Former environment and development minister Pekka Haavisto (Green League) surprisingly ended second in the first round of Finland’s presidential elections, last week. Haavisto, who is pro-European and openly gay, has beaten the euro-skeptic Paavo Vayrynen (Center Party) who campaigned for his country leaving the Euro, with 18,8 against 17,5 percent.

Because the winner, conservative former Finance Minister Sauli Niinisto (37 percent) also is pro-European,  the inward focused tide led by the True Fins, seems to have come to a temporary end. The True Fins only won 9,4 percent.

Whoever wins on February 5, Niinisto or Haavisto, will succeed outgoing President Tarja Halonen, Finland’s first female president, and break a 30-year old Social Democrat monopoly on the country’s presidency.

Political veteran Niinisto is viewed by many Finns as the most statesmanlike of the candidates, the Huffington Post writes, and for the 2nd round on February 5 is the favourite by large. But Haavisto also has a strong resume; he has held several positions in EU and U.N. operations, helping to solve crises in Sudan, Darfur and the Middle East.

Finland’s president formally is in charge of the country’s foreign policy, together with the government, and serves as commander-in-chief of its defense forces. But in recent years his role has become largely ceremonial.

Aux alentours de Genève, siège de maintes organisations mondiales, une communauté citoyenne trans-frontalière est en train de se créer. Suite à une initiative verte avant les élections cantonales, des organisations non gouvernementales ont uni les forces. Leur but: réparer le déséquilibre croissant entre la métropole suisse et la campagne française, et de mettre en place une structure démocratique trans-frontalière.

Ce n’est pas le pourquoi qui manque, on apprend ce samedi 3 décembre pendant le Forum Transfrontalier de 120 à 150 représentants d’organisations écologistes, sociales et politiques, rassemblés dans la Maison des Associations à Genève: la politique de la Suisse et de Genève, qui a fait prévaloir la création d’un climat attractif pour les grands organismes et entreprises sur le bien-être de ses citoyens et le développement soutenable de la région, ont créé des problèmes croissantes dans toute l’agglomération.

Côté Genève  des sur-salariés de l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce, du CERN ou encore de l’ONU ont fait monter les prix d’immobilier et chassé les revenus plus modestes à travers la frontière française.Côté campagne française, malgré une sous-représentation de basses salaires et de chômeurs les prix d’immobilier finissent par grimper eux aussi. Côté Genève le transport croissant entre ville et banlieue cause de plus en plus de pollution et d’embouteillages et fait disparaître les rares espaces verts, tandis que le Pays de Gex, plein de verdure, se voit réduit au désert social qui caractérise des villages dortoirs.

Ce ne sont pas non plus les alternatives qui manquent: l’introduction d’un Bonheur Local Brut, un moratoire sur la construction, l’harmonisation fiscale ou encore la mise en place une ‘croissance sélective’ qui favorise la relocalisation et le rapprochement habitation travail.

Mais avant tout, les participants se rendent compte, il faut mettre en place une structure trans-frontalière qui regroupe toutes les communes de Genève et ses alentours,  qui met fin a « ce double discours ingérable », et qui consiste d’un conseil démocratique et un forum permanent regroupant toutes les associations.

Obtenir un tel changement, c’est « plus difficile que déplacer des montagnes » commente un intervenant. Tandis qu’en Suisse beaucoup se règle par référendum local, en France la moindre décision passe par Paris. Et parlant du paradis fiscal helvétique, dans lequel certaines entreprises sont taxées moins qu’en Irlande: même l’Union Européenne n’arrive pas à le toucher.

Pourtant, il-y a un excellent point de départ: le Projet Agglo  – une initiative officielle de 2001 qui regroupe tout le territoire franco-valdo-genevois:  890.000 habitants dont presque la moitié en territoire française,  qui vise à améliorer la qualité de vie et qui s’occupe de 9 terrains – urbanisation, mobilité, logement, économie, environnement, formation, santé, culture et relations internationales.

Jugeant la première étape trop focalisé sur la croissance – la région devrait « accueillir 265.000 nouveaux habitants et 100.000 emplois  à l’horizon 2030 » - les associations et leurs partenaires politiques (Verts et Socialistes) sont déterminés de présenter une alternative commune à tous les partenaires avant juin, quand le Projet Agglo 2, qui concerne la période 2014-2018, sera déposé à Berne. Le 12 Janvier à 19h, ils reprennent le travail, à la maison associative MLK, Annemasse.

À lire aussi: la page du Forum Social Haute Savoie

It isn’t the joint venture between Greens and social movements many of us have been expecting since the parties’ 2009 European elections campaign. Nor is it the co-operation of all Green and left-wing forces Dany Cohn-Bendit called for in his Appèl du 22 Mars 2010, a new body, a form of politics yet ‘unseen’, ….un corps nouveau, une forme politique largement inédite, décloisonnée“, qui n’abandonnerait pas aux appareils de parti’ the momentum of political renewal created by Europe Écologie.

The at idea was first postponed by that same party apparatus until well after the official merger of Europe Écologie and Les Verts in November 2011, and then nearly smothered in administrative quarrels during EELV’s Summer Days. The political Agora that is left,  a big ‘pow-wow’ in which both traditional party members and ‘cooperators have their place, only puts the door ajar. The Agora, whose first edition took place last Saturday, only has an advisory role; the decisions are taken by the Federal Council. And the way modest requests like access to the regional cooperators’ lists were treated, isn’t very promising; they weren’t even allowed to ask for an informal proof of ‘expression’.

A consultative body without real powers, in short. But isn’t that how the European Parliament started, back in 1958?

The meeting of cooperators on the previous day was a gem. Fifty-odd people from all over France – and beyond, like myself, all had come with their own motivation: a hardened anarchists, an eco-consultant and the odd biological farmer; some fed up with traditional party life, others self-named ambassadors of Green presidential candidate Eva Joly; and insearch of either a platform for ideas or a platform for alternative practices.

Thanks to cute moderation by volunteer co-operators who ‘borrowed’ their methods from for example the ‘world café’, those differences didn’t merge into an undefined mass, but resulted in a mission statement’ that, however briefly, even enchanted the party establishment.

The keyword is freedom. The cooperators’ network wants to be free of the short time requirements imposed by elections, to ‘take the time to move towards utopia”. It works horizontally and avoids hierarchical constructions; wants to change society through “alternative commitments”, and be a “sounding board, a laboratory of ideas, a bee-hive and a transpolitical and trans-territorial place of convergence at the same time and offer a link, an opening to civil society, and be an enrichment to Europe Écologie-Les Verts.

Inside it, because ‘without the party it will become a party itself, and without the network, the party will never become innovative”.

It now is up to us, cooperators, to make these promises come true. But having seen the enthusiasm and momentum, I think that this genie, once out of the bottle, is difficult to push back in.

Paris, 11 November – A new Treaty reinforcing European democracy and other solutions to the financial crisis were at the core of the 4^th congress of the European Green Party, reports Remco van der Stoep. But glimpses of Hungary, where a new Green party fights nationalist nepotism, and Senegal, which will host the 3^rd Global Green Congress in March, also were part of the event attended by more than 700 delegates from 37 parties and hosted by a Europe Écologie-Les Verts in the run-up to the French presidential campaign.

F

“La débrouillardise ne suffit pas. Nous avons besoin d’idées et de principes.” Ralph Füchs, le président de la Fondation Heinrich Böll, au 4^me Congrès du PVE.

Un nouveau traité qui renforce la démocratie européenne et d’autres sortie vertes de la crise financière actuelle, étaient au cœur du 4e Congrès du Parti Vert Européen, rapporte Remco van der Stoep. Mais des témoignages de la Hongrie, où un nouveau parti Vert se bat contre le népotisme nationaliste, et du Sénégal, qui accueillera le 3ème Congrès des Verts Mondiaux en mars, faisaient également partie de l’événement auquel ont assisté plus de 700 délégués de 37 partis, qui se déroulait dans la foulée de la campagne présidentielle française. <Awaiting French translation…>

The French Greens, said Philippe Lamberts, member of the European Parliament for Écolo, were previously known for their quarrels more than for their successes. Reborn as Europe Écologie-Les Verts however, they have become a role model for good electoral results, peaking by 16,3 percent during the European elections of 2009. Europe wide however, he said, Green parties still far from polling over 10 percent consistently, and in only two countries they are part of Government.

The current financial crisis, however, might be an opportunity, the Walloon MEP stressed. Greens are campaigning on responses everywhere, and those solutions are also what the EGP Congress concentrates on. The real key to EU competitiveness, he stressed, is being the best at what we are doing within the context of finite resources. And it is vital to work together and improve our democratic processes, “instead of resorting to fear, nationalism and regionalism”.

The current crisis, his German colleague Rebecca Harms added, is not only financial but also a political. She pointed to recent events in countries with large deficits, where political crises have been growing. The main loser is European democracy, she said. And that is why the EGP proposes, in its Declaration of Paris, a treaty change, which would give the Union a firmer basis in democracy and is, she said, a necessary step to obtain real economic governance.

If that would happen, the crisis might also be an opportunity, Ralf Fücks, director <CHCK> of the Heinrich Böll Foundation linked to the German Greens, said, to strengthen EU politics and solidarity. “Muddling through isn’t enough. We need ideas and principles.” The Foundation’s project Solidarity and Strength, for which 50 experts set out their visions on the future of the Union, might provide those.

Cécile Duflot, chair of EELV, reminded the audience of the local background: the campaign for the presidential elections against the backdrop of an unfolding crisis. The message of the Declaration of Paris, she said, is that Greens uphold solidarity and are ready to work together. “Instead of humiliation and austerity’, she stressed, “Greens offer hope and environmentalism. And Socialists and Social-democrats need to work with us.”

Timea Szabó and Gabor Vágó, members of the Hungarian Parliament for the brand new party LMP (Politics can be Different), are the very incarnation of that hope. They told the audience how, only two years after its foundation, their party had 16 MPs elected. Our aim is to bring positive change, social justice and sustainability to Hungarian politics, they said. But the current government in our country, they added, is favouring nepotism over democracy. “And Europe should not allow that to happen.”

The Hungarian Greens are not the only ones rowing against the stream.  Haïdar el Ali, president of the Federation of Green Parties of West-Africa, explained how in his country corruption is everywhere. Whereas 86-year-old president Abdoulaye Wade, whose alleged involvement in corruption affairs recently alerted the US administration, has just been granted a new term in office, he said, multinationals are getting hold of the country’s natural resources to use them as biofuels. He praised  the recently deceased Wangari Maathai, famous for fighting resources depletion in Kenya, and said that activism needs to be taken to politics.

By Yoav Shemer Kunz.

The poor media coverage of the European Parliament is a major factor in the famous ‘democratic gap’ between the European Union and its citizens, argues our new correspondend from Strasbourg Yoav Shemer Kunz, and one of the main reasons political representation and democracy on the EU level are still far from satisfying.

La faible couverture médiatique du Parlement Européen est un des facteurs principaux dans le «déficit démocratique» célèbre entre l’Union européenne et ses citoyens, écrit notre nouveau correspondent Strasbourgeois Yoav Shemer Kunz, et l’une des principales raisons que la représentation politique et la démocratie européenne sont encore loin d’être satisfaisants.

Strasbourg – When searching for political representation and democracy on the EU level, the European Parliament (EP) is the first obvious place to look. This EU institution has been directly elected by the European citizens from 1979, and its control over EU legislation has been reinforced effectively over the years, especially after the Lisbon Treaty (2007). The European Parliament therefore is a powerful institution indeed – but nobody seems to care about it. Most Europeans don’t know it, and most of its activities remain far from the public’s eyes. Nobody knows what’s going on there.

Green Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) constantly try to get media coverage, through press releases, press conferences, participation in public events, etcetera. However, their efforts do not seem very successful.

When I asked former MEP Alain Lipietz (France, Les Verts) about public visibility in the EP, his answer was quite simple: ‘It’s zero. It’s exile. No matter what you do in the National Assembly, you pass on television. In the EP you pass six months drafting a report, and get nothing’.

MEP Carl Schlyter (Sweden, Miljöpartiet de Gröna) told me:

‘No MEP in Sweden becomes known because he is an MEP. If people know you, it is because they already knew you before’.
According to MEP Isabelle Durant (Belgium, Écolo), people told her she ‘left for Europe’, although she stayed in Brussels…

Remaining present in national media is vital for all politicians who don’t want to be forgotten by the public. MEP Isabella Lövin (Sweden, Miljöpartiet de Gröna), who was well known for her publications on overfishing before being elected to the European Parliament, told me that since she moved from Stockholm to Brussels, getting television attention also is more difficult because of the distance.

‘About four times I had to turn down an invitation to be in the studio the next day, because I’m in Brussels or in Strasbourg […] They prefer to have people IN the studio, because that is more dynamic, more, yeah, it’s about television […] it’s definitely an advantage to be in Sweden in these circumstances. Once we had a debate which I initiated. When the TV news wanted to do an item about it, I simply wasn’t invited because I wasn’t there.’

Emilie Turunen, an MEP from the Danish party SF, once tried to directly pass a story she found very to a Danish newspaper. She was told to contact the paper’s correspondent in Brussels. Who, however, had quite limited possibilities to publish it because he covers all EU institutions, for which the paper has little space because national politics dominate the pages.

It is quite easy to blame the European Parliament itself for its bad reputation: in its search for efficiency and rationality it went too far, leaving too little space to the ideological debates that take place in national politics. In fact, with so many compromises and consensus between the EP’s political groups, and so little conflicts in the plenary sessions, voters (and journalists) do not understand how the EP works, and just do not care about it.

However, the media are to blame as well, for several reasons. A first: the journalists covering the EU are not nearly as numerous as those covering national politics. This is especially so when we consider that they are not only covering the EP but all European institutions as well. A second: those journalists are based in Brussels, and don’t systematically follow the MEPs to the monthly plenary sessions in Strasburg, because that consumes both time and money for travel and hotel costs, because they don’t want to miss the daily press conferences and briefings of other EU institutions in Brussels. A third: those journalists often are attached to a foreign desk, which prefers a sexy item on the Israel-Palestine conflict or Iraq over a boring one about the EU.

The poor media coverage of European issues is a major factor in the famous ‘democratic gap’ between the European Union and its citizens, and one of the main reasons political representation and democracy on the EU level are still far from satisfying.