Climate activists want to change EU politics before it changes them

Several activists with roots in climate protest movements are likely to get elected to the next European Parliament, hoping to shake up an institution known for its technocratic ways. 

The rise of the climate protest movement a few years ago saw the number of Green MEPs swell in the 2019 EU election, followed by the EU’s ‘Green Deal’.

But as conservative parties vow to push back against green policies in the EU parliament, climate activists from the EU’s German-speaking sphere are seeking to keep the green momentum going by other means.

The likely new arrivals have made it clear that they want to introduce new, unconventional methods and styles of politics to Brussels to boost their cause of climate justice, rather than engaging in regular parliamentary work.

“Today, most laws and rules are made in Brussels (…). But at the moment, there is far too little scrutiny and media coverage there,” Carola Rackete told Euractiv. 

The skipper with a background in ecology became known in 2019 when she was arrested in Italy after a stand-off with then-interior minister Matteo Salvini over her docking a vessel with 53 rescued migrants on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Now, Rackete is all but certain to enter parliament as lead candidate of German progressive party Die Linke on a platform of fighting climate change, global inequality, and the far-right.  

The “voice of resistance” in parliament

“I wouldn’t be so cheeky to think that I can heavily influence the politics of, for example, Ursula von der Leyen or the Commission,” Rackete said.

Rather, she wants to increase pressure by drawing attention to misguided policies and using her parliamentary powers to direct resources to social movements.

“Creative acts can generate a completely different level of attention for European policy than purely factual work in the committees,” Rackete explained.

Aside from Rackete, German protest collective Letzte Generation – whose members are known for drawing attention to climate issues by glueing themselves to roads – has a chance of getting a seat or two. 

“We don’t want to simply turn up to vote on the next anti-plastic law, we want to finally carry the voice of resistance into parliament,” the group’s spokesperson said. 

Additionally, 23-year-old Lena Schilling, a prominent face of Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future protests, will likely make it in as lead candidate of Austria’s Greens. 

Meanwhile, Rackete is open to “civil disobedience” and sees social media as crucial, but she also wants to provide visibility to people from the Global South by inviting them to speak in parliament, she said.

The Letzte Generation keeps concrete plans secret, but a record of blocking streets and defacing paintings hints at what EU lawmakers should prepare for.

Aside from representing a younger, greener demographic, climate activists could indeed influence EU legislation with “radical, broad-based protest”, Luise Quaritsch, a European politics expert at the Jacques Delors Centre think tank, told Euractiv.

She pointed to European farmers’ protests, which have triggered a frenzy of legislative changes on sustainability requirements in agriculture. 

Who will change whom?

However, Quartisch warned that it would be a “wasted opportunity [for activists if they] reduced their platform to protest”, noting that the parliament’s regular work has a big impact on policy.

A recent example of creative protest that both Rackete and the Letzte Generation have studied closely offers a similar lesson: Nico Semsrott, MEP from the German satire party Die Partei. 

He grabbed the spotlight by confronting Ursula von der Leyen in the European Parliament about transparency dressed in a hoodie patched with corporate logos.

Now, at the end of this mandate, Semsrott is less convinced of creating change through attention. 

“You can generate attention in the short term, but is it about effects or real change?,” he told Euractiv. 

“I believe that you can only achieve something in parliament if you use parliamentary tools and get organised.”

Christine Reh of the Hertie School estimated that “climate activists might ultimately evolve into policy-focused politicians, as has happened to the [Greens in Germany], who [originally] emerged from protests.”

[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Alice Taylor]

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