Our Green and Social Deal protects everyone’s – including and especially the most vulnerable – right to life’s essentials: renewable energy and green transport, decent housing and nutritious food, and quality education and care.
Renewable energy for all
Everyone should have access to sufficient, affordable, and renewable energy as a basic right. 125 million people in the EU struggle to heat their homes with women and older people disproportionately affected. Eliminating energy poverty is an essential priority for the EU.
We support an Energy Guarantee to provide all households with a sufficient amount of energy at an affordable price. Vulnerable groups will benefit from targeted support, including for energy-saving investments, and no vulnerable household will be cut off from their energy needs because of their inability to pay.
Consuming one’s own energy, sharing it with neighbours, and joining an energy community must become an opportunity that all can benefit from. We will also ensure that storage technologies such as batteries and vehicle to grid are sufficiently deployed and accessible to all.
Affordable housing for all
Housing is a right, not a commodity. Decent, comfortable housing that is warm in winter and cool in summer should be accessible for all. On any given night, there are 900,000 homeless people in the EU, while millions struggle with rising rents in big cities and energy poverty linked to poor-quality housing – all symptoms of chronic underinvestment in quality, well-insulated affordable and social housing.
We must encourage and increase public and private investment in affordable housing, including social housing. We support the introduction of rent control in cities and regions where rents have exploded to become out of reach. As achieved by several Green cities across the EU, we advocate limits on short-term tourist rentals to keep rents down. We will keep fighting for the right of young people to live in full independence.
We must take a European approach towards public housing policy, defining housing as a basic right and protecting those who rent properties from exploitation. EU funding for public housing must continue after the current Resilient and Recovery Fund expires. We will fight for an "Affordable Housing EU" plan, also funded by fresh money raised at EU level, to support investment across Europe.
Warm in winter, cool in summer
We need an EU programme to renovate the homes of people facing the highest energy bills on low incomes. A large-scale social energy renovation programme can make sure everyone lives in a healthy and fossil-free home by 2040. 75% of buildings are energy inefficient in Europe, responsible for 36% of carbon emissions – a huge opportunity for improvement through renovation and retrofitting.
Support needs to be available for all, with the bulk of financing targeting the most vulnerable, and renovation must be cost-neutral for tenants. EU, member state and private investment in rapid renovation will provide nicer, greener places to live and create quality jobs. Our fiscal proposals will incentivize public investment in green housing at the level of member states as well as unlock private money to renovate Europe’s housing stock.
Healthy food for all
A shift to a sustainable, climate-friendly food system is imperative for people in Europe to enjoy affordable, nutritious food for which producers are properly remunerated. Many key risk factors of non-communicable diseases like cancer are dietary. Our vision is that of connecting consumers and producers, empowering people to make informed choices, and ensuring farmers get a fair price.
We will establish the right to food as a principle in EU legislation, leading to dedicated social security mechanisms at national level that guarantee access to healthy food while supporting local supply chains.
We will support small and ecological farming with massive investment. Millions of Europeans have struggled with soaring food prices in recent years. No one should go without healthy and sustainably produced food because it is too expensive.
It is time to stop the speculation on food driving hunger globally. Our financial transactions and windfall tax proposals will curb the speculation driving up food prices for households.
Water is a human right
Access to clean water should be guaranteed as a basic right. Water scarcity is already costing billions each year, with farmers and low-income households among the worst affected and the Mediterranean region particularly vulnerable.
Urgent action is needed to protect the right to clean and adequate water for all. We want to prohibit the privatization of water resources. Water should be regarded as a natural common and managed by public entities. We use existing EU legislation to protect vulnerable reserves and prioritize drinking water over other uses.
Mobility justice for all
We want people to be able to get around easily and cheaply on sustainable public transport. Mobility is crucial to everyone, every day. It connects people, communities, and businesses, while traveling to see friends and family or for leisure should be one of life’s pleasures.
Today, transport systems are stacked in favour of the wealthy and against people and the planet. Working-class neighbourhoods suffer most from air and noise pollution and poorly connected rural and suburban communities often have no choice other than the car. High-emission transport is perversely subsidized, and private jets are pushing emissions ever higher.
We will introduce a European Climate Ticket framework, so that every part of Europe offers an affordable public transport pass easily used across different modes of public transport. Until then, national flat-rate tickets for local public transport in member states should be mutually recognized. Young people, single-parent families, people in poverty, people living with disabilities, and the elderly should benefit from reduced fares.
Europe must invest in better public transport, safe and sustainable cycling networks, and people-centric urban planning, for cities as well as rural communities. As Europe phases out internal combustion engines, electric cars will be part of reducing transport emissions, but a real response makes much more room for public transport. To make electric cars affordable and create a second-hand market, the EU should mandate their uptake in corporate fleets.
Connecting Europe with an Infrastructure Union
We need to massively increase investment in and coordination of rail transport to literally connect Europe as part of our Infrastructure Union. Rail infrastructure in many European regions is in a state of disrepair and there is no high-speed rail coverage whatsoever in much of Central and Eastern Europe. The EU must therefore prioritize investment in the modernization and convergence of under-served regions.
To promote sustainable long-distance travel, we will invest in night train infrastructure and create a European Ticketing Platform to make booking cross-border journeys on sustainable transport straightforward. Rural areas and poorly connected regions will be prioritized in transport investments, including car-sharing initiatives, ferries and rail freight.
We will make sure that fairer prices show the real cost of polluting transport, taxing air travel and fuel properly where efficient climate-friendly alternatives cannot be put in place. We will reduce demand for flights, introducing a frequent flyer levy, with exceptions for island regions, and banning short-haul where alternatives are available. We will fight to introduce a ban on private jets. We defend a just transition for all transport workers and will protect workers and passengers through road safety measures and an EU-wide speed limit.
Quality education for all
Accessible quality public education, training and lifelong learning should be available to everyone in Europe, regardless of where they live or their wealth. Education can equip our societies so they can overcome inequality, make progress on the green transition, and stay at the forefront of science and culture. Jobs in new green industries can only be filled if we have the people trained to do them.
We have been ardent supporters of Erasmus+ since its inception and will introduce an Erasmus Equality principle to make sure that learners who could not otherwise afford Erasmus receive enough money to fully fund their time abroad. Erasmus+ must be equally accessible for all, regardless of one’s country or economic background.
Our Green and Social Deal will introduce a shared green education and training project that helps connect schools, universities, and training centres to connect learning institutions across Europe. Citizenship education about the EU, including anti-extremism, anti-hate and anti-racism education, should be part of curricula and non-formal education learning recognized at the EU level. Education investments are a critical part of our proposals to finance the transition, and need to give everybody the chance to learn and provide the skills we need for the future.
Access to healthcare for all
Health is a public good to which everyone has a right. The pandemic was tragic evidence that underinvestment, privatization, and the neglect of preventative approaches put patients and health workers at risk, physically and mentally.
A European Health Union should make sure member states provide everyone in Europe with universal health coverage. We will push to eliminate health inequities and guarantee access to affordable medicines and treatment, including for cancer and rare diseases, in ways that are inclusive to all parts of society, especially the most vulnerable and racialized communities. No one in Europe should feel forced to move to a different country because of unmet healthcare needs. European legislation on universal health coverage will require all member states to provide this essential social right.
We still see the consequences of the pandemic all over Europe. Many people still show symptoms of long Covid. We must promote research into the long-term consequences of Covid-19 infection. The European Union should create an EU Health Force for cooperation on health emergencies and disaster response. All policies should be looked at from a health perspective.
A green society is a caring society
Society runs on care. It is our overlooked, undervalued, and often unpaid foundation. As Greens, we want to build a caring society and understand care as an overarching priority and concept. As European societies get older, the importance of care will grow, especially in those European countries that have experienced recent major emigration.
Our Green and Social Deal is also a Care Deal. We will push to improve working conditions for care workers, while protecting everyone’s right to proper care. We will invest in comprehensive, life-long approaches, such as universal access to early childhood education and care and deinstitutionalized care for disabled people and the elderly. Early childhood education and care must be counted as social investment in the EU fiscal framework.
Mental health is political
Our Universal Health Coverage will go beyond physical health and make sure that public healthcare systems include mental health care with no additional costs for individuals. Mental and physical health must have parity of esteem. To tackle the mental health crisis, we recognize the need for inclusive and comprehensive preventative and healing strategies that include culture and sport as well as social and creative activities.
Time to rethink Europe’s drug policy
Drug policy must be based on evidence, not prejudice. We advocate for an EU approach based on harm reduction, health, and support for people who suffer from drug addiction and that minimizes the negative social impacts of drug use. We work towards decriminalizing cannabis for adult use with the goal of legalization and regulation whilst protecting minors.
Fair play in sport
Sport connects people in Europe, promotes health, and fosters social cohesion. European funding should be more easily accessible and better motivate the world of sports to comply with climate targets. An independent European Anti-Corruption Agency should ensure transparency and integrity in sport worldwide. Establishing clear standards will enable major international sporting events in Europe that comply with climate targets and respect human rights.