The Greens' Reintke vows to keep EU on track towards climate neutrality amid right-wing backlash

euronews (in English)

The Greens' Terry Reintke has pitched her party as the antidote to "right-wing, authoritarian" forces that are trying to water down climate action as she campaigns ahead of June's European elections.

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00:00Keeping the European Green Deal on track is of paramount importance for the European Greens.

00:10Lead candidate for June's European elections, Teri Reitke, told Euronews about her party's

00:16goals and ambitions for the next five years.

00:19So what I would like to do is obviously convince people that we need to stay on course for

00:27climate neutrality because this is in everyone's interest.

00:30We are already seeing the dire consequences that the climate crisis has today, and especially

00:35in Europe, because Europe is the continent in the world that is heating up the fastest.

00:41But making the European Green Deal a reality is, for the Greens, also important in other

00:47ways.

00:48When it comes to security, the deal could make the continent less dependent on unfriendly

00:52regimes for their economic survival.

00:55However, with the bloc now lagging behind China and the U.S. when it comes to green

01:00investment, Reitke says Europe needs to catch up.

01:03They know that only with a European strategy, only with a European model, we can compete

01:09with China, also with the U.S. right now.

01:11But for that, we need to make the right calls.

01:14And for me, having a massive investment program from the European level that incentivizes

01:19member states to go down that road, that also makes some of the planning processes easier

01:24because the money is coming from a European pot together and it's not member states only

01:29pushing for their interest, will be crucial.

01:33Reitke did acknowledge the instrumental role EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

01:38has played in making the European Green Deal a political reality.

01:44But in recent times, von der Leyen has not committed herself enough to the project.

01:50For me, it is quite clear that she has done good, that she has moved forward things in

01:57the last legislature, but it is absolutely unclear whether she will continue to do that,

02:02especially towards the end of the legislature.

02:05She really lost traction, especially because of the resistance that she faced from her

02:12own party, the European People's Party, who were more and more attacking the Green Deal,

02:17going out of progressive pro-European majorities in the European Parliament, even when we talk

02:22about the nature restoration law.

02:26Despite recent polls indicating the Greens could have around 20 seats less in the next

02:32parliament, Reitke is confident that a vigorous election campaign, which is now ongoing,

02:37can boost their numbers.

02:47For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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