Groene partijen in EU richten gezamenlijke politieke beweging op (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Green parties from across Europe will unite at the end of next month to form a European Party ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.

Thirty-one parties, including some from countries outside the EU, will gather in Rome on 20-22 February to found the new party which will go under the moniker "European Green Party".

The new party will "introduce big changes to the European landscape", says a statement issued yesterday (19 January).

Green Spokesman Helmut Weixler says this is because "for the first time there will be a really common campaign".

At the Congress in Rome some "concrete demands" will be made for action at the European level.

These are set to be on issues such as renewable energy, nuclear energy and genetically modified foods, continued Mr Weixler.

The party will be backed up by a common campaign throughout Europe with common posters and slogans as well as a website.

A mixed bag

The big names in the campaign include German Green politician and current foreign minister Joschka Fischer who will give a speech entitled "Europe as a global player" at the Congress and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-President of the Greens in the European Parliament.

Both politicians are very pro-European.

However, as with all umbrella groups there are some fundamental differences in politics towards the European Union.

The British and Swedish members of the Greens tend to be much more eurosceptic than their German or Austrian counterparts.

"Of course there are differences, some national parties in [the UK] or in Sweden are more critical to Europe than other Greens, but in general, if you take sustainable growing ... if you take energy policy, we have common ground", Mr Cohn-Bendit told the EUobserver in an interview.

"I think the argument of the Greens is that Europe can do better; can do better for the climate; can do better for social equality; can do better".

Mr Cohn-Bendit, who will run again in European Parliament elections this June, is fairly confident of the Green's turnout although he sees how young the movement is in the new member states.

"In the enlargement countries, the greens are very small parties and are growing very slowly... There have been election changes in some countries like France which makes it difficult for smaller parties to win seats".

"On the other hand, we will win lots of seats in Germany so in the end I would say if we get around 45-50 seats, it will be a strong result", says the Green politician.