"Responsible politicians all over the European Union must press the 'fast-forward' button on actions to reduce climate change and its effects", say Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel, co-chairs of the European Greens, in response to the dramatic news that we have just experienced the hottest day on record for global average temperature.
Monday was the hottest day ever recorded worldwide. Heatwaves are sizzling around the world, not least in Europe. Today, the north of the Netherlands is being hit by the worst summer storm ever recorded there.
Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel, co-chairs of the European Green Party, comment:
"Any child understands that urgent action is needed on climate and nature policy. That's why it is so shocking to see that in recent months there has been an alignment of the far right and some members of liberal and Christian Democratic parties in pushing the "pause" button and to block European climate and nature policy. The governments of the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Italy and Poland voted against the EU Council's agreement on the Nature Directive”.
In the European Parliament, German Christian Democrat Manfred Weber (the European People’s Party's top candidate in 2019 who lost-out to fellow EPP member Ursula von der Leyen) is leading a group of MEPs trying to kill the Nature Restoration Law, a key piece of the Green Deal from von der Leyen's Commission.
“The Nature Restoration Law is crucial for prevention and adaptation: to protect us from floods, to keep the water on the land, essential for food security. It also is needed for greening the cities and preventing people dying from the heat. Everyone understands that Weber’s offensive against the Nature restoration Law is destructive, especially in today's context of massive climate change", Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel add.
The European Green Party, which represents all national Green parties at European level, calls on all democratic European parties to put ideology and political games aside and to join a 'constructive' majority that puts its full weight behind climate and nature policy.
"Next Wednesday's vote in the European Parliament on the Nature Restoration Law will show everyone which politicians are constructive and trying to save nature - and which politicians are destructive to nature and the climate," Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel conclude.
