Ruben at the congress of the European Greens

On 2, 3 and 4 February, Ruben, our board member with the International Politics portfolio, was in Lyon at the congress of the European Greens. He wrote a short report on this!

Over the weekend of 2, 3, 4 February, I was in Lyon for the Congress of the European Greens. It was a special congress, namely an 'extended congress'. This congress takes place once every five years, and this year it was because of the upcoming European elections.

Because of the elections, voting was also held on the pointe candidates of the European Green Party. These are really just the faces of the European campaign of the European Greens. During this congress, Germany's Terry Reintke, and our own Bas Eickhout of GroenLinks were elected as these spire candidates!

The congress also voted on the manifesto, or European election programme. You can read this programme here! They also discussed the campaign slogan: "Choose Courage", which means "choose courage".

Otherwise, there were many partial sessions at the congress. One such session was on the fight against the far-right, which included a Polish minister. There was also a session on young feminists in politics, organised by the European umbrella organisation FYEG. This was very interesting, precisely because here I noticed that all European countries are facing the same problems. There was also a discussion about the previous election victory: it came largely from Europe's young people and they hold the key this election too. Therefore, the call was also: Take action, speak out and let us young people reject the far right across Europe.

This weekend, I also talked a lot with green friends, precisely also about the problems that exist across Europe. I also spoke with FYEG, the European umbrella organisation, and other young Greens. I am now looking extra forward to the campaign and am confident that together as Greens we will win seats again!