Photo by Tobias Rademacher on Unsplash
The European People’s Party, and the Liberals have been accused of “openly courting the far right.”
The accusation follows last week’s debate in Brussels between the candidates vying for the job of the EU Commission President.
One of the candidates Terry Reintke, representing the European Greens, took part in the debate and has “highlighted the importance of stopping the far right and strengthening the European Green Deal.”
Reintke, a senior MEP, said “The biggest threat to security in Europe is the rise of the far right.”
The Greens group leader adds, “There are far right politicians that want to destabilise this union, that want to take away the fundament of what has built peace, freedom and prosperity in Europe over the last decades.”
She claims, “Many of them are working with Putin, with China, trying to undermine our interests. We cannot have the extended arm of Vladimir Putin sitting in parliament. Europe has to resist to this threat.”
“This is why we call on all citizens to mobilise and vote for democratic and pro-European parties on 9 June. A vote for the Greens means a vote against the far right.”
The Greens claim that the lead candidate of the European People’s Party, Ursula von der Leyen, “suggested in the debate that Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is a pro-European, pro-Ukraine, and pro-rule of law party.”
The group adds, “But just today Italian journalists wrote to the EC asking commissioner Jourova to protect media freedom in Italy, which is under attack from the Meloni government.”
“Giorgia Meloni once described Europe as ‘rotten to the core” and she wanted Italy to leave the eurozone as recently as in 2019.”
In the debate Terry Reintke confronted Sandro Gozi who was representing Renew Europe Now, and who, according to Reintke, “intentionally evaded answering questions” about how the European liberals intend to respond to their member party VVD’s decision to go into coalition government together with the far right in the Netherlands.
Reintke warned Gozi: “If Renew is committed to the European project, it must send a very clear signal now that there are consequences when its parties go into coalition with the far right. You cannot just tell us that you will solve this after the European election. Have an extraordinary group meeting and expel VVD from your group.”
The Greens also say the “rise” of far right populists such as Meloni also threatens the Green Deal, a flagship policy of the last five years.
They say that about a year ago, an “unholy alliance of the EPP, Liberals, and the far right (ECR and ID)” began dismantling key elements of the Green Deal, such as the Nature Restoration Law.
“Intensifying extreme weather events, including last summer’s heat waves and recent floods in Germany and Italy, underscore the urgent need for climate action,” says Reintke.
The MEP said: “The Greens will continue to tackle climate change with the urgency it demands. Conservatives and Liberals have already started to kill the Green Deal. But the Greens are committed to taking it forwards. Our Green and Social Deal leaves no one behind. We aim to invest in home insulation to cut energy costs, promote renewable energy to free Europe from fossil fuel dependency and autocrats, and create new jobs.”
