Statement of Purpose
Below you find the new mission statement of GreenYourope, the grassroots’ network of the European Green Party. It builds on 10 years of experience, in which the Heerlen Group, a lobby of members of four parties, developed to a grassroots network inside the European Greens that gradually expands its scope, both in number of parties and people.
Brussels, 5 November 2012, on behalf of the GreenYourope Team: Alexander Tietz, Christoph Becker-Schaum, Joline Suijkerbuik, Lynn Tabak, Michael Leibman.
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Building a Green Europe bottom-Up (1)
Our GreenYourope project was born out of a common dream. We believe in democratic unions of nations that, firmly rooted in civil society, address all challenges that are too big to handle on a national scale. We believe that the European Union, as a unique project of nation states that have given up national sovereignties out of free choice to work together for the common good, is very well qualified to develop in that direction. And we are convinced that the Green Parties, which combine global justice & sustainability with social action close to people, are an excellent place to start building that civil society and putting that supra national democracy into practice.
Regaining control in a globalised world
Our dream is more relevant than ever. Calls for democracy are getting stronger worldwide. And so is the need for supra national action and control to prevent resource depletion, climate change, financial instability, and economic collapse. What we can do locally to sustainably tackle those problems, will have only limited impact if it is not met by consonant action in other parts of the planet. International institutions, however, are rapidly losing ground, whereas government leaders seem to be caught between nationalist tendencies and pressure from the globally organised financial and industrial players.
We believe the world needs institutions that are strong enough to control private and national interests, watch over the common resources and assure the well-being of all, because they are firmly rooted in supra national democracy. We Europeans can play a crucial role in establishing those institutions, if we manage to reinforce the democratic basis of the EU.
Undeniable progress has been achieved over the years, through community-level regulation, a unified currency and reinforced collaboration in many fields, like the environment, and the reunification of former East and West. But the EU has not dealt effectively with the growing economic and environmental challenges. This lack of adequate response, together with a strong tendency of national leaders to claim successes as national victories and blame the EU for failures, have, rather than stimulating popular demand for more vigorous action and solidarity, reinforced popular apathy and scepticism.
The main reason of this inadequacy is, we believe, that the European Union is not founded on solid citizenship. Citizens can vote for the Parliament, but they do so in a national context. There are hardly any permanent direct links between them and their representatives, and the links between citizens of different member states are extremely tenuous. There is no common ‘we’ on which to base our institutions, no common ownership. This is why, instead of transposing this ‘we’ to the global level, our representatives put far too much energy into guaranteeing that each country gets what it sees as its rightful share and far too little into ensuring solidarity, common prosperity and global justice.
A Green tradition
Given the nationalist tendencies, the desire to, in times of crises, hold on to what is familiar and close, and the quasi non existence of a trans border European civil society, building a unified Europe can only be a long term prospect. But we Greens are determined it is the only way out of the nationalism and xenophobia which have done our continent so much harm. We are convinced that sustainable prosperity only can be achieved through economic and social solidarity.
And we have been walking that road from the beginning; political ecology was born out of social movements that think globally, whilst acting locally for environmental sustainability, social justice and the right of all to live their own lives free from hunger and fear. Our MEPs are battling in European and national Parliaments for a sound agriculture that doesn’t exploit farmers anywhere in the world, for the defence of local social rights and global justice, for more economic and fiscal solidarity.
National and regional parties are working closely with the European Green Party and the GGEP in spelling out the details of a Green New Deal to transform the economy along sustainable lines. By designing common long-term views on a European and global level, they are creating solid common ground, which they present to the voters through common local and continental campaigns.
The missing link: rank and file action
By integrating the network of Individual Supporters into its structures and embracing its goals, the European Greens have acknowledged that individual citizens need to be part and parcel of their European project.
To stimulate European citizenship, the network brings together European Greens across cultural and language barriers, for joint action to address specific challenges at different sides of a country border, and to discuss trans-national issues in a transnational context.
The European citizenship we aim at, may differ from previous forms of citizenship and we certainly don’t have clear-cut models, but we are convinced it cannot amount only to the peaceful juxtaposition of national citizenships. Greens of all countries have much in common and much to discuss. Our coming together physically and through the Internet on a regular basis to advance the building of a socially just and sustainable world can provide an example of what European citizenship should be.
GreenYourope also intends to translate this increased citizens’ involvement in new democratic practices and rules, both inside the EGP and within the European Union. Here again we have no ready-made answers, because as it is, democratic practices and rules vary widely throughout the continent. So rather than making claims for new rules, we provide a platform for exchanging views, developing proposals and organising campaigns. But in the end, we hope to have created common ground for new models that better guarantee citizens feeling co-owners of their Union, because that is the best way to prevent the clock from being turned back.
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