their number of seats from 6 in 2004 to 14 (from 7.7 % - 16.2 %), more than double.
In Benelux the Greens also showed decent improvements. Déi Gréng in Luxembourg received 16.84 % compared to 15.4 % in 2004, and also won new seats. GroenLinks in the Netherlands moved from two to three seats (7.4 % - 8.9 %) and in Belgium the Greens received 8.51 %, of which a sensational 22.74 % were votes for Ecolo in Wallonia/Brussels (compared to 9.84 % in 2004). Together with Groen! (6.35 %), they will seat three deputies at the European Parliament.
The United Kingdom will send the Green Party of England & Wales to Brussels and Strasbourg, together with the Regionalists (European Free Alliance EFA), Plaid Cymru (13 %) amd the Scottish National Party for a total of five seats. In Scandinavia, six Green candidates succeded, two per state, primarily the Socialistisk Folkepart in Denmark with 15.4 % (compared to 7.9 % and one seat in 2004), the Swedish Miljöpartiet de Gröna with 10.8 % (compared to 6 % and one seat in 2004) and the Finnish Vihreät De Gröna at 12.4 % (compared to 10 % and one seat in 2004). The Greek Ecologoi-Prasinoi made it into the EP for the first time, with 3.49 % and one seat.
Unfortunately, there were also less successful countries. Berlusconi’s depoliticised electoral campaign in Italy and his incomprehensible success cost the Federazione dei Verdi /Sinistra e Libertà, which did not exceed 4 % and lost two seats. In Austria the Greens won only two seats with 9.5 %. In the structurally weak young democracies of the Member States that acceded to the EU in 2004, not one Green Party made it into the EP.
Overall, the generous election results have been a great success for the Greens and have shown it is possible to gain votes and assistance through the EP elections. At a time when everything is being re-evaluated in light of the economic crisis, the Green call for a new form of government based on social and environmental necessities was convincing. The Greens put forward a specifically pro-EU progamme and through the Green New Deal, which is an answer to the question of how to overcome the financial crisis through an environmental conjunctural programme, emphasised the central topic of the future. The Green success in the EP elections also shows that the idea and desire to create a social and environmental EU, despite the sad rise in the euroskeptics’ numbers, is greatly supported by European citizens.
Sources:
EP election results for 2009
Greens – European Free Alliance