European Green Party

The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values.

European Green Party
Abbreviation	European Greens EGP
President	Ciarán Cuffe (IE) Vula Tsetsi (GR)
Secretary-General	Benedetta De Marte (IT)
Founded	21 February 2004; 21 years ago (2004-02-21)
Preceded by	European Federation of Green Parties
Headquarters	Rue du Taciturne 34, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Think tank	Green European Foundation
Youth wing	Young European Greens
Membership (26 January 2025)	5
Ideology	Green politics Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-left to left-wing
European Parliament group	Greens–European Free Alliance
International affiliation	Global Greens
Colours	Green
European Parliament	50 / 720
European Commission	0 / 27
European Council	0 / 27
European Lower Houses	252 / 6,229
European Upper Houses	50 / 1,458
Website
europeangreens.eu
Politics of the European Union Political parties Elections

The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary group in the European Parliament which is formed by elected Green party members along with the European Free Alliance, European Pirate Party and Volt Europa. The European Greens' partners include its youth wing the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG), the Green European Foundation (GEF) and the Global Greens family.

Green parties participate in the governments of two countries in Europe: Latvia (The Progressives) and Spain (Catalunya en Comú/Sumar). They also externally support the government in Poland (Zieloni/Civic Coalition).

Ideology and positions

The European Greens have committed themselves to the basic tenets of Green politics as seen across Western Europe, namely environmental responsibility, climate action, individual freedom, inclusive democracy, diversity, social justice, gender equality, global sustainable development and non-violence.

The European Greens was the first party to form out of various national movements to become a European entity, committed to the integration of Europe. The party aims to amplify the views of member parties by having common policy positions, mutual election manifestos, and cohesive European election campaigns. The European Greens also has networks which brings Green politicians together, such as the Local Councillors Network.

Charter

According to its charter, the European Greens is working towards a just and sustainable transition towards societies "respectful of human rights and built upon the values of environmental responsibility, freedom, justice, diversity and non-violence". The charter's guiding principles provide a framework for the political actions taken by member parties.

The priorities outlined in the charter include protecting human health and wellbeing, maintaining biological diversity, combatting global warming, transitioning to a just and sustainable economy, strengthening inclusive democracies, safeguarding diversity, and ensuring social justice.

History

Green politics in Europe emerged from several grassroots political movements, including the peace movements, the ecology movement and movements for women's rights.

The anti-nuclear movement in Germany first had political expression as Vereinigung Die Grünen, which formed in March 1979, and established itself as a party for the European Parliament in January 1980. Similarly, activists in Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament had formed the Ecology Party in 1975. However, it also brought in ecological movements, which had become active across Western European nations in the 1970s. Environmental groups became especially political after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which strengthened groups such as the Italian Green Party. In the Netherlands, feminists dominated GroenLinks party. Elements of all these national parties would go on to form the European Green Party.

Representatives from these and other parties sat in the European Parliament after the 1984 European Parliament election. The following 11 members of this grouping, which was briefly known as the Rainbow Group, came from parties which went on to be part of the European Greens:

• 1 Agalev MEP and 1 Ecolo MEP from Belgium
• 1 Pacifist Socialist MEP and 1 Radicals MEP from the Netherlands
• 7 Grünen MEPs from Germany

The European Green Party itself was officially founded at the 4th Congress of the European Federation of Green Parties on 20–22 February 2004 in Rome. At the convention, 32 Green parties from across Europe joined this new pan-European party. As such, the European Greens became a trans-national party, and the very first European political party.

In the 2004 European Parliament election, member parties won 35 Seats and the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament secured 43 in total.

In the 2009 European Parliament election, even though the European Parliament was reduced in size, the European Greens' member parties won 46 seats, the best result of the Green Parties in 30 years. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament secured 55 seats in total.

In the 2014 European Parliament election, the Green candidates were José Bové and Ska Keller. These elections marked the first time there were primaries including Spitzenkandidaten at the European elections, which allows Europeans to not only vote for who should represent them in the European Parliament, but also help to decide who should lead the European Commission. In May they presented a common programme including the Green New Deal at the launch of the European Greens' campaign which called for "a new direction of economic policy aimed at reducing our carbon footprint and improving our quality of life". The slogan of the campaign was 'Change Europe, vote Green'. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament obtained 50 seats in total.

The candidates for the 2019 European Parliament election were Ska Keller and Bas Eickhout, who campaigned for climate protection, a social Europe, more democracy and stronger rule of law. That year, the Greens made the strongest ever showing across Europe, in part due to rising public awareness about climate change and the impact of youth movements for climate. The strongest surge was in Germany as Alliance 90/The Greens replaced the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany as the second-strongest party. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament obtained 74 seats in total. The Greens' results signified a new balance of power as the European People's Party (EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) lost their majority.

By 2023, The Economist analysed that "the policies espoused by environmentalists sit squarely at the centre of today's political agenda".

Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout were elected by the European Greens to be lead candidates for the 2024 European Parliament election. The campaign ran under the slogan "Choose Courage". They were elected by more than 300 delegates at an Extended Congress in Lyon, France in February 2024. The campaign is focused on a Green and Social Deal, and the fight against the rise of the far right in Europe.

At the 2024 Maastricht Debate, organised by Politico and the University of Maastricht, European Green top candidate Bas Eickhout asked directly to Ursula von der Leyen, top candidate of the European People's Party, what her position was towards the far right in Europe, European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy. Von der Leyen told the audience that a collaboration with the ECR "depends very much on how the composition of the Parliament is, and who is in what group."

Numerous analyses in European quality media consider this as a win for the Greens and the turning point of the 2024 election campaign. The European Greens criticised heavily that von der Leyen, as incumbent president of the European Commission and lead candidate for the EPP, opened the door to collaboration with the far right.

Organisational structure