Twenty Years of European Greens 1984 - 2004 edited by Arnold Cassola & Per Gahrton From Federation to Political Party By Arnold Cassola From happy memories of the past .... to strong hopes for the future The transition from Co-ordination to Federation was not an easy one. In the early nineties, this leap into the future was initially seen by some parties, with a “lot of fear and even mistrust” (Behrend). According to Bronwen Maher (Camhaontas Glas), “we were not sure where a federation might take us”. To sum it up, it “was a difficult but exciting process” (Cox). However, despite the initial diffidence by some, work on the federation “project” went on with a certain intensity at the beginning of the nineties. Why was it felt necessary to change the structure? Why was the “old” Co-ordination no longer considered to be a suitable vehicle to convey the ideas and ideals of the European Greens? The answer comes up quite clearly in the writing of a number of contributors to this book. The Federation was considered to be the necessary and natural step forward for the European Greens because the Co-ordination’s “structure was rather loose” (Bergamaschi); “it was necessary to have new structures that made qualified decisions possible” (Braz); “the European Greens (had) to be more effective and visible on the international scene” (Ernst); “we had to adapt our European political co-ordination to the new challenges of the post Cold War period” (Hamels). It is clear therefore that many green protagonists of the time felt that the reality of Europe was drastically changing at the beginning of the nineties and that it was necessary for the Greens to adapt themselves and their European structure to the changing reality if they wanted to be relevant in the political life of our continent and to society in general. The general feeling at Majvik, where the Federation was officially set up, after the necessary compromises had been reached, was one of generalised enthusiasm. For Juan Behrend, “how can one forget such a memorable moment?”; for Arnold Cassola, “it was a particular atmosphere”; for Gyury Droppa, “that day that atmosphere really touched me”; for Brigitte Ernst, “Many of us did not sleep that night and we could enjoy this strange feeling of a never-ending day”; for Franz Floss, Majvik brings back the memory of “a joyful feeling of celebration after the work is done”; for Niki Kortvelyessy the event produced “a palpable feeling of living history”; for Jef Leestmans “the event was so exciting that I hardly slept”; for Heidi Meinzolt-Depner, the “participants in this historical process were full of optimism”! Even the Norwegian Green Dag Poleszynski who, after ten years still has “mixed feelings about what we indeed did achieve”, still remembers the meeting in Majvik as “one of great enthusiasm and community”. Therefore, “the highly ambitious project” (Sauri) that was the Federation did materialise in Majvik and the success and general sense of euphoria of the Greens present at the foundation of the Federation can be synthesised in the singing of the Italian song “Che sarà”, which “erupted” spontaneously as soon as the founding of the Federation was unanimously aproved. It is amazing how a good number of the contributors to this book present in Majvik have actually highlighted the singing of this song as a real landmark for greens, despite their different geographical and cultural backgrounds and provenance: the Germanic-Argentinian Behrend; the Maltese Cassola; the Hungarian Droppa; the German Meinzolt-Depner ......... To say it with the Helvetian Luzius Theiler, the Greens present in Majvik must have “felt a spur of green-historic importance when Paolo Bergamaschi began to sing our anthem “Che sarà” for the first time”! What has the fact of belonging to the “European Greens” meant for the new members joining the Co-ordination or Federation -not only from the Eastern but also from the smaller countries-? Well, some of these parties’ delegates had had very timid contacts on first approach with the European Greens (‘there was a strong feeling of fear that we might not be accepted” (Blokov); “feeling a bit lost” (Cassola); “I was very nervous” (Coyne); feelings of “reservation and nervousness” (Karayan); “I was a bit afraid of many strange people” (Rokos)!). Membership of the Federation and taking part in its Council meetings, Congresses and other activities has helped to instill confidence in these parties, which today have grown in maturity in such a way as to be able to take part in the various organs of the Federation, as well as in the debates on topics of common interest, on a much stronger footing than at the initial stages ..... despite the financial-linguistic constraints which still exist to this day and which “force” the Federation to hold all its proceedings, Congresses excluded, in one working language, i.e. English. The contributions in this book, however, do not only look at the past with nostalgia; the greens are not only tied to the past and to pleasant memories. Indeed, they are very much looking forward to further developments and to a most rosy future. This comes out very clearly in the innumerable references to the fact that the Federation is about to become a European Green Party: “Probably we need a step forward and this can only be a real transnational European green Party” (Bergamaschi); “(today) the Federation is on the verge of becoming a European Political Party” (Cassola); “the creation of a European Green Party will act as a spur towards the emergence of a public European Space” (Cohn-Bendit); “From next year we will be all part of the European Green Party” (Coyne); “A true European Green Party having the power to initiate” (Anne de Boer); “The ambitious project to run for the 2004 European elections with a real European Green Party is definitely becoming a reality” (Frassoni); “The Green European Party is born” (Greze); “an effective European Green Party is needed” (Haavisto); “The European Green Party is entering its third decade” (Lamberts); “I think (the European Green party) is a new chance for the Federation” (Leestmans); “The immediate challenge for the European Green movement is to evolve from Federation into a European Green Party” (Schaffer-Wyler); “The European Green Party must be a big one and a strong one too” (Szuba). What clearly transpires from all these quotations is the positive feeling that we European Greens are always on the move, innovative, creative, maybe restless, but definitely not a boring and static lot! Our first twenty years of common “European” history and joint action have not always been easy, but have certainly regaled us with some great achievements. We now look forward to our next twenty years of activity in a greener Europe with greener voters, having greener sensibilities. Maybe, after all, we greens can show that, whilst “just enough is best”, we can really help to better the quality of life of all citizens by taking it to levels that are certainly “more than just enough