The Greens in the 2014 European elections

Green parties entered the European election campaign of 2014 facing some major challenges. Austerity politics and the Euro crisis ensured that social and economic issues dominated the agenda and, with environmental topics marginalised, populist right-wing and Eurosceptic parties were expected to make big gains in many countries. The Greens had been boosted in 2009 by record results for French and German Greens, but neither was expected to do as well. Given the broadly unfavourable conditions, Green parties performed reasonably well (see Table 1). The European Green Party (EGP) won 38 seats in the European Parliament, compared with 46 in 2009. The Green Party-European Free Alliance (EFA) parliamentary group registered 50 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), including seven from various regional parties and five independents in 2014, compared with 55 in 2009