Europe's battered Green movement tries to salvage climate agenda

23/5/2024 16:19

        Millions of young people took to the streets across Europe in 2019 demanding action to fight climate change, helping Green parties secure their best ever EU election results and giving them influence over climate policies Brussels has passed since.
        
        That looks set to change. Polls suggest Greens will perform worse than any other political grouping in June's EU election, which will form the next 720-member European Parliament. They look set to lose nearly a third of their current 72 EU lawmakers.
        
        "It was of course a great feeling in 2019. People all loved us and the climate was the number one topic," Green EU lawmaker Anna Cavazzini told Reuters.
        
        "That's a little different now, of course. Overall, I would say there is a bit of a social backlash against climate protection."
        
        Instead of hordes of young supporters in the streets, some Green candidates running this year have reported physical attacks and vandalism on the campaign trail.