*[Enwl-eng] They didn't get the memo
ENWLine
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Our leaders just offered the most important EU job to Ursula von der Leyen - who has no commitments on climate change. This week, MEPs will meet with her to help inform her political agenda. Let's send them thousands of messages to make sure they get Ursula to come up with a concrete plan to protect the planet. Send a message here: |
Hi,
We thought the message coming out of the EU elections was clear: Europeans want bold action on climate change and to trigger a green transition. Apparently, our leaders didn’t get the memo.
They just offered the EU’s top job (the Presidency of the European Commission) to German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. And we’ve done our research. We checked her speeches, her website, and trawled the internet and couldn’t find any meaningful commitment to the climate crisis. [1] Nothing.
A leader who doesn’t have a plan for the climate could put our planet in further danger! But this week, MEPs and their political groups will meet with her to help inform the content of her political agenda. [2] They could get von der Leyen to come out publicly with strong climate commitments.
These newly elected MEPs have only just been sworn in, and they haven’t faced any public pressure yet - let's use this opportunity to flood them with messages urging them to use their meetings to demand that Ursula comes up with a concrete plan to protect the planet.
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Ursula von der Leyen is a problematic candidate for more than one reason. Her work as the Defence Minister in Germany for the last five years can only be described as a flop filled with failures. She’s being investigated by a national parliamentary committee for suspected wrongdoing and her approval ratings in Germany are abysmal. [1]
But her lack of commitment to the climate crisis is by far the most worrying. Any decent climate leader would need to have a plan to make Europe carbon neutral as soon as possible which would mean making a commitment to phase out dirty fossil fuels, investing in 100% renewable energy and greening the economy. [3]
In a few weeks, MEPs will vote on whether or not to confirm von der Leyen as the next EU leader, but before then, they can use their votes as leverage to get bold climate commitments from her. So let’s email or tweet key MEPs to remind them of their climate mandate and urge them to make sure von der Leyen comes out with a bold climate plan!
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With renewed strength,
Fatima (London), Olga (Bologna), Jörg (Lübeck) and the entire WeMove team
PS. After the European Parliament elections, many progressive MEPs are ready to give priority to climate change. We have a good chance of pressuring the new President of the European Commission to supercharge a green transition in Europe. Please send an email or a tweet to these key MEPs!
References
[1]
https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-biography-career-inconvenient-truth/;
https://www.politico.eu/article/in-her-own-words-ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commision-president-angela-merkel-cabinet-german-defense-minister/?
[2]
https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-and-goals/how-priorities-are-set_en
[3]
Several political movements and organisations have proposed the idea of a
Green New Deal for Europe - a full-scale environmental overhaul for Europe
driven by public investments - for instance, here's the DiEM25 proposal:
https://diem25.org/diem25-unveils-its-european-new-deal-an-economic-agenda-for-european-recovery/
WeMove.EU is a citizens’ movement, campaigning for a better Europe; for a European Union committed to social and economic justice, environmental sustainability and citizen-led democracy. We are people from all walks of life, who call Europe our home whether we were born in Europe or elsewhere.
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