Terry Reintke is the Greens' top candidate for the European elections
At their party conference in Karlsruhe, the Greens elect the leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, Terry Reintke, as the German lead candidate for the European elections. The 36-year-old is also aiming for the top European candidacy. She could even become an EU Commissioner according to the coalition agreement of the traffic light coalition.
The Greens have made their first decision for the European elections next spring at their party conference in Karlsruhe: As expected, Terry Reintke was elected first on the list of candidates, receiving a strong 95.2 percent. The 36-year-old thanked her party for the "tailwind". The Greens want to appoint 39 more candidates by Saturday evening. The remaining candidacies are contested by several candidates. The German Greens currently have 21 MEPs in Brussels and Strasbourg. It is uncertain whether they will be able to achieve a result as high as in 2019. The European election program is also to be finalized by Sunday.
Reintke is one of the leaders of the European Green Group and also wants to run for the European Greens' leadership candidacy. In the election, it is important to fight "with all our strength against a shift to the right in Parliament", she said and also positioned herself on the migration issue, which is currently the subject of heated debate among the Greens. "The rule of law does not end at Europe's external borders," said Reintke with regard to the planned EU asylum reform. "Asylum is a fundamental right." The Greens must "not allow this to be sacrificed on the altars of populist shabby competitions".
In its European election manifesto, the party is campaigning for an infrastructure union that brings together the electricity grids and efforts to expand renewable energies. Europe should pump money into its own resilience and into industries of the future. Another project: The Greens are calling for a European platform for rail travel throughout the Union. The Greens feel encouraged by the success of the 49-euro ticket in Germany and hope for a kind of flat-rate tariff across EU countries in the long term.
Successor to Ursula von der Leyen?
Reintke was first elected to the European Parliament in 2014 as the youngest Green MEP at the time. The political scientist from Gelsenkirchen belongs to the left wing of the party and is primarily concerned with the transformation of the economy, climate policy, social justice and issues of equality and feminism. The MEP is in a relationship with the French Green politician Melanie Vogel, who is a senator in the French House of Lords.
Reintke gained greater public attention in 2017: she was honored by the US "Time" magazine as part of the #MeToo campaign for bringing the issue of sexual violence against women to the European Parliament. Ska Keller's resignation as group chairwoman in the EU Parliament in the fall of 2022 marked Reintke's most important career move to date. Together with Philippe Lamberts from Luxembourg, the political scientist has since led the Greens/European Free Alliance group, which includes MEPs from 17 countries.
The post gives her a good chance of becoming the lead candidate for the European Greens - this will be decided at a congress in Lyon at the beginning of February. After that, things could take off for the committed European politician: A post as EU Commissioner might even be on the cards. Every EU member state can make a proposal for a post in the Commission. If Christian Democrat Ursula von der Leyen is not re-elected, the right to propose a Commissioner from Germany would lie with the Greens according to the coalition agreement.
The EU Parliament elected Terry Reintke, the Greens' top candidate for the European elections, as the leader of the Greens in the European Parliament. This decision was made at their party conference in Karlsueh, where she was also chosen as the German lead candidate for the elections. If the traffic light coalition's coalition agreement is upheld, Reintke could potentially become an EU Commissioner, with the right to propose a Commissioner from Germany falling to the Greens if incumbent Ursula von der Leyen is not re-elected.
Source: www.ntv.de
