By the way, how is the work of a European parliamentarian? On the occasion of the European elections on June 9, publicsenat.fr gives the floor to outgoing MEPs. More than an assessment of the mandate which is ending, they tell us about their victories, their failures or regrets too, to better understand the specific functioning of the European Parliament. The floor begins with David Cormand, MEP for the Ecologists (ex-EELV), who appears in second place on the list led by Marie Toussaint.
“The Green Deal is the culmination of political work, both from the Greens and from mobilized civil society”
For David Cormand, elected to Parliament for the first time during the 2019 European elections, Brexit remains one of the defining episodes of the last five years. “A strong, moving, and at the same time difficult moment, it was the last session of the English, when there was effective Brexit, when they left on 1er January 2020. It was the symbol of a first regression, within the European Union,” recalls David Cormand. The former number 1 of EELV underlines that “what is extraordinary in the European Parliament is that it is the only time in the history of humanity that several nationalities sit together. So to have one of the countries leave, it was a difficult emotional moment.”
At the same time, for David Cormand, “the most positive moment was the progress of the Green Deal. It is truly the culmination of political work, both from the Greens and from mobilized civil society. It is thanks to the climate mobilizations of 2019 that the Green Deal took hold in Europe. It was a proud moment, even if the pact is in danger today.”
“Parliamentary work at European level has nothing to do with what we do in France”
It is difficult for the environmentalist MEP to remember only one measure of this “Green deal”, its name in English. “The interest of the Green Deal is that it is articulated, it is transversal. There are 66 texts in total today. This forms a frame. We can’t cut it out. This is why it is absurd to decree a regulatory break. We cannot stop in the middle of the ford,” underlines David Cormand. “Afterwards, the most emblematic measure is the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% in 2030, compared to 1990, and carbon neutrality in 2050. This is the main compass. Then, the fact of announcing the end of the thermal engine is very significant from a civilizational point of view. This is the materialization of the release of carbon air. The car is the quintessence of our consumer society (sic). But the other side of the coin, the ambiguity, is that it does not translate into a change of use. For ecologists, this means reducing the space of the car, with other modes of transport. For others, it’s the same use but we drive on electricity,” says the Greens MEP. He cites another victory, within the Green Deal:
Even if the text has been largely emptied of its meaning, the fact of having saved the text on the restoration of nature is quite unique on the issue of biodiversity.
In the European Parliament, compromise is the rule. Things are possible, even if your group isn’t the largest. “Parliamentary work at European level has nothing to do with what we do in France. You have room to maneuver to push topics, push your line. You weigh on reality, at the height of the political weight of your group, your capacity for conviction, your ability to convince, to build alliances. This is why it is a true place of democracy,” explains David Cormand.
“That’s where Sandro Gozi, an Italian elected on the LREM list, helped me”
“Weighing on reality”, for the MEP, “is typically the ban on the premature obsolescence of consumer products. Parliament voted for it as part of the Green Deal. This is the legislative package on the circular economy in which I was involved.” David Cormand says: “At the start of his mandate, there was an initiative report in which I fought to include a ban on premature obsolescence. In committee, I was put in the minority because the right, the extreme right and the centrists voted against. But then, we organized ourselves and made an amendment in plenary session to reintroduce what we had lost in committee. And we won by 4 votes on the ban on obsolescence.”
And while the electoral campaign today divides the debates between candidates, the MEP explains that this victory was achieved “with the votes of the left, but also half of the Renew votes (group where the Macronists sit), all of which the French. This is where Sandro Gozi, an Italian elected on the LREM list, helped me. In the process, there was the legislative text from the commission. And since there was my own initiative report, they must have taken a little inspiration from it. And then, we managed to win with the Council. But if the greens had not been there, premature obsolescence would not have been prohibited.”
The example given by David Cormand illustrates the culture of compromise and the often complex journey of a text in Strasbourg and Brussels, the two cities which share the seat of Parliament. “It’s European parliamentary culture. You never win alone, by definition,” recalls the candidate.
David Cormand regrets “the vote on the return of austerity rules, we are returning to the standard of the Stability Pact”
Parliament is also a failure. Not all the votes were as the environmentalists would have liked, obviously. The examination of the latest texts of the mandate, as recently as this week, was not in the right direction, for the ecologists.
“The two most serious things are the vote on the return of austerity rules. We return to the standard of the Stability Pact, on the deficit rules. There was no urgency to vote for this. It is clearly a coalition between the right, centrists and socialists. This is a big renunciation of budgetary and financial voluntarism. This means that there will be no money to finance the Green Deal. And the other is the environmental rules in the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), which have been simplified. We are making the environment pay for the agricultural crisis, to satisfy lobbies. These are the two big setbacks,” denounces number 2 on the Toussaint list.
“The European Union is both an unfinished democracy and the most advanced form of democracy in the history of the world”
Still, in the eyes of the MEP, sitting in Parliament is an opportunity. “What is very important to understand is the difference in views of other countries. That’s what’s exceptional. Which means that in Strasbourg today, instead of having trenches, there are people talking to each other. Parliaments were built on the scars of the borders. And parliament means talking to each other,” recalls David Cormand. This convinced European concludes: “The European Union is both an unfinished democracy but also the most advanced form of democracy in the history of the world, because it even goes beyond the framework of the Nation-State. It’s quite a “thing”, all the same, as the other one said…”
