- Green MEP 1994 - to date
- Co-President Greens/EFA Group in the EP
I am confident that the day will arrive when the Greens will have convinced the European citizens of the consistence of their political project and of their preparedness to take responsibility at all levels of political representation. The “Green challenge” is certainly a difficult one and not winnable from one day to another. The impact of our project stems from our ability to continue with our support for all those green forces in accession countries and also to equip ourselves with instruments which strengthen our roots and increase our visibility at European level.
It goes without saying that at the same time, on the one hand we should convince the voters of the added value we represent in the political spectrum, on the other, certain greens should stop torturing themselves regarding Green participation in government. Even if this experience has been a difficult one, as can be evinced by the cultural and political defeat of Greens in certain countries, it is possible to overcome the difficulties: Germany is the living proof. The European Party which is about to be born will prove to be a strong tool for the coming 2004 election campaign. Even though we have lost the battle regarding the election of part of the European MEPs on a common transnational list (we were not even agreeing on this within our own group), the creation of a European Green Party together with an election campaign totally focused on European values and generating political actors at European level will act as a spur towards the emergence of a public European space and is totally understandable by our citizens who, the more time passes, realise that Europe is the challenge.
The Greens can play a leading role vis à vis this public space which is a vital element of politics and whose consistence, despite its fragility, is clearly visible, as we have seen during the works of the European Convention and during the Iraq crisis.
Amongst other things, this means that the Greens must start speaking another language. Instead of a cacophony of 25 national campaigns, the Greens should defend a truly unitarian European programmatic line and push for a “political dramatisation” of the European challenges ahead, with a view to making civil society an active participant in the debate, and a responsible one too. Whether we like it or not, Europe has become an issue imposed from above in politics. The problem is, that most of the time, the political forces lack that essential breath of fresh air and do not propose any project with which the European peoples can identify and strongly rally around. Even though I have not made any reference to quite a number of utopian projects, I still believe that the European Union is a truly realistic project. Apart from being the only institution capable of playing a role at global level, only the EU is able to answer our crave for liberty, social justice and ecological responsibility. It is up to us greens to make Utopia happen!
