Greens will be official opposition in new European Parliament

Green Party MEP’s Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O’Sullivan, along with the majority of their Greens/EFA colleagues, today abstained on the vote of the European Parliament on the new EU Commission. The group has concerns about the political choices in the college. The Irish Green MEPs and their colleagues in the Greens/EFA Group chose to abstain from the vote as a way of keeping the door open to work constructively on the most urgent matter facing Europe and the world, that of fighting the climate and biodiversity crises.

Green MEP for Dublin Ciarán Cuffe said: “We extend our congratulations to Ursula von der Leyen and her team as they officially take on their new portfolios, and we look forward to working together to ensure that she meets her commitments to fight climate change through the promise to present a climate law and a European Green Deal within the first 100 days of the Commission.

“However, myself and my colleagues in the Greens/EFA Group have serious concerns about the political make-up of the Commission. We are also skeptical of the inherent contradiction in declaring a European Green Deal as THE priority of this Commission and at the same time showing no will to alter the EU’s approach to agriculture or trade policy. It is simply not possible to genuinely address the urgent matter of climate breakdown in a meaningful way while maintaining such inconsistent positions.

“Our group also feel it is extremely important to take a strong and clear stance against the far right and placing a member of Orban’s far right government as Commissioner with responsibility for Enlargement is highly problematic, given concerns over a commitment to the rule of law in Hungary.”

Green Party MEP for Ireland South, Grace O’Sullivan said: “While I congratulate Ursula von der Leyen, and look forward to working constructively with her and her team on the future of Europe, I fully support the Greens/EFA Group position - we had no choice but to abstain.

“We have significant concerns in a number of areas, but want to keep the door open to work together on our most urgent priorities. Climate change and the environmental crisis is, of course, top of the agenda. We have little more than a decade to make the ground-up and make system-wide change to be made a reality.

“Being a member of the European Parliament in such a crucial time in the history of humankind is a responsibility I take extremely seriously. I feel it is my job to do everything I possibly can, to foster the creation of change and to challenge political decision-making that acts as an impediment to that. Along with my colleagues, I will monitor and scrutinise the Commission’s work very carefully and will continue to defend the promises made in the last European elections.”

ENDS

For further information please contact

Niamh Allen - niamh.allen@greenparty.ie - +353 87 9893749