Photo credit: rockcohen

Green political parties from across Europe made a successful European parliament election this past week. The European Greens gained 11 new seats in the parliament and will now have a total of 46 Green MEPs, an increase with 31%. The Greens/EFA Group is now likely to have 53 MEPS (46 Greens and 7 EFA MEPs).

“To have increased the number of Green MEPs from 35 to 46 is a great success. Our showing is even more remarkable when you consider that we have 11 more seats than before in a parliament with 49 fewer MEPS and that all other groups have shrunk”, said EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts, who has been elected a MEP for the Belgian French-speaking Green Party Ecolo.

In France the green political party Europe-Ecologie gained 16% of the votes and will thus send 13 green MEPs to the European parliament. Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are other countries where the greens will receive more MEPs than from the last EU election. In Greece 3.48% of the people voted for Ecologoi-Prasinoi and as a result Greece will be able to send their first green MEP to the European Parliament.

“The Greek Greens’ campaign demonstrated European solidarity as an Austrian-Greek Green stood as a candidate to support the Greek party”.

“What our 31% increase in seats proves beyond any shadow of a doubt is that the Greens are a major political force to be reckoned with and that we are gaining the trust of more and more voters, not only in our traditional areas like the environment and climate policy and human rights, but also economics and social policy“, Lamberts said.

The greens across Europe will together and stronger than ever work hard to gain support in the parliament for their €500 billion new Green Deal which will help solve the economic crisis and save our climate.

EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek, who was also elected a MEP for the Austrian Greens and managed to maintain their 2 seats despite heavy waves of rightwing populism, thanked all the people who dared to “Think Big, Vote Green”.

“We will fight hard on their behalf for a Green New Deal for Europe, which was at the heart of our common election campaign and obviously appealed to many voters, including many who had never voted Green before,” she said. “The Green New Deal would not only create 5 million new Green-Collar jobs in 5 years but would also help fight climate change as 500 billion Euros of public and private funds would be invested in renewables, energy efficiency and other future-oriented technologies”.

I am happy to see that the Greens has a growing support among the voters across Europe, and that they will with the support of the voters get at least 10 more seats in the EU parliament. And I am happy to see that Sweden (for now) isn’t taking part in the Europe-wide trend of sending far-right extremist, racists and anti-democratic political parties to the European Parliament.

Election Results

The Green election results can be found below:

Photo credit: rockcohen

The upcoming European Elections are just a few weeks away. And when it comes to saving the climate this EU election is one of the more important ones. And I believe it’s definitely something you must take part in if you care the slightest about the climate, your children and their future, the environment or just the well state of your country.

As you probably already know by now time is no longer on our side when it comes to fighting man-made climate change. We need radical actions now if we are to have the slightest chance to stop the worst doomsday scenarios. That is why this election is so important. Because whatever you like it or not the decisions which are being made in the European Parliament affects all member states. So this is our chance to vote for meaningful actions against climate change that will affect politics and regulations both in Europe and around the world. Don’t wait until the next European Parliament elections in 2014, because then it will be too late.

How to vote?

If you live in one of the 27 member states of the European Union, and are eligible to vote, you can take part in the election and help save out climate by voting for a green political party. Yes, you read right. I am asking you to vote for a political party that might not be the right party for you personally in terms of your political views or ideology. But this is such an important, almost a once in a lifetime, election for the climate and the future of our civilization which require us to vote for political parties that actually stands for real actions against climate change.

When to vote?

The elections will take place in early June and all member states votes on different dates. For example the UK voting will be on the 4th and in Sweden the voting is not until the 7th. You can find out when the deadline for voting is in your country by using this map here.

Who should you vote for?

Because Europe has so many different political parties it’s hard to tell exactly which party should get your vote. That is why I think the easiest way to decide is to choose a political party that is a member of the European Greens (They have even set up a website to promote their candidates and their new green deal for Europe which will help solve the economic crisis and save our climate).

The following parties listed below are members of the European Greens:

• Albania: Partia e Gjelber
• Austria: Die Grünen
• Belgium: Ecolo OR Groen!
• Bulgaria: Bulgarian Green Party/Bulgarian Greens
• Cyprus: Cyprus Green Party
• Czech Republic: Strana Zelenych
• Estonia: Eestimaa Rohelised
• Finland: Vihreät De Gröna
• France: Les Verts
• Germany: Bündnis90/Die Grünen
• Greece: Ecologoi-Prasinoi
• Hungary: Zöld Demokraták Szövetsége
• Ireland: Comhaontas Glas
• Italy: Federazione dei Verdi
• Latvia: Latvijas Zala Partija
• Luxembourg: déi gréng
• Malta: Alternattiva Demokratika
• Moldova: Partidul Ecologist din Moldova “Aliante Verde” (PEM AVE)
• Netherlands: De Groenen OR GroenLinks
• Poland: Zieloni 2004
• Portugal: Partido Ecologista “Os Verdes”
• Romania: The Green Party
• Slovakia: Strana Zelenych (SZ)
• Slovenia: Stranka mladih Slovenije (SMS)
• Spain: Los Verdes OR Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV)
• Sweden: Miljöpartiet de Gröna
• United Kingdom: The Green Party of England & Wales OR Scottish Green Party

Find your country’s green party and vote for it in the upcoming EU election. It really isn’t harder than that!

This is our chance to vote for change. Don’t waste it.