Bas Eickhout: Green Party's Poor Showing in EU Elections " a Blow"

Senior Greens MEP Bas Eickhout has admitted the party’s poor showing in the EU elections is a “blow,” also highlighting the rise of the far-right elections as “extremely concerning.”

The Greens suffered losses in the EU elections especially leading to fears of weakening of climate ambitions

Reacting to the outcome of the EU wide poll, Bas Eickhout, Greens/EFA deputy leader and lead candidate of the European Green Party for the still to be decided EC presidency, said, “The losses in Germany and France are obviously a blow.”

He added, “At the same time, in many countries the voters recognised the solutions of the Greens and elected MEPs from green parties in countries which had never sent greens to the European Parliament.”

He further stated, “The rise of the far-right in today’s elections is extremely concerning for all those who believe in a democratic European Union and in just and equal societies. Given the multiple crises we face, we must not deny the problems ahead, but to work to find a way forward.”

Terry Reintke, Greens/EFA President and lead candidate of the European Green Party, also commented, “It is now more important than ever to secure a stable pro-European democratic majority in the European Parliament.

“This democratic majority must come together in the face of the far-right. The Greens/EFA Group is a reliable, responsible partner and we are prepared to work constructively with other democratic parties to stop far-right forces from gaining power”.

Meanwhile, the plight of the ineligibility of some to vote in the EU elections has been highlighted by campaigners.

Ruvi Ziegler, Associate Professor in International Refugee Law at the University of Reading, says this is a “particularly painful reality” for many.

Ziegler, an Advisory Council member of Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary, said, “Millions of EU citizens living in the UK were eligible to vote in the elections, and many, like myself,cast their votes using postal votes, proxy votes, voting in person in embassies/consulates, and/or e-voting.

“In contrast, Italians living abroad would need to travel back to Italy to vote despite being able to vote from abroad for national elections. This has generated justifiable anger.”

He adds, “Worse still, in five EU member states, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, Denmark, and Bulgaria, national legislation prescribes that most of their citizens residing in a ‘third country’, which the UK now is, are legally disenfranchised.

“These countries tend to follow the pattern they adopt for their national elections. Of the four nations of the UK, this legal reality is particularly challenging for Northern Ireland, given that, pursuant to the Good Friday Agreement anyone born in NI may choose to be Irish, British, or both. Hundreds of thousands of residents of Northern Ireland hold Irish citizenship.

“Prior to the conclusion of the withdrawal agreement, I highlighted the ramifications of this scenario and, in my role as Chair of the charity ‘New Europeans UK’, we recently held at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly which explored the effects of Brexit on voting rights of EU citizens in EU elections.

“The legal reality in which your eligibility to vote as an EU citizen for the European Parliament is contingent on your member state’s preferences erodes the political equality of EU citizens as individual EU citizens, irrespective of their member state.

“This is a particularly painful reality for those EU citizens who have come to the UK before Brexit, when it was still an EU member state – to coin a phrase, they have not left the EU; rather, the EU has left them.”