GREEN PARTY POLITICIAN Ciarán Cuffe will contest the leadership election in the European Green party later today.
The contest is being held at the Convention Centre in Dublin city where the European Greens, which represents over 400 elected environmental and green politicians across Europe, is holding its 39th Annual Congress.
Cuffe previously served as a junior minister in the transport, environment and agriculture portfolios, respectively, and served one term as a Dublin MEP in the European Parliament.
He took a brief step back from politics after he lost his seat during the European elections in June but is now seeking to be one of two politicians elected to lead the European party, replacing French Senator Mélanie Vogel and Austrian MEP Thomas Waitz.
Speaking to The Journal yesterday, Cuffe said: “I’ve really enjoyed the last five years of being involved in legislation and policy making at a European level. I would like to continue with it for the time begin.”
Cuffe said that he believes his election would have a positive impact on the domestic Green party, in context of the results of the most-recent general election. He added that he wants to continue, as co-chair, with the work of his green colleagues in Europe.
He ruled out a potential bid for the Seanad in the next number of months. Asked about building the Greens’ influence back at home and abroad Cuffe said: “It won’t happen overnight.”
He said that the European party must first focus on tackling issues that are currently at the centre of people’s lives at the minute such as cost of living, housing and security.
The veteran politician, who was first elected as councillor to Dublin City Council in 1991, said it was important that the European Greens remain “involved” with European legislation.
He is was it was particularly important that the 57 Green MEPs play a key role in the implementation of recommendations from recent reports by the European Commission on the single market, competitiveness and security.
At a press conference before the beginning of the Congress yesterday, Irish Green leader Roderic O’Gorman said his party were welcoming their European colleagues at “the end of a very difficult week”.
O’Gorman is the sole-remaining TD following last weekend’s general election. He told reporters that he has already begun rebuilding the party since then.
“I know what we need to do. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I’m absolutely committed to doing it,” he said.
He added that the party will continue to have support from the State, due to the party securing more than 2% of the vote, and will also be assisted by their European colleagues.
O’Gorman told The Journal that he believes the Greens do have the energy to make a comeback, compared to when he was chair of the party after it was wiped out following the 2011 general election.
“In 2011 you know, we were on our knees. We’d come out of a government that had an awful history at that period of Irish politics and Irish economics had suffered.
“It’s a very different party now. We’re intensely proud of what we did over the last four-and-a-half years. We went in with our eyes open. We knew there was a risk. We paid the price.
“But I haven’t heard anyone across the party in the last week say we shouldn’t have done it,” he added. O’Gorman told reporters that the Green Party’s support from European colleagues is ever more evident in Cuffe’s decision to run.
Cuffe, similarly, believes the party would help to revitalise the party if he is elected this evening. He agreed with O’Gorman that the party could’ve “used our elbows” a bit more to own certain pieces of legislation when in government.
He added, if elected, he would like to be a “voice for smaller parties with our European colleagues”.
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