Fresh from polling as Germany's second strongest party, the Greens have picked two candidates to lead their EU election campaign. Ska Keller and Sven Giegold are already familiar faces in Brussels' corridors of power.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
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At their party conference in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Saturday, Green Party members picked two respected MEPs as their lead candidates for next May's European Parliament elections.
Ska Keller won 87.6 percent support to be the leftist party's main candidate, while Sven Giegold picked up 97.9 percent support to be the second lead nominee.
The Greens are the most popular environment-led party in the world, and are currently showing second only to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in opinion polls in Germany. The party currently holds 11 seats of Germany's 96 seats in the European Parliament.
Both candidates, who have represented the Greens in Brussels since 2009, told the conference that it was vital that the party fight militantly against right-wing populism in Europe.
"Europe's democracy is threatened," cried Keller in her application speech, accusing right-wing nationalists of wanting to "destroy Europe."
'End divisive politics'
Giegold also campaigned for a return to more collaborative politics across Europe, agreeing that right-wing populism must be tackled.
"Europe means towards each other, not against each other," he told party delegates.
Keller, meanwhile, admitted that the Greens were now facing a big responsibility due to their recent successes in two regional elections in Hesse and Bavaria.
Nationally, the party has overtaken the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a recent opinion poll by Forsa, with 24 percent support, just three points behind Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU).
During's the first day of their party conference on Saturday, Green Party delegates also discussed internal wrangling over asylum policy and climate change.
New taxes pledged
Members are due to vote on Sunday on a draft European election program that will see the Greens demand a "minimum CO2 levy" on the worst polluting industrial plants and a new tax on disposable plastics.
The party is also likely to campaign to make the EU as "guarantor of social rights," enforceable by the European Court of Justice.
The European elections will take place from May 23 to 26 2019, and will see 46 fewer parliamentary seats as a result of the UK's decision to quit the bloc, slated for the end of March.
Candidates for European Commission president
Germany's Manfred Weber, the conservative candidate, is considered the front-runner in the race to lead the European Commission. DW takes a closer look at him, and his main rivals.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Seco
Manfred Weber (EPP)
The center-right European People's Party (EPP) — the largest faction in the European Parliament — has picked Manfred Weber, its German parliamentary party leader. He has the backing of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Though considered the front-runner, Weber is little known on the international stage, and his language skills are considered poor.
Image: Reuters/V. Kessler
Frans Timmermans (S&D)
Frans Timmermans, the European Commission's first vice president, will lead the campaign for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (S&D). Weber's main rival promises to bring the bloc closer to ordinary voters at a time when Britain's looming exit is one factor behind the nationalist movements across the EU.
Image: Reuters/F.Lenoir
Margrethe Vestager (ALDE)
Margrethe Vestager, 51, is one of seven lead candidates for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. As the current EU commissioner for competition, the Danish MEP has taken on corporations like Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet. It's also been said that she served as the inspiration for the main character in <i>Borgen</i>, a Danish series where a woman becomes Denmark's first female leader.
Image: Reuters/Y. Herman
Jan Zahradil (ECR)
The third-largest group in the EU Parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), has just one candidate: Jan Zahradil, chairman of the Czech ECR delegation. Zahradil, 65, is affectionately known as "Forrest Gump" for cycling from Prague to Strasbourg for a session of the European Parliament and for once running 1,300 kilometers (about 800 miles) across the Czech Republic for charity.
Image: imago/Belga
Ska Keller (Greens/EFA)
The Greens/EFA is the seventh largest group in European Parliament, so the German is a long shot to become European Commission president. The Greens have proposed a job share, with two candidates serving for two-and-a-half years each. The most favorite to join Keller is Dutch lawmaker Bas Eickhout.
Image: European Green Party
Violeta Tomic and Nico Cue (GUE/NGL)
The EU's left-wing groups will be headed by Spanish trade unionist Nico Cue and Violeta Tomic (at left). Tomic is a deputy in Slovenia's National Assembly, best known as a TV presenter and actress. She entered into politics in 2014 and has been an advocate for LGBT rights and stronger citizens' rights in Europe. Cue grew up in Belgium after his family was forced to flee Franco's Soain.
