Green Party candidates made large gains in last year’s municipality elections in France, which were partially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Turnout was also historically low across the country. As a result, a number of large metropolitan areas are now controlled by the Green Party, also known as “Europe Ecology.”
The party’s policies are rooted in anti-capitalism, environmentalism, and European federalism i.e. a United States of Europe.
In recent years, the party has also become a strong proponent of open borders and critical race theory, and has denounced what they claim is a rise in “Islamophobia” in France and in Europe. At the latest elections, they formed alliances with France’s far-left parties.
Two Green Party mayors of large cities have recently made headlines for their controversial policy decisions.
Last week, Leonore Moncond’huy, the newly elected Green Party mayor of Poitiers cut funding for a local charity which provides children with disabilities the opportunity to take sightseeing flights at the local aerodrome. The mayor explained that this was part of her commitment to remove subsidies for hobbies that rely on non-renewable resources. The city has also defunded local flying clubs.
During a town hall meeting, the mayor stated that the government needs to protect children from certain aspirations. Specifically, she explained that “aviation should no longer be part of today’s children’s dreams.”
The statements generated heated responses from French public officials from across the political spectrum. Some commentators suggested her desire to control children’s dreams sounded fascist.
Earlier in March, the municipal council of Strasbourg, led by Green party mayor Jeanne Barseghian, approved a 2.5 million euro (approximately 3 million dollar) subsidy for the construction of a large mosque in the city. The mosque’s development was sponsored and partially paid for by Milli Görüs, a radical Muslim Turkish organization that has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
This decision comes after a series of attacks by Islamic terrorists in France over the past few months, and while tensions between Turkey and Europe are on the rise. As a result, many political figures in France have denounced the city council’s decision, stating that it’s a way of catering to radical Muslim demands. In recent years, the French Green party has often been criticized for seeking the support of urban Muslim populations and maintaining an ambiguous stance on radical Islam.
In recent polls covering the upcoming 2022 French Presidential election, a potential Green Party candidate could reach 10 percent of the vote.
In the United States, early versions of the Green New Deal legislation promoted by Senator Markey and Representative Ocasio-Cortez called for a total overhaul of transportation “at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.”
France’s experiences should prove to other Western nations how sick and dangerous this kind of far-leftism is, in practice as well as theory.
