"The sharp escalation in the current political crisis, that has manifested itself in large and disproportionate use of force against protesters by Interior Ministry special forces in Kiev (during negotiations with representatives of the leaders of the opposition) is due to a stubborn unwillingness by the authorities to listen to the people, on whose behalf it runs the country."

Today, the European Commission released a communication outlining its proposals for Europe's 2030 targets – the centre piece of Europe’s climate and energy policy after 2020. The proposal is totally unsuitable for tackling the new challenges presented by climate change, with a target of 40% CO2 reduction, a low voluntary target for renewables and no target at all for energy efficiency.

On Wednesday January 22, we're hosting the fourth and final live chat with one of the Green Primary Contenders!

With: Rebecca Harms
When: 18h00 - 19h00 CET
Where: the EGP Facebook Page

The four contenders in the Green Primary will be taking part in two separate debates this week, in Rome and Paris. The Rome debate, hosted by Green Italia – Verdi will take place on Monday 20 January. The Paris debate, hosted by Europe Écologie - Les Verts will take place the next day, on Tuesday 21 January.

As populist parties push an anti-immigration, anti-European, eurosceptic message, along with driving the reemergence of nationalism across Europe, these Green Primary debates are a vital opportunity to show that the Greens reject this philosophy and have a better, more coherent and inclusive vision for Europe's future. Europe isn't just a group of separate nations - We Are Europe.

The Scottish Green party are in with a strong chance of a seat in the European elections in May, after polls put them within 1% of snatching victory from the United Kingdom's populist Eurosceptic party, UKIP.

On Wednesday 15 January, we held our third live chat with one of our Green Primary contenders. This time Monica Frassoni was the person behind the keyboard, answering questions from all four corners of Europe: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Monica's home country of Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain. Both the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom were well represented, reflecting the debates that we'll be holding there on Friday 17 January (Prague) and Saturday 18 January (London) – you can find out more about those debates here.

The four contenders in the Green Primary will be taking part in two separate debates this week, in Prague and London. The Prague debate, hosted by the Czech Green party Strana zelených will take place on Friday 17 January. The London debate, hosted by the Green Party of England and Wales, will take place the next day, on Saturday 18 January.

The four Green Primary contenders are debating across Europe, to make sure people make an informed decision when they vote. The 5th debate took place in Berlin on January 10 was the 5th, with five more primary debates to go until the eventual winners emerge as the Green Leading Candidates.

Countries in central Europe have been hit by severe flooding this week. Extreme rainfall has caused rivers across the region to break their banks, with the Danube and Elbe particularly affected. People living in affected regions in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia have been evacuated from their homes. 13 people are known to have died.