Although we’ve been hearing a lot about the Europe “in-out” debate in the last few weeks, we much less frequently hear about the political balance of Europe. Europe isn’t a two-party dominated parliament like our national one. There is no outright “winner” of the European elections, which is why I think headlines like “UKIP set to win European elections” are for one thing inaccurate (polls estimate that they and other parties in Europe that they are allied with will win about 39 out of the 751 European seats), but is also misleading, as decisions at Europe are always made through negotiation between parties (which all have minorities), so what matters is which types of legislation they will or won’t support.
The Green Party, meanwhile, are within the fourth biggest parliamentary grouping in Europe which currently has more seats than either the Conservative Party’s group or UKIP’s group, and because European elections are decided on the proportional system, the Green Party only needs about 10% of the vote (1% more than last time) to win a seat. As hard-working and collaborative MEPs (I’ve met a couple of them and was particularly impressed with the work of Belgian Green MEP Philippe Lamberts – article in English half-way down this page), Green MEPs really do get results.
Which leads me on to introducing the lead candidate for the Eastern region, Dr Rupert Read. Not only is he a very intelligent man who cares deeply about people and planet, I can truly say that he would be a fantastic representative for this region. As a political philosopher, he really knows his way around the political world, as well having positive ambitions in mind about where Europe, and Britain’s place within it, is headed, for the benefit of all.
I personally endorse him because of the commitment he has given to banking and financial reform (which is a particular bugbear of mine), but some of his other policies may resonate more with you, so do have a look at the Green Euro Election Manifesto.