12th EFGP Council Meeting, Budapest

SUNDAY, 2ND DECEMBER 2001

Outi Hannula, EFGP committee, opened the session at 9.35 with reports from Fringe meetings.

Caroline Hoffmann, North Sea Greens co-ordinator, reported on a productive meeting in Norway in September. The next meeting will take place in Brighton in 2002. The meeting in Budapest had also been productive, and Caroline was re-elected as co-ordinator. She has agreed to run a workshop in Berlin on campaigning in a small party.

Claes Roxbergh, Sweden, reported from the Baltic Greens. He said that there were only four attendees. They had discussed the regional networks, and wondered whether GEWD might be rationalised? He hoped that this might be taken forward by the committee.

Maro Demetriou, Cyprus, reported from the Mediterranean network that the situation in member parties was discussed. The situation in Italy is currently pessimistic, but other countries are looking positive. Future meetings will be held in Malta and Cyprus.

Lucille Ryan-O'Shea, Green Islands Network, reported that the meeting had discussed trying to rescue one of the smaller parties, the Northern Irish Greens. They had discussed holding a conference in September next year in Belfast on Nationalism. The aim was to involve academics and NGOs.

Outi reported that GEWD had asked to postpone their report.

Gabriela Szuba, EFGP committee, presented a report on the Enlargement Working Group. She explained the background to the working group, and said that the current report was the result of meetings in Budapest and Brussels. In a vote, the report of the Enlargement working group was accepted unanimously.

Update on European Political Parties

Arnold Cassola, EFGP committee, reported that the situation regarding European Political Parties is currently blocked. The Belgian presidency had watered down the proposals quite a bit, and there was a big discussion at the EU Council in October. The main issues of contention were the number of parties/countries required to constitute a European Political Party. The Danish and the Austrians were opposed, and it now appears that the Italians are also opposed. Another issue is the question of juridical status, and another is the situation regarding sponsorship and donations, where France appears to be blocking. The end result is that the proposals will probably only be passed in 2002 or 2003, and they may be very watered down.

Franz Floss, Austria, said that the Austrian Greens criticised their government for blocking the process, and got a lot of press coverage for it.

Niki Kortvelyessy asked if the British Government was blocking?

Arnold replied that they seemed to agree in principle with the proposals.

Luc Lamote, Agalev, asked what the implications were for the EFGP?

Arnold replied that we have to carry on as before.

Action plan 2002

Johanna Sumuvuori, Finland, proposed that the action plan be amended to include FYEG in the list of partners. This was accepted by delegates.

Isabel Vertriest, Agalev, said it would be useful to have an overview - to see what's happening in the member parties, and how we can strengthen each other.

Aleksander Jovanovic, FYEG, said that European Youth Policy is something that the EFGP should be concerned about, and that it should be added as a topic.

Ulrike Lunacek, Austria, said that the security working group should be renamed to reflect the focus on civil liberties. She also asked about the Green Islands Network - what is it, and what's the conference planned for Autumn 2002?

Lucille Ryan-O'Shea, Green Islands Network co-ordinator, explained that the GIN was established in 1995. The member parties are Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Jersey and Northern Ireland. The planned conference is to help the Northern Irish Greens deal with the issue of nationalism.

Outi asked if the invitation to the conference could be sent as widely as possible, because Nationalism is a topic that touches us all? Lucille replied that she was already planning to do that, as she stated in her report.

Caroline Hoffmann, North Sea Greens co-ordinator, said that she didn't see why there should be a separate Green Islands Network, as most of the members were members of the North Sea Greens anyway. Surely the two groups should merge?

Claes Roxbergh, Sweden, asked how regional networks should develop in the future?

Arnold Cassola asked delegates how they wanted to deal with the proposal from Aleksander? Will it involve a budget?
Aleksander replied that he thought there was a need to develop a working group on the subject in Berlin, but that was enough for now.

In summing up, Outi proposed that the new working group be named the 'Internal security and civil liberties working group'. This was accepted by acclaim.

Arnold Cassola then introduced the paper on the 3rd EFGP Congress, in Berlin from 17 to 19 May 2002. He said that the congress will be preceded by a Heinrich Böll seminar on Thursday on Globalisation and Sustainability. The Congress will examine energy policy, agriculture and Green governments in an enlarged Europe. He said that there will also be a meeting of Green councillors, and any councillors interested in contributing should get in touch.

Philippe Lamberts, Ecolo, asked whether Green Ministers have already been invited? Arnold replied that they have.

Ulrike Lunacek, Austria, asked for more information on what 'Green governments' would be about?

Arnold replied that it would be a wide topic.

Philippe Lamberts, Ecolo, said that from looking at the proposals, it seemed that the pre-congress seminar was the more attractive?

Isabel Vertriest, Agalev, said that globalisation is a hot topic - maybe we could include it in the schedule?

Reinhard Bütikofer, Germany, welcomed the comments. He said 'Green governments' was a broad topic, and that the theme can be narrowed down later.

Outi then called for a vote on the proposals for the congress. These were all passed.

György Droppa, EFGP committee, then gave a report on the GEWD fringe meeting. He said that a written report had been circulated. Transportation and enlargement had been discussed, which was very fruitful. They also met briefly with the Mediterraneans to discuss enlargement.

Niki Kortvelyessy, Hungary, asked if gender would be on the agenda for future GEWD meetings, as was recommended by Council?

Report of working groups

Marian Coyne, EFGP committee, reported on the globalisation working group. She said that a report on the Doha WTO meeting was available to those who wanted. She said that on the topic of globalisation, quite a lot was being done at a party level and in the EP, but very little at the Federation level. Is this going to be taken forward?

Caroline Hoffmann, NSG co-ordinator, said that we should not try to re-invent the wheel - if there was good work being done at a party level, it was pointless for the Federation merely to replicate that.

David Hammerstein, Spain, said that we should be putting money into printing and translation of existing materials rather than producing lots of new materials.

Arnold said that the Federation can make an input on this topic - we wouldn't just be reinventing the wheel.

Marian pointed out that there were very few volunteers willing to take the issue forward. She proposed that her role should become more limited to passing on information. This suggestion was accepted by delegates.

Pekka Haavisto, EFGP committee, gave a report on the Rio +10 working group. He said that 15 people were actively involved and that they had 24 names on the mailing list. The working group has been discussing a 'shopping list' of what should be on the agenda in Johannesburg. They have also been looking at the possibility of linking up with African Greens. Pekka urged anyone who wants to know more about the working group to get in touch.

Frithjof Schmidt, EFGP committee, then gave a report on the Environment and Economy Working Group. He explained the background to the group's formation, and said that unfortunately, e-mail is not a very effective tool for debate. He said the group hoped to arrange a practical seminar on eco-taxes. Without a seminar, he said, there is little likelihood of producing a common paper.

Budget 2002

Outi Hannula, EFGP committee, then explained the budget for 2002. She also briefly explained the revised criteria for the membership fee. She said that Romania had lost an MP, and that Scotland had been reclassified as a regional party in a large country. This reclassification was consistent with the treatment of Agalev and Ecolo, she said. She also explained that the Observer fee now varied depending on whether the party was from Western or Eastern Europe. She explained the solidarity fund for the congress of African Greens. This consists of 5% of the basic fee. If parties want to give more than that, they can do so. Outi then called for a vote on the auditor's report and the budget. This was passed unanimously.

György Droppa, EFGP committee, thanked all delegates and other for coming to Budapest. He said that he hoped the Green map of Europe would soon be getting greener.

Gabriela Szuba, EFGP committee, thanked the Hungarian Greens for hosting the meeting, and for the great debating, great food, great drinking and great dancing. She closed the meeting at 13:20

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