Over 600 European election candidates pledge support for the environment

Posted on May, 20 2014

Brussels – With just days to go before the European Elections 2014, more than 600 candidates across all 28 EU Member States have signed WWF’s pledge to protect the environment and public health and create jobs and a stronger ‘green economy’ if elected as Members of the European Parliament on 22-25 May 2014.

Brussels – With just days to go before the European Elections 2014, more than 600 candidates across all 28 EU Member States have signed WWF’s pledge to protect the environment and public health and create jobs and a stronger ‘green economy’ if elected as Members of the European Parliament on 22-25 May 2014.

The results of the online pledge show that support for environmental issues crosses all political groups. Green candidates have been understandably the most active, accounting for one third of all pledges, including top names like Ska Keller and José Bové. Parties that currently do not have seats in the European parliament or are not affiliated to any European political group, like the Italian “Movimento Cinque Stelle” and “L’Altra Europa con Tsipras” account for almost 24% of the total pledges. Left-wing (GUE/NGL) and centre-left (S&D) political groups represent 15% and 13% respectively of total candidates. Centre-right parties have been the least supportive, together accounting for only 13% of the total pledges.

Italy, with over 130 candidates, has the highest number of supporters, followed by Germany and Finland with more than 50 each. More than 2.600 emails and 1.500 tweets have been sent to different political groups asking them to support the WWF pledge.

“The results of the pledge show that there are candidates all over Europe who want to protect the environment and public health, whilst creating jobs and a stronger economy. We hope European voters will look at these lists before they make their choice. On average, 80% of national environmental laws are decided in Brussels. So the politicians we will elect this week will have the power to make decisions regarding many things that impact our daily lives, from the air we breathe, the water we drink, to the food we eat." said Tony Long, Director of WWF European Policy Office in Brussels.

Candidates can still sign the pledge until May 25 at http://ep2014.wwf.eu/ while voters can also see the lists of candidates who pledged and send a message or a tweet to their political groups to get their candidates to show their support for the planet.

For further information:

Tycho Vandermaesen, Public Affairs Officer, WWF European Policy Office, +32 498 72 56 41

Stefania Campogianni, Media and Communication Officer, WWF European Policy Office, +32 499 53 97 36

Mobilising European citizens to ask for policy change

© Nikada

Download

How EU political groups pledged for the environment

DOCX 414 KB