The leading candidate of the Greens, who lost 18 of their 71 seats in the European Parliament elections, says their support remains necessary to ensure a stable centrist majority and the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission.
The Greens will not support Ursula von der Leyen in his attempt to achieve a second term as president of the European Commission unless they are included in a broad, centrist coalition with their conservative party, the European People’s Party, the group’s leaders have declared, while noting that are willing to compromise on environmental goals.
“We believe that the only way to create a stable pro-European, pro-democratic and pro-Ukrainian majority is with the four parties,” he declared on Wednesday (June 12). Bas Eickhout, co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group and joint candidate for the top position of the Community Executive, at a press conference prior to a first post-electoral meeting in Brussels.
The Dutch legislator listed the three conditions that von der Leyen herself has established for groups that want to cooperate with the EPP, and for non-aligned MEPs who want to join the group in the coming weeks.
Last Sunday’s election night, when it became clear that the EPP was going to remain the largest group in Parliament and even to win seats, von der Leyen immediately turned to the Socialists and Democrats and Renewal, a liberal group that has lost 23 of its 79 seats in a swing to the right.
Eickhout said he did not consider the Greens’ omission a snub, noting that the group president, Manfred Weberhad also said that the search for a stable majority would begin with three-way talks. Von der Leyen could not count on full support even within her own grouphe said quoting French and Slovenian MEPs.
“Our conclusion is very clear,” Eickhout said. “The only way to create a stable majority is that you need a fourth party, and the only one that can meet the three criteria that she herself defined… is us.”
Along with him, the co-president of The Greens/ALE, Terry Reintke, stressed that The Greens would not enter into any type of political pact involving the eurosceptic group ECRof which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is a member, which topped the polls in Italy.
However, he implied that The Greens would be willing to compromise aspects of the EU’s environmental policyagainst which the EPP led a violent reaction in the run-up to the elections.
“It is clear that some parts of the forces we are going to negotiate with want to back down from the Green Deal,” Reintke said. “Obviously, if you start negotiating, you’re not going to get 100% of what was in the green program,” he admitted.
