Greens/EFA Roundup

Table of contents

• New Greens/EFA group meets in Strasbourg
• Ulrike Lunacek elected European Parliament Vice-President
• Voices from Ukraine
• Plenary speeches by our Co-Presidents

Outside the Plenary

• Open hearing for European Commission President nominee
• EU waste and resource policy
• Commission agrees with Green economy
• Renewable energy victory in ECJ

New Greens/EFA group meets in Strasbourg

The new Greens/EFA group met in Strasbourg for the first time this week to elect the President of the European Parliament and finalise committee memberships, with new MEPs representing Lithuania, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia for the first time. Our group is made up of European Greens, activists and representatives of disadvantaged minorities, stateless nations and regions. You can find out more about each of our members, their committee memberships and contact details on our homepage below. Delegation memberships are to be added.

• Members of the Greens/EFA group
• Press Release - Green group expands to new member states
• Press Release - New EFA Group gets to work

Ulrike Lunacek elected European Parliament Vice-President

Greens/EFA MEP Ulrike Lunacek (Austria) was elected vice-president of the European Parliament Tuesday. During her campaign Ulrike focused on the need to rebuild public trust in an open, transparent, greener and more ethical European Parliament that truly represents EU citizens and defends democracy and human rights at EU level. She will serve for two and a half years as a Vice-President after which elections by MEPs will take pace again.

• Webarticle - Democracy is about Choices
• Press Release - Greens/EFA MEP Lunacek elected as vice-president of the European Parliament

• Video - Democracy is about choices – Ulrike Lunacek for EP president

Voices from Ukraine

Six months after the crackdown against democratic pro-EU demonstrations in Ukraine, we organised a public hearing on Wednesday with Ukrainian representatives in order to debate about the situation

• Event page and video on demand

Plenary Speeches by our Co-Presidents

Rebecca Harms speaks on the conclusions of the European Council meeting

• Plenary Speech (EN/DE/FR)

Philippe Lamberts speaks directly to the Italian Prime Minister on Italy’s Presidency of the European Council, on what we hope for and what we expect

• Plenary Speech (FR)

Outside the Plenary

Open hearing for European Commission President nominee

The Greens/EFA group announced Thursday that they would hold an open hearing on Wednesday 9^th July with European Commission President nominee Jean-Claude Juncker. The entire hearing will be livestreamed with the public invited to participate via twitter #hashtag #JunckerTest and the facebook event page. We are very happy to welcome Mr. Juncker and have many questions for him. Ultimately, the support of the group will depend on whether his priorities for the next five years match our own.

• Livestream link
• Event page on our homepage
• Announcement Tweet (with links and #hashtag)
• Facebook event page (with links and #hashtag)

Renewable energy victory in ECJ

The European Court of Justice upheld member state support schemes for renewable Energy on Monday. These are essential if we are to have a climate friendly and secure energy future as well as for boosting Green jobs. Now we must keep up the pressure for a binding target of 45% renewable energy by 2030.

• Press release – Renewable Energy

Green economy package

On Wednesday the European Commission presented a package on the green economy and green job creation in Europe. We’ve been putting forward concrete proposals on the green economy and a Green New Deal and welcomed the recognition of the need to transform our economy and the great job creation potential. However, the lack of concrete proposals is regrettable. Innovation and investment need a strong and stable regulatory framework. The incoming Commission must fill in these and other gaps fast if we are to tackle both unemployment and climate change.

• Press Release – Green economy

EU waste and resource policy

A zero waste plan for the EU agreed by the Commission Wednesday shows some good intentions, but has mixed up priorities. Although moves for resource efficiency and more recycling are welcome, the top priority should be waste prevention in the first place. More recycling alone does not necessarily mean a reduction in our over consumption of resources. We must also ensure that recyclable material is not wasted by incineration.

• Press Release – EU waste and resource policy