Green Backlash’: ‘Europe’s progress on climate action’ thrown into doubt as Green vote collapses in European Parliament elections

• Green parties were on track to lose seats in the European Parliament elections, provisional results showed Monday.
• The result comes amid a broader shift to the right and a green backlash — or “greenlash” — against policies designed to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment.
• Bas Eickhout, lead candidate for the Green Party, said support for the far-right parties across the bloc could jeopardize Europe’s progress on climate action.

Green parties were on track to lose seats in the European Parliament elections, provisional results showed Monday, sparking concerns that the bloc may be on the brink of scaling back its climate policies.

The left-leaning Greens/European Free Alliance were set to win 52 seats in the legislative branch of the 27-member trade bloc, according to preliminary results. That’s significantly lower than the 71 seats the Greens/EFA secured when the green faction enjoyed its strongest-ever showing five years ago.

It comes amid a broader shift to the right and a green backlash — or “greenlash” — against policies designed to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment.

The far-right Identity and Democracy group made major gains across the European Union, while the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists logged a slight uptick in votes.

In Germany, where the Greens govern as part of a so-called traffic light coalition alongside the center-left Social Democrats and pro-business Free Democrats, support for the Greens nearly halved compared with 2019. Provisional results showed the party in fourth place on 11.9% of the vote.

Support for the Greens also fell in Austria and France, where the far right outperformed and prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to call snap elections.

Across the Continent, frustrated farmers have taken to the streets in recent months to push for further exemptions from European Union environmental regulations. Nationalist and far-right parties — traditionally skeptical of climate issues — have also been vocal critics of green policies.

Bas Eickhout, lead candidate for the Green Party, said that support for the far-right parties across the bloc could jeopardize Europe’s progress on climate action.

“I would say that the global green race is on, and you see that in China, you see that in the United States, so this means Europe really needs to step up its action,” Eickhout told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro.

“I don’t fear rolling back, but if we’re not going to proceed, if we’re not going to accelerate the action here, our European industry is going to lose this global race and that’s what I’m worried about.”

Eickhout said in a separate statement on Sunday that the losses in France and Germany had “obviously been a blow” and the rise of the far right was “extremely concerning for all those who believe in a democratic European Union and in just and equal societies.”