The result of the Greens in the European elections will determine the direction of the European Union and whether it will remain democratic and resilient to external influences.

Otherwise, member states will begin to undermine each other, said Terry Reintke, the Greens’ lead candidate in the European elections, in an interview with the Croatian news agency Hina.

The German politician with ten years’ experience in the European Parliament was in Zagreb this week, where she was finalising her campaign as the European Greens’ lead candidate for President of the European Commission ahead of the European elections.

“In these elections we are targeting Southern Europe. We hope to win at least two Green members of the European Parliament from Croatia,” she said at the headquarters of the Mozemo party, which joined the Greens this year.

“Our target group is everyone, rural and urban people, old and young,” she said, adding that she hoped for a high turnout, “because then democracy is stronger.”

The EPP made a mistake with Orban, now it is making a mistake with Meloni

She accused the majority party in the European Parliament, the EPP, to which the HDZ also belongs, of showing too much tolerance and not setting limits for those who sabotage the EU, “as was the case with the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.”

Fidesz was finally expelled from the EPP in the middle of this 2021 legislative period.

“With Giorgia Meloni, who wants to create a system of illiberal democracy, they will make the same mistake again. The EPP is normalising such tendencies, in which media freedoms are restricted and the right to abortion is called into question,” warns Reintke.

The Greens argue that “the EPP is opening the door to a coalition with the far-right Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)”,” whose actions they characterise as “anti-European”.

They say that the Liberals have also embarked on a “toxic relationship with the right”, citing a coalition between the Liberals and Geert Wilders’ Dutch far-right party as an example.

Reintke therefore believes that the result of the Greens will be decisive. “We need to remind the EPP and the Liberals that they can work with the Greens as a pro-European democratic force.”

Croatia’s potential in renewable energies

The Greens’ lead candidate emphasised that the EU as a political bloc is not doing enough to tackle climate change.

“In Germany, we are seeing clear consequences of this with the current and recent devastating floods in Saarland and Bavaria,” she said, adding: “However, Germany has abolished nuclear energy and made significant progress in the use of renewable energy sources.”

“Renewable energy sources are something that all Greens share,” she said, adding that Croatia has great potential in this area.

When asked why people fear the green transition, the MP replied that they fear it will hurt them financially.

“We offer solutions to support entrepreneurship in this transition,” but also for individuals, for example with incentives for renovating houses to improve insulation and reduce the cost of living.

“The energy transition is also a security transition,” said Reintke, adding that the example of Germany proved that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was a mistake because it made security too dependent on one energy source.

Furthermore, energy security creates jobs, said the Greens’ candidate.