According to Raphaël Glucksmann, Mr Macron’s strategy is to demonstrate that environmentalism can be done without the Greens

16/07/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday, 16 July, Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, France) told the European Parliament that French liberals are “obsessed” with “demonstrating that environmentalism can be done without the Greens”. He cited the example of the Chair of the Environment Committee in the European Parliament, to which Frenchman Pascal Canfin—who was an environmentalist MEP in 2009—has been appointed. He mentioned that liberals wanted to keep environmentalists out of the negotiations in the European Parliament on the strategic agenda. “We have got to manage to include the Greens” in these discussions, stressed Mr Glucksmann, who came down against Ursula von der Leyen being elected as the head of the European Commission. “I’m voting against because it isn’t enough”, he said, rejecting the way the German Christian Democrat was nominated and criticising the lack of concrete proposals in her speech (see EUROPE 12297/1). (MB)