At least 95 are dead and hundreds are missing following the days of floods that have devastated German, Belgian and French cities and villages. In January 2021, the global temperature was the highest on record. And what is clear is that floods are made more frequent and severe due to the increase of extreme weather patterns caused by climate change. 

On 1 July 2021, the Mayor of Amsterdam and member of GroenLinks Femke Halsema issued a public apology on behalf of the city council for the involvement of former city governments in the slave trade and slavery. She held her speech on the day of Keti Koti, which marks Emancipation Day in Suriname and is the celebration of the abolition of slavery in 1863.

There are currently 529 recognised political prisoners in Belarus, and the actual number is likely to be higher. Not only have the detainments of the political prisoners been illegal, but their trials have been unfair – often occurring behind closed doors. They contain journalists, former presidential candidates, and activists but also students, academics, and other civilians attending pro-democracy protests.

2021 is not only already full of climate-fuelled heatwaves, deadly tornadoes and other disasters, but also many induced by humans. Images from an underwater gas pipeline rupture in the Gulf of Mexico circulated around the world this week, signalling once again the need to oppose fossil fuel subsidies and exclude natural gas from the sustainable investment criteria in the EU taxonomy.

Today, Turkey is officially leaving the Istanbul Convention, only one day after Pride Month. The Convention is crucial to protect the rights of women and the LGBTI community. Turkish women have been protesting the withdrawal, concerned that without the convention their rights will deteriorate, and they will be more at risk of gender-based violence.

At the Progressive Governance Summit on 9-11 June, Greens from across Europe including Terry Reintke, Alexandra Geese, Robert Habeck, Franziska Brantner and Gergely Karácsony discussed topics such as building back better after COVID-19, greening cities, the upcoming German and French elections, the struggle for democracy, and combatting far-right politics and narratives.

The 33rd European Green Party Council, which featured speakers Annalena Baerbock, German Green Party Candidate for Chancellor, and Petra de Sutter, the Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, reunited the Green family on 28-29 May.

If you missed it, or just want to look back on your time with us, here's a summary of the two days!

Green delegates debated and voted on 11 resolutions, which include the fair distribution of vaccines, the four-day work week, transnational lists, rail transport and the future of Europe.

Member parties will now fight to implement these policies in their respective member states, and the EU actors, including the European Green Party, Federation of Young European Greens, and the Greens/EFA group will push for these policies on a European level.

We are proud to welcome Catalunya en Comú into our Green family.

As of Saturday 29 May, they were elected by delegates at the 33rd European Green Party Council and are the newest candidate member party of the European Greens.