The Bell Tolls for the European Greens, By Richard Miller (London)
There has been opinion expressed in many forums, that the power of the Greens as a political movement, and of environmentalism as an intellectual movement, is now declining. As for the decline in environmentalism, which has hitched its wagon solidly to the climate change alarmist position, see the article by James Reed at the blog today, "The Greenhouse Party is Over." And as for politics, at least concerning the European scene, the Greens reached a peak with 70-odd parliamentarians in the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) political group, which allowed them to achieve policies which were not democratic, supported by the majority of people, such as the Green Deal, enforcing zero net carbon emissions. But the fight back against the policies of the Greens began long before the present election, the results of which will soon be available. It is predicted that the Greens will lose seats and thus power, which can only be for the good of Europe.
The Greens and environmentalism serve as good examples of how prima facie plausible causes can be distorted, corrupted, and ultimately made to serve globalist ambitions. It need not have been so, but environmentalism since the end of World War II has been dominated by the Left, and no good things can come from that. Just witness the evilness of the present universities.
"Over the past five years, Europe's collection of green parties wielded influence in the European Parliament far beyond their numerical strength. The 70-odd parliamentarians in the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) political group, backed by the continent's energetic climate movement, even managed to push through their top agenda item—the ambitious European Green Deal, designed to ensure the continent meets its climate policy targets. Politicians of the green movement often "punched above their weight," said Anna Cavazzini, parliamentarian from Germany's Greens, in an interview with Foreign Policy.
But after the EU's parliamentary elections from June 6 to June 9, when the bloc's 373 million voters will head to the polls, the greens may receive their comeuppance. Pedro López, spokesperson of the center-right European People's Party (EPP), told Foreign Policy that the greens were "overrepresented in the parliament in relation with the political weight they have in national governments," and that their proposals were "far too radical and too fast for people to digest." He added, "The next five years look very bad for them."
According to Politico's poll of polls, the Greens/EFA could fall to 41 seats after the June election, and if the group's performance in recent national elections across Europe is an indicator of what's to come next week, López may be right. In Luxembourg last year, the Greens' vote share fell to 8.6 percent from 15.1 percent in 2018. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders's far-right Party for Freedom scored above a coalition of socialist and green parties led by former European Commissioner for Climate Action Frans Timmermans. And in regional elections in Bavaria and Hesse in Germany, which is the movement's biggest national stronghold, the far right made deeper inroads when fewer Germans opted for the Greens.
If Europe's pro-industry center-right forms an alliance with anti-climate far-right parties, the greens will likely be pushed to the backbenches. And regardless of the election outcome, Brussels seems likely to remain preoccupied with making preparations against the Russian threat, prioritizing defense over green objectives.
There are many reasons for the decline of the greens.
Robert Habeck, Germany's economy minister and one of the most influential green politicians in Europe, admitted in a September interview with the Guardian that the movement must ditch what the interviewer described as a "moral superiority complex" and try not to make an impression of always knowing best. Another European Parliament insider who asked to remain anonymous told Foreign Policy that the greens are always on a high horse and difficult to work with. "They want too much," he said, and they "don't follow the political principle of give and take."
Primarily, however, the greens have been cast in a negative light by the far right, which has exploited and exacerbated the confusion and concern over the impact of the green transition on households, industry, workers, and farmers for its own political benefit.
In 2023, for example, Germans—by far seen as the more pro-environment populace in the continent—protested against a new heating law or Heizungsgesetz, which said that newly installed home heating systems must run on at least 65 percent renewable energy. Encumbered by higher energy bills, many in Germany resisted the idea of spending more up front to refurbish their homes, which is often necessary to install environmentally friendly heat pumps. But the far right turned the issue into a political ploy. German tabloid Bild equated Habeck to the Stasi—former Eastern Germany's secret police—and accused his party of imposing its decisions on people and invading their privacy.
Cavazzini, who spoke to Foreign Policy over the phone in the middle of campaign meetings in Saxony, said that a copy of a draft bill was "leaked to the press" to deliberately cause an uproar and hurt the Greens. It made people feel that they would be "left alone with the financial burden," she added. However, she also said that the Greens should have "more proactively included the social dimension in the law."
"Nevertheless," Cavazzini added, "the debate about the law was blown up and accelerated with fake news by tabloids and the right wing."
The law, nonetheless, is believed to have damaged the reputation of Germany's Greens, which had finally risen to power in the governing coalition, with five major ministries helmed by its politicians."
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