On 16 February, representatives of the participating organisations of the initiative Green Barometer from the society Green Liberty, the Latvian Fund for Nature and the World Wildlife Fund Latvia met at the EU house in Riga to prepare for the pre-election period of the European Parliament, during which the Green Barometer initiative will carry out evaluation of the promises of EP candidates and the performance of the existing MEPs, Green grills with MEP candidates and other activities organised to ensure that Latvian voters can make informed choices about the plans of candidates and parties, as well as their performance in relation to environment, climate and nature protection. The main aim of the event was to discuss and agree on the Green Barometer’s unified pre-election manifesto and clarify upcoming pre-election activities.
At the start of the event, Green Liberty biodiversity expert highlighted the main environmental and nature conservation challenges in the EU over the next four years, which were subsequently discussed by the participants: the failure to meet the 1.5-degree C climate target, the biodiversity crisis and the achievement of the ambitions of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the energy crisis and the need for an urgent transition to renewable energy as well as energy independence, fair transition of fossil and unsustainable sectors, the rise in the cost of living, the growing public discontent and the rise in populism, EU’s failures in the implementation of the circular economy.
The most important upcoming legislative acts were also discussed: the adoption of the Nature Restoration Law, various energy and transport related legislative acts, the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the possible introduction of the Nature fund, the ‘Green claims’ directive and others. The participants discussed the results of the World Café workshop from the event held on 15 February – a seminar for young people Green barometer invites young people: it’s also your European Parliament. During this seminar, a World Café discussion took place about what active young people expect from future MEPs and the European Union over the next period. Accordingly, the event on 16 February presented the Green Barometer organisations with the summarised ideas of the young people in the field of environment and circular economy, nature conservation, and climate, which have the potential to be included in the forthcoming Green Barometer EP election manifesto, such as the strengthening of the “polluter pays” principle, more active support for solar development, and many others. You can see the presentation here, including the main ideas collected.
During the remainder of the event, a policy expert from the Latvian Fund for Nature presented a draft of the Green Barometer Manifesto, which was discussed by representatives of the environmental organisations, clarifying the fundamental theses for the final version of the manifesto, which will be made in the coming weeks. Finally, the forthcoming activities of the Green Barometer were discussed – the EP election programme evaluations and the voting patterns of the existing MEPs, as well as the Green Grill – a public discussion on environment, nature conservation and climate issues with the candidates of MEPs, which will be organised in May 2024, closer to the date of the EP elections.
The event had 13 participants – six from Green Liberty, three from the Latvian Fund for Nature and three from World Wildlife Fund Latvia.
This event was organised by NGO Green Liberty and CEE Bankwatch Network within the Citizens’ Observatory for Green Deal Financing project, financed by European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
