Germany: Post-Merkel coalition promises progressive agenda

The three parties about to form the next German government presented in Berlin its plans on Wednesday under the title "Risk More Progress," aiming to set itself off from the Merkel era by serving as an "alliance for freedom, justice, and sustainability," as the parties taglined their cooperation deal.

The key deal appeared to be between the two junior partners in the coalition: The Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP). While the environmentalists were able to secure the target of ending Germany's coal industry "ideally" by 2030 (eight years ahead of the German government's current target), the FDP got their hands on the second most powerful office in the land: their party leader, Christian Lindner, is now poised to take over the Finance Ministry. Green co-leader Robert Habeck is set to take over the Economy and Energy Ministry, whose portfolio is to be expanded into climate as well. The Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Free Democrats offered up several progressive steps in their new coalition contract announced Wednesday. But many climate activists had concerns, saying the deal comes up short.

Read more at: Germany: Post-Merkel coalition promises progressive agenda | Germany | News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 24.11.2021

Brexit: Britain needs an anti-Brexit alliance – by Vince Cable

Britain's next prime minister is in the process of being chosen by around 160,000 Conservative Party members — a self-selecting "selectorate" that is predominantly over 55, relatively wealthy, and, needless to say, not representative of the country.

When their chosen leader drags himself out of that toxic sludge, he’s in for a shock.

Not only will he face a Conservative Party irrevocably divided at the grassroots level and a country poised to wreak revenge for the Brexit shambles at the first opportunity, but he will also face an anti-Brexit front more united than ever before.

Parties such as the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Plaid Cymru are starting to work together for the greater good. We're putting aside our differences and focusing on doing everything collectively to stop a no-deal Brexit — and, indeed, to stop Brexit altogether.

In the upcoming Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, Welsh party Plaid Cymru has endorsed the Liberal Democrats because we offer the clearest chance of victory for pro-European voters. The Green Party has also decided to stand aside. That means anyone wanting to elect a candidate who is committed to stopping Brexit will be voting for the Lib Dems' Jane Dodds, maximizing the chances of taking back this Welsh seat from the anti-European Tories.

It's hard to overstate the significance of this alliance. The decision is a beacon of political pragmatism and principle in the current fog of cross-party rancor and offers a roadmap for building an effective anti-Brexit front that can save Britain from lurching toward disaster.

Read more: Britain needs an anti-Brexit alliance – POLITICO

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EU: Populists, greens and the new map of European politics

‘Peak populism’ and the ‘green wave‘ was how many observers summarised the outcome of the recent European Parliament elections. Green parties will have 69 seats in the new parliament, up from 51 in the last, while right-wing populists increased their vote share to 25 per cent from 20 per cent last time. As is the case in many national parliaments, a critical consequence of this rise of green and populist parties is that for the first time since direct elections to the European Parliament began in 1979, traditional centre-right and centre-left parties will no longer have a majority in it.

How can we understand these trends? Although right-populist and green parties are often considered polar opposites, they are similar in that both are what political scientists refer to as ‘niche parties’: they draw their strength from their association with a particular issue—immigration and environmentalism, respectively. Perhaps for this reason, most explanations for their rise focus almost exclusively on structural trends which have purportedly propelled these issues to the forefront of political competition.

Green party advance, it is argued, is thus best understood as a consequence of the growth of post-materialist values, which emphasise self-expression and quality-of-life issues, such as the environment, over economic and physical security, while populism’s success reflects the surge in immigration—or, rather, voters’ backlash against it. Yet, while seemingly intuitive, such explanations are at best the beginning of the story of the rise of green and populist parties, not its end.

Read more at: Populists, greens and the new map of European politics • Social Europe

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European elections: Knife-edge battle between Populists Utra-Rghtwingers and Pro-Europe supporters

Turnout up in France as 21 countries vote in knife-edge EU poll Tens of millions of Europeans in 21 countries are voting Sunday in the European Parliamentary election in a continent-wide battle between eurosceptic populists and proponents of closer EU unity.

Read more at;
http://www.france24.com/en/20190526-polls-open-21-countries-european-parliament-elections-eurosceptics

Ireland - EU elections: Greens surge in Irish EU elections

Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/25/fine-gael-and-green-party-have-strong-showing-in-ireland

EU - Netherlands - global warming: EU the logical place to fight global warming, says Greens frontrunner Parliamentary candidate Bas Eickhout

Watch: EU 'logical place' to fight global warming, says Greens' spitzenkandidat Bas Eickhout.

Read more at: 

https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/12/watch-live-greens-spitzenkandidat-bas-eickhout-on-the-future-of-europe

The Netherlands: In Dutch municipal elections Jessy Klaver's Greens and PM Rutte's VVD end up as the winners

Jesse Klaver Chairman Greens

In the Dutch Municipal Elections, Jesse Klaver (32) - of the Greens (Groen Links) and PM Rutte's party (VVD) seem to have ended up as the winners.

Right wing Nationalists, anti-EU, and pro-Trump and Putin parties of Thiery Baudet (FVD) and Geert Wilders (PVV) made some gains, but overall did worse than expected.

Jesse Klaver (32) prior to being elected the chairman of the Greens party, chaired the youth union of the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond, (the youth section of the Federation of Christian Trade Unions of the Netherlands) from 2009 to 2010 (see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Klaver)

In Rotterdam, Netherlands largest city DENK, the party of Tunahan Kuzu of Turkish descen, was also one of the big winners.

EU-Digest

Iceland gets first Green prime minister - by Lisbeth Kirk

Katrin Jakobsdottir, Iceland's new PM

Leader of the Leftist-Green Movement, Katrin Jakobsdottir, will become Iceland's first Green prime minister on Thursday (30 November), after agreeing to form a coalition government with the liberal conservative Independence Party and the centre-right Progressive Party.

Together the three parties hold 35 seats out of 63 in the Althingi, Iceland's parliament.

Two members of the Leftist-Green Movement are set to vote against the coalition in Thursday's parliamentary approval, technically giving the new government only a single-seat majority.

Katrin Jakobsdottir will become the country's first Green prime minister and the only ruling Green PM in the world, following in the footsteps of former Iceland president Vigdis Finnbogadottir, who became the world's first elected woman president in 1980.

Iceland is ranked top by the World Economic Forum as having the smallest gender gap among 144 countries in the world indexed.

The news will come as a welcome message to over 300 women political leaders from around the world meeting in Iceland this week for an annual summit aimed at promoting gender equality inside and outside of the political sphere.

Jakobsdottir, 41, is a former journalist and served as education minister in Iceland's first left-leaning government which took power after the country's 2008 economic collapse.

In a recent poll 49.5 percent said that they preferred her to become the next prime minister.

Bjarni Benediktsson, chairman of the Independence Party and outgoing prime minister, will become finance and economy minister in the new Icelandic government, a position he held between 2013-2016, before becoming prime minister.

The deal comes four weeks after snap elections were called in October, when a scandal involving PM Benediktsson's father prompted a government ally to drop out of his ruling coalition - after less than a year in government.

Increased taxes on capital gains, maternity and paternity leave, and infrastructure development are among the key issues for the new government.

The Left-Greens want to finance spending by raising taxes on the wealthy, real estate and the powerful fishing industry, while the Independence Party has said it wants to fund new infrastructure by selling state-owned shares in the country's banks.

Iceland was hard hit during the financial crisis when all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks defaulted in 2008.

Now the Nordic country is experiencing an economic boom driven by record tourist arrivals, leading to shortage of labour and Icelandic workers demanding pay rises.

Note EU-Digest: Iceland is on the right track and can be an example to many other countries,specially when it comes to closing the gender gap  around the world.

Read more: Iceland gets first Green prime minister

Belgian Politics: Socialists and greens create alliance in Antwerp

Antwerp Socialists SP.A and ecological party Groen have joined together in an alliance to run in next year’s local elections. In so doing, they follow in the footsteps of their local representatives in Ghent, which joined together in a cartel for the 2012 elections and will again for next year. Hasselt’s socialists and greens have also formed a cartel.

In Ghent, the move gave the SP.A-Groen cartel an absolute majority in the last elections, which the parties hope to see repeated in Antwerp. The port city was a socialist stronghold until N-VA swept the local elections in 2012, which saw long-time mayor Patrick Janssens losing the post to Bart De Wever.

Leading the list in Antwerp next year will be Wouter Van Besien of Groen, who calls the co-operation – known as Samen, or Together – an alliance rather than a cartel. “It’s not really a cartel,” he told VRT. “It is an alliance in which other people, also outside politics, will be brought together.”

The vote to form the alliance was as good as unanimous within SP.A but saw some dissent inside Groen, where ultimately 76% of members voted in favour. Former Groen president Mieke Vogels is an opponent of the alliance, she told VRT. “I’m not pro-cartel in general,” she said, “and I’m not at all convinced by the particular platform at the centre of this alliance. I find it weak, a bit of a grey area.”

Read more: Socialists and greens create alliance in Antwerp | Flanders Today

EU Refugee Relocation Policies: European Parliament denounces Member States' failure to relocate refugees | Greens/EFA

The European Parliament has today supported with a very strong majority a resolution on the relocation of refugees in the EU. It calls for Member States to implement their decision of September 2015 to relocate 160,000 refugees in the EU. Ska Keller, co-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament and initiator of the parliamentary resolution, comments:

"It is a strong signal that a large majority of the European Parliament has denounced the failure of the Member States to relocate refugees. Member States must finally implement the relocation of 160,000 refugees from Greece and Italy. Those Member States that continue to boycott relocation cannot be allowed to get away with their refusal to show solidarity. The Commission must initiate infringement procedures against them. It is outrageous that so far only 11% of the 160,000 refugees have been relocated.

"Sealing-off European borders against refugees and migrants is not a solution. If we want to avoid terribly overcrowded refugee camps and unsustainable conditions for those seeking protection in the EU's southern frontiers, we need solidarity between Member States. Greece and Italy cannot be expected to take care of asylum seekers on their own."

EU-Digest

Farming: Germany: Greens to confront industrialized farm lobby

Germany's opposition Greens have set their sights on nutrition that avoids mass livestock farming. They have accused Chancellor Angela Merkel's government of giving agriculturalized industry an unrestrained free run.

Seven hundred delegates at the Greens' annual conference in Hamburg voted by a large majority on Saturday to make food and farming reform a key campaign issue, despite their electoral bruising last year.

Part of the Green's two-percent decline in voter support to 8.4 percent in Germany's September 2013 poll was widely attributed to their campaign call for a "Veggie Day," a suggestion that each consumer pick a weekday without meat.

The German farmers' federation (DVB) responded at the time by accusing the Greens of trying to impose eating habits on citizens.

Germans each consume annually about 60 kilograms (130 pounds) of meat, including poultry, pork and beef. An additional 4.3 kilograms ends up in the waste bin, according to a recent study by the Heinrich-Böll Foundation.

At Saturday's Hamburg conference , the party adopted a resolution, saying "what I eat and don't eat is for me to decide according to my tastes. But politicians must ensure safe food products and transparent information."

Anton Hofreiter, the opposition Green's caucus leader in the Bundestag said the "agricultural industry with its monoculture is responsible for species extinction worldwide."

Hofreiter also said the party's decision to push further for an agricultural transformation or "Agrawende" had ecological ramifications similar to the "Energiewende."

That was the centerpiece energy transformation adopted by Merkel, taking Germany toward renewables and away from fossil fuels and nuclear power, especially after Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Hofreiter on Saturday also demanded an end to the massive use of antibiotics in intensive farming of animals. His call for a ban on imported, genetically-engineered soya bean produce drew loud applause from delegates.

Read more: Greens to confront industrialized farm lobby | News | DW.DE | 22.11.2014

Germany: Morlok: Information rights conflict with foreign policy considerations

Interview: DW: The opposition parties in the German Bundestag are determined to question whistleblower Edward Snowden in Germany, something the government wants to prevent. Now the Greens have announced they are taking the issue to the Constitutional Court. What would such a lawsuit look like? 

Martin Morlok: The parliamentary committee looking into NSA surveillance practices would have to open what is called a "dispute between bodies of the state" against the federal government with the aim of determining that the government has violated one of the committee's rights. Basically, the government is obliged to do everything in its power to meet the committee's information needs. Usually we face the problem that the committee asks for government files, and the government will say: No, you can't have those, they're confidential.

 Or they can't get permission for certain officials to testify. These cases are relatively clear; the investigative committee has strong rights where the government is concerned.

What is the likelihood of a lawsuit succeeding in this case? Is it really conceivable that the Constitutional Court might force the government to summon Snowden?

This case is a bit different. Of course the committee can summon Snowden, but the question is: How will he get here, to Germany? As a US citizen, he doesn't need a visa. But the Americans have an arrest warrant out for Snowden, and since Germany has an extradition agreement with the US, of course he won't come to Germany if he faces extraction to the US.

Read the complete interview at; nMorlok: Information rights conflict with foreign policy considerations | Germany | DW.DE | 10.07.2014

European Banking Industry: Greens vow to push for bank ring-fence after EU elections

The European Greens will push for a compulsory ring-fence between banks' riskier investment banking and retail activities, such as mortgages and lending to small businesses, after the European elections.

Philippe Lamberts told delegates at the European Business Summit yesterday (15 May) that a “Vickers-style” division would force Europe’s deposit-taking banks to start lending again.

Lamberts is a Green member of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and is standing for a second term.

Since the crisis, banks have been reluctant to lend to each other and to businesses, which has hampered growth. The United Kingdom’s Vickers Reforms, proposed in September 2011, divides investment from retail banking. 

Read more: Greens vow to push for bank ring-fence after EU elections | EurActiv

European Politics: EU Greens launch US-style primary elections by Valentina Pop

The European Greens on Sunday (10 November) selected four top candidates for US-style primaries ahead of the 2014 EU elections.

People from all over Europe can cast their vote online in a process that will select two candidates of the four contenders - a man and a woman or two women.

The online poll will run until 28 January 2014, and the duo to lead the campaign will be announced soon afterwards.

The only male candidate is Jose Bove, a French MEP who describes himself as a "farmer of the world" having "milked sheep" for years on a French farm and opposed genetically modified plants and shale gas exploitation in his country.

Read more: EUobserver.com / Political Affairs / EU Greens launch US-style primary elections

German Elections: Germany's Left urges new alliance to oust Merkel after poll boost - by Erik Kirschbaum

The leader of Germany's Left party urged the Social Democrats (SPD) on Sunday to rethink their ban on a left-wing alliance as an opinion poll showed the three opposition parties could narrowly beat Chancellor Angela Merkel in the September 22 election.

Gregor Gysi, the Left's parliamentary leader, said in several high-profile interviews on Sunday that the SPD should stop ostracizing the Left party because of its Communist past.

"I don't see any reason that would prevent the Left party from becoming part of a government ruling in Germany one day," Gysi told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which published a poll putting the SPD, their Greens allies and the Left party on 46 percent, a point ahead of Merkel's centre-right alliance.

"The SPD needs to understand that, without us, they're not going to win the chancellery," said Gysi, who indicated he had his eye on the foreign minister's job. The Left is polling about 8 percent after winning 11.9 percent in the 2009 election.

SPD support is 25 percent, 15 points behind Merkel's conservatives. The SPD's Greens allies are at 13 percent, ahead of Merkel's Free Democrat allies at 5 percent.

Peer Steinbrueck, the SPD's chancellor candidate, has ruled out a coalition with the Left party at the national level, as have most SPD and Greens leaders largely because it is the successor to Communist East Germany's SED party that built the Berlin Wall, and because the Left wants to abolish NATO.

Read more: Germany's Left urges new alliance to oust Merkel after poll boost - Yahoo! News