European Greens’ dilemma: Salvage EU climate laws or break with von der Leyen’s party

LISBON ― When Green politicians from across Europe gather in sunlit Lisbon this weekend, they won’t be sharing a moment of triumph ― but one of frustration and division.

With climate no longer at the forefront of policymakers’ minds as it was before the Covid pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine hit the economy and altered priorities, the Greens are trying to figure out whether to keep their wagon hitched to the now less-green-friendly European People’s Party ― or if they should distance themselves.

For some in the Greens’ ranks, the party of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is close to toxic. In Lisbon they aim to declare the EPP as enemy No. 1.

But not all agree. Others say the priority is to keep pushing through laws linked to last term’s Green Deal by continuing to team up with the center-right group, even though that would mean making concessions ― and holding their nose whenever the EPP allies with far-right groups.

“On the one hand we have a responsibility to salvage legislation from the last term,” Parliament Vice-President Nicolae Ștefănuță, a Greens lawmaker from Romania, told POLITICO. “On the other hand we cannot accept this new political idea … We protest this practice of doing coalitions with the extreme right.”

In the previous political term that ended with the June 2024 European election, the Greens were an integral part of the centrist majority supporting von der Leyen’s agenda, even lending their name to the Green Deal, which became one of her key legislative packages. This time around, as the Green Deal becomes more of an afterthought and the new legislative arithmetic makes the Greens dispensable, the EPP is reaching out to right-wing factions for support on some legislation.

It’s that last point that rankles the most. The main Greens resolution to be approved during the congress, a draft of which was seen by POLITICO, name-checks the EPP and accuses it of “doing the far right’s dirty work by undermining climate protection, social rights and democratic principles.”

The resolution accuses von der Leyen’s Commission of “abandoning green and social progress with short-sighted deregulation, leaving much of society and the business community behind.”

In the last year the Commission, comprising a majority of center-right EPP commissioners, has driven a “simplification” agenda across policy areas that center-left and Greens MEPs say rolls back green commitments. In the European Parliament the EPP used support from far-right groups to push laws slashing red tape and increasing deportations of migrants.

“The question for us is the European People’s Party ― they have crossed a very dangerous line with the teaming up with extreme right without any taboo anymore, and that is exactly the point that I believe at least at the European level we are extremely focused on, the unacceptable position of [EPP President Manfred] Weber,” European Green Party co-chair Vula Tsetsi said. “For us it’s a moment of denouncing what’s going on.”

But despite the Greens’ frustration with the rightward shift in the EU, party members disagree on how to respond. Those divisions are likely to play out in Lisbon.

The split in approaches became clear in an October motion of no confidence against von der Leyen, when 13 out of 44 Greens MEPs voted in support of bringing down the Commission, including the Italian, French, Spanish and Belgian delegations. The Croatian and Luxembourgish groups abstained.

For some in the Greens’ ranks, the party of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is close to toxic. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

The Dutch, Germans, Danes and Austrians remained supportive of von der Leyen.

“There are different views, like in every group, on what is the best strategy,” Italian MEP Benedetta Scuderi said.

“The objective is to keep the Green Deal, to fight for having some social protection … we just come from different contexts where we have different ideas and how to approach to it, how to reach that objective,” she said.

Despite losing their footholds in several governments in Europe in recent years, notably in Germany and Austria, the Greens are hoping to gain traction in countries such as Denmark, where they recently won a local election in Copenhagen, and in Croatia where they are polling third.

Party leaders from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries will huddle over the weekend to “discuss our agenda in these difficult times,” Tsetsi said.

That agenda now reflects a shift from focusing on environmental and climate protection toward social well-being and the defense of democracy — the new political framework for Greens policies across Europe.

The EPP declined to comment on the Greens’ accusations. Previously, when asked about the party’s collaboration with the far right, EPP spokesperson Pedro López de Pablo said it is committed to working with all groups and that the “guiding principle is content, content, content.”

The EPP has made clear on several occasions that they want to deliver on their simplification agenda to revive Europe’s ailing industry, and that they will not shy from relying on right-wing and far-right votes if it helps them press ahead with cutting red tape and toughening the EU’s migration policy. The party says that helping industry is the best way to ensure jobs and the continuity of social welfare.