Twenty Years of European Greens
1984 - 2004
edited by Arnold Cassola & Per Gahrton
Anne De Boer Groen Links (Holland)
- EFGP Secretary General 1994 - 1995
As a political movement, the Greens came into being in the last quarter of the twentieth century. People from different backgrounds, with different experiences and inspired by different causes got together and presented a new and fundamentally different political platform to the public. This new platform reflected the experiences of the social movements of the sixties and seventies, such as the anti-nuclear movement, the student movements, local (environmental) groups, national peace protesters, feminist theorists, third-world solidarity groups, human rights groups, etc. A will had arisen to do away with the norms of industrial society, to regain a balance between nature and mankind, to abolish bureaucracy and patriarchal structures, and find new ways to achieve peace and stability.
The founding meeting of the European Federation of Green Parties in 1993 was a major step in the continuing process of consolidation. Next to a growing number of Green Members of the European Parliament it was thought necessary to have a party structure at the European level. But it was even the democratic revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe that gave a strong impetus to create stronger structures for co-operation. A first step was The Green East-West Dialogue that kicked off with an initial meeting in Piestany, Slovakia in 1991, chaired by Green Party president Peter Sabo.
Leo Cox, then political secretary of the Co-ordination of European Green Parties, was fully aware of the need for a federal structure at the European level, and placed it on the agenda. However, given the divergent backgrounds of the parties involved as well as the arenas in which they operated, being both national and international, it was not at all that certain whether that aim was actually feasible.
For me it was a pleasure to chair in 1993 the voting sessions in Majvik on the platform and statutes and to be able to conclude that the European Federation of Green Parties had been founded. It must be said that the unanimity of the old members of the Co-ordination of European Green Parties was not assured at the start of it all. Chairing a ‘preparatory meeting’ in Bonn just over six months earlier, I had to make it quite clear that the foundation of the EFGP would not be the result of consensus, but that most parties present felt a pressing need to go on even if some parties decided, regrettably, that they could not be part of it.
Commenting on the dissent Helmut Lippelt, then international secretary of Die Grünen, chuckled characteristically, ‘Federation oder Revolution’. All parties have played an important role in the founding process, but a special tribute is due to the German Greens because at the time they lost their parliamentary representation (for having neglected national issues) they still found the time and energy to generate true pan-European structures. This meant that the danger was avoided of a green federation comprising parties from European Union Member States only.
The EFGP has proven to be an excellent forum where European Greens can meet, exchange information and debate issues. The good results are obvious. But more ambition is now needed. Instead of meekly following the European Parliament, interesting agenda initiatives are needed to push the Green Agenda wherever needed. Consolidation and development of our Central and Eastern European counterparts seems only now to be taken seriously. This lack of initiative is partly due to the lack of a political platform and structure equal to the problems posed by the twenty-first century. With the planned enlargement of the EU in 2004 and further expansion on the agenda, sturdier European structures are needed. A true European Green Party having the power to initiate, i.e. being a party capable of inspiring debate and calling for action to be taken, would be a welcome step in the right direction. This would further demonstrate that the Greens are here to stay on this globe, on the forefront in preserving and developing it.
