Meet a MEP!

Your weekly profile on an influential EU Parliamentarian

        Elected 10 years ago, Parliamentarian Lamberts represents Belgium at the EU level, as well as serving as the co-chair of the Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance. Lamberts, along with co-chair Ska Keller of Germany, continue to fight for a more ecological and sustainable Europe in Parliament.

        A Brussels-native, Lamberts has held a long career working for the missions of the Ecolo (Green) Party in Belgium, first serving on Anderlecht Municipal Council for 12 years, beginning in 1994. Following his election in 2009 to the European Parliament, he quickly climbed the ranks of the European Green Party, focusing on sustainable economics of Europe. Lamberts’ background and studies laid in the business sector in French Belgium, a factor he cites as to why such emphasis is placed on the incredible close, interdependent relationship between environmental suitability and economics.

       Lamberts now sits on the incredibly influential Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee which overseas a slough of international, inter-European financial regulations, baking systems, and taxation policies. Lamberts also is one of six members of the EU’s Brexit Steering Group to aid during the UK withdrawal from the EU, “coordinating and preparing Parliament’s deliberations, considerations, and resolutions.”

         Lamberts’ mission to help create good-paying jobs and a strong economy around Europe with the need for environmental reforms and regulation lives on in the Juncker Commission at the EU.

Click here for an interview with Lamberts and France 24 on the upcoming EU elections in May.

To read EuroCité’s “5 Questions” interview with MEP Lamberts, click here.

A Campaign Trail Update

What Europe Can See in Environmental Youth Movements Around their Communities

         Greta Thunberg, a Swedish 16-year old 10th-grade student, started a movement with an idea that has shaped the dynamic of the European elections this year. Greta’s radical idea? Force lawmakers and influential European politicians to make addressing climate change a priority.

         Youth for Climate (YFC) began in Belgium, originating from Greta’s call for student strikes, and seeks a “climate government.”YFC urges mass striking of students from their school hours and homework to demand that the EU uphold to standards set in the Paris Agreement, including a more substantial reduction of CO₂  emissions by 2030. In February, Greta joined YFC in Brussels for a large 8,000-student march.

         Fridays for Future (FFF) began like YFC to show that their generation cares about climate change. As their name suggests, students demonstrate every Friday until the elections in May. Their social media following has increased in account number and followers substantially leading up to today and will continue into May and beyond. Per their recent press release, FFF mobilized “1.6 million strikers on all 7 continents, in more than 125 countries and in well over 2000 places.”

         Today, the Alliance for Socialists and Democrats (S & D) in the EU, as well as the Party of European Socialists (PES), have praised Greta for her inspiring work for young people all across Europe. The PES has adopted a segment of their party platform (Manifesto) dedicated to the reforms they hope Greta’s generation need: “A Sustainable Europe That Protects Our Planet.” Paralleled, Lamberts’ Green Party embraces these same principles, ensuring the next Parliamentary session includes progress on environmental issues.

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