As part of The Green Screen project in which we explore films and debates for a better future, we explored how burn out has been affecting hospital workers pre- and post-Pandemic. This month, we featured the film 'Burning Out' following staff in a Parisian hospital and held a debate on how to guarantee healthcare as a common good.

The 4 day work week has many benefits. As we have seen from the recent Icelandic trial – the 4 day / 32h work week does not only enhance worker wellbeing, but it has also been shown to maintain or increase productivity in the workplace. It also contributes to safeguarding the environment, creating more gender equality and social cohesion, and enriching democracy!

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!