Reintke and Eickhout, European Greens choose Spitzenkandidat for European elections

Brussels–Germany’s Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout of the Netherlands: delegates from all European Green parties during their Congress in Lyon during the weekend named the two MEPs as the top candidate for the upcoming European elections, on June 6-9 across the EU.

@TerryReintke and @BasEickhout have just been elected as the Leading Candidates (Spitzenkandidaten) for our 2024 EU election campaign!

They will be the faces of our Green campaign.

️ In the EU elections this June, your voice and your vote count! #ChooseCourage pic.twitter.com/bhgQvSprbR

— European Greens (@europeangreens) February 3, 2024

Reintke, 36, is already co-president of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament along with Philippe Lamberts. Eickhout, 47, is vice-chairman of the group and of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI) in the European Parliament, of which he has been a member since 2009. “The far right is gaining popularity by offering only polarization, exclusion, and false solutions,” the latter emphasized, assuring that as Spitzenkandidat of the Greens, “I will show that we are the antidote to the far right, and I will show how a green, social, and inclusive Europe is possible.” “I will fight for a diverse green and social Europe, a democratic Europe, where racism and hatred have no place, where we lay the foundation for a just transition to a climate-neutral industry for tomorrow,” Reintke also added.

According to polls, the environmental group should gain fewer seats than it currently has in the current Chamber. The latest Europe Elect projection gives the group 49 seats, some 20 fewer than today (72). Now, the Greens have decided, after the European Socialist Party (ESP), which indicated as its candidate the current European Commissioner for Labor and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit.

The list of leading candidates for the upcoming ballot call is beginning to take shape, while the wait is growing for whose name the European People’s Party (EPP), expected to remain the most numerous group, will put forward. More importantly, there is growing anticipation as to whether the current President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will seek confirmation and become the leading candidate for the EPP. There’s little time left as internal ‘nominations’ within the center-right group will officially close on Feb. 21, so von der Leyen should announce her intentions before then. The EPP will hold its Congress in Bucharest on March 6-7.