On 2 March, Martin Schulz was elected as the leading candidate of the Party of the European Socialists with over 90% of delegate’s votes. While the result itself can be considered a solid one, the general outcome of the vote can hardly be considered a surprise. Unlike the other main political families who allowed or even encouraged competition in the run-up to the designation of their leading candidates – with the Ska Keller and José Bové elected as our Green leading candidates by approximately 23,000 Europeans – Schulz stood as the sole contender in the PES race.

At a party convention on 1-2 March, Socialistisk Folkeparti, the Danish Greens, voted to apply for full membership of the European Greens. SF, who joined the EGP as an observer party in November 1998 at our council meeting in London, are hoping to return Margrete Auken to the European Parliament in May. The party, who made the difficult decision to leave the Danish government earlier in the year, are hoping for a strong campaing where they can once again prove that they are an important voice in Danish politics.

Commenting on the European Parliament's debate on the European Youth Guarantee, Reinhard Bütikofer, Co Chair of the European Green Party declares, "as the European Parliament discusses the European Youth Guarantee, once again young people throughout Europe continue to get very mixed messages. Promises are increasingly sounding hollow because European leaders with regard to youth unemployment, are still not putting enough money where their mouth is."

We are delighted to announce that the European Movement International (EMI) have welcomed the European Green Party as full members, completing the circle of pro-European parties within the network.

Dear colleagues I bring you the greetings of the CCOO of Catalonia. It is a pleasure to share with you this convention of the European Green Party. We were asked to explain you the vision we have in the south of the circumstances in Europe. Let me start with a metaphor. What has happened in the last years in the South is the same as what happens to a patient who is not attended by a doctor but by the pharmaceutical industry. As you know, nearly 50% of health spending in the life of a patient is concentrated in his or her last year of life. This makes it understandable that somebody has the brilliant idea to force a dangerous illness to place the patient in this uncomfortable position. A good way for this is administering the wrong medicine to a certain illness. In the case of the European South it is as if you would have been giving chemo or radiotherapy to a patient with a serious indigestion. As a result, the patient becomes weaker and weaker and his immunologic system deteriorates. This is very good news for virus and bacteria, and for all those elements and parasites that live from corruption, exploitation and contamination of their social and organic environments.

Today we are here to declare loud and clear that we are ready to compete for the future of Europe. We are sure of our capacity to give answers, to offer people voices to carry change in Europe and make it Green.

We stand united and confirm the pledge of ten years ago - we are a relevant, independent European political family. We can say today, after all the good work and the quality of our proposals over the years and on the Common Manifesto, that we are even more convinced of the solid ground of the project we present today for Europeans to vote on.

Dear friends, dear campaigners, dear activists, dear government members, dear out of parliament opposition, dear friends on the Euromaidan, dear Europeans!

It’s a great joy and honour for me to launch the European campaign together with you, and it's a great honour to address you today as one of your two leading candidates for the European election.

A tough, but very exciting challenge lies ahead of us. We’re used to fighting climate change when it’s about global warming. Climate change is causing major catastrophies, as flooded Great Britain and French Bretagne can bitterly testify, overwhelmed by the waves and storms.

Dear friends, dear campaigners, dear activists, dear government members, dear out of parliament opposition, dear friends on the Euromaidan, dear Europeans!

It’s a great joy and honour for me to launch the European campaign together with you, and it's a great honour to address you today as one of your two leading candidates for the European election.

A tough, but very exciting challenge lies ahead of us. We’re used to fighting climate change when it’s about global warming. Climate change is causing major catastrophies, as flooded Great Britain and French Bretagne can bitterly testify, overwhelmed by the waves and storms.