Green Party MEPs Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O’Sullivan today wrote to An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, calling on the government to join with 12 EU countries pushing for a Green recovery for Europe.Last week the Environment Ministers of 10 EU countries published an opinion piece calling for the European Green Deal to be the central teneant of the post Covid-19 recovery. The Op-Ed was signed by the environment ministers of Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Since then, Germany and France have joined the call.Speaking today, Green MEP for Dublin, Ciarán Cuffe said: “I am extremely disheartened to see that Ireland has not yet joined with European colleagues to call for the Green Deal to be placed at the heart of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery plan. “Myself and my colleague in the European Parliament, Grace O’Sullivan, have written to An Taoiseach and the Minister for Climate Action, querying why this has not yet happened, and impressing upon them the importance of Ireland putting its full support behind a just and sustainable recovery that works for all Europeans. If other countries are stepping up their ambition why can’t Ireland?”Grace O’Sullivan, Green MEP for Ireland South, said: “We are living in unprecedented times. The road to recovery from the Covid-19 crisis will not be an easy one. But the best way to ensure that we come out of this crisis on a stronger footing is to implement a recovery plan rooted firmly in the principles of the European Green Deal. Anything less will leave us even more vulnerable to the worst impacts of the climate and biodiversity crisis. It is crucial that we make the correct decisions now and the Green Deal provides the roadmap for a resilient, carbon-neutral Europe.” ENDS