Greens set to join united EU party to fight elections

THE Green Party will this weekend join in an unprecedented move to unite all European Green parties to fight this summer’s elections on a joint platform.

This will for the first time unite a pan-European political grouping to campaign in an election on a common platform.

The new European Green Party, which will be officially founded in Rome this weekend, will produce a joint manifesto and produce a unified publicity campaign in the run-up to June’s European elections.

Green Parties across Europe have already discussed and agreed a poster campaign and a new website which are both due to be launched shortly.

The launch of the new party will bring together more than 1,000 European Green Party members from more than 30 countries.

Once the new party is formally established Ireland’s Green Party will act in collaboration with sister parties in 31 countries, including several from EU accession countries.

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent, who will lead an eight-strong Irish delegation to this weekend’s Rome launch, said: “It is the first time in the history of the EU that a political family is uniting to lead a common election campaign.”

Mr Sargent will sign the new Green Party foundation charter tomorrow.