S7: Activity Report 2021

Introduction

2021 was the second year marred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health and
safety measures required many EGP activities and events to be moved to the
digital space. Likewise, the 2021 Spring Council also took place online.

The situation improved somewhat during the summer and autumn, enabling the
European Ideas Lab in Milan to be organised to include physical participation.
In the autumn, the EGP focused its efforts on the 2021 United Nations Climate
Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, which welcomed the return of
many in-person activities.

Hopes remained high that the EGP’s Winter Council could be held in a regular
format in Budapest, Hungary. However, developments in the COVID-19 pandemic made
this impossible and the Council was held online.

Throughout the year, the EGP focused its efforts on connecting digitally with
member parties, partners and supporters, developing and implementing projects
related to the recovery from the pandemic and beyond.

The report below focuses on the activities achieved by the EGP Committee and
team in 2021.

1. Statutory Meetings

A. EGP Committee meetings

The Committee organised the EGP’s 33^rd and 34^th Councils in 2021, both of which
took place in a virtual format. At – and in between the Councils – 12 Committee
meetings were organised to manage the party and its political priorities. Short,
flexible Committee meetings were organised where deemed necessary to facilitate
exchanges among the Committee in times of ever-changing COVID-19 regulations and
political circumstances.

The 2021 Committee meetings were held on the following dates and venues:

B. EGP Council meetings

In 2021, both EGP Councils were organised online:

The 33^rd EGP Council, Spring 2021, online – Build Back Greener

The 33^rd EGP Council was organised in full online with events taking place from
Tuesday 25 May to Saturday 29 May 2021. Compromise Amendment Sessions were held
from Tuesday until Friday when there were meetings of several EGP networks, a
variety of parallel sessions and a plenary session. In the evening, Annalena
Baerbock, the German Greens then candidate for chancellor, delivered a keynote
speech. On Saturday, another set of parallel sessions and plenary debate were
held. Furthermore, Petra De Sutter, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister, held a
keynote session.

The EGP Council welcomed Catalunya en Comú as a candidate member, elected
additional members to the Election Amendments Committee, and adopted the
following resolutions:

Programme: https://europeangreens.eu/brussels-online-2021/programme

#EGP33 – Live stream (videos): https://europeangreens.eu/brussels-online-
2021/live

Adopted: https://europeangreens.eu/brussels-online-2021/adopted-documents

The 34^th EGP Council, Autumn 2021, online

Originally, the plan was to hold the 34^th EGP Council in Budapest, Hungary.
However, after very careful consideration of developments in the COVID-19
situation in many European countries, the EGP Committee took the very difficult
decision that Council could not go forward physically. Instead, the event took
place online with a reduced statutory programme between 30 November and 4
December 2021.

Following resolutions were adopted by the Council:

Programme: https://europeangreens.eu/council34/programme

Adopted: https://europeangreens.eu/council34/adopted-documents

2. Non-Statutory Meetings/Activities

A. Green Party Leaders’ Meetings

In 2021, the EGP Committee organised two online meetings with the Party Leaders
of the member parties. The significant attendance by the party leaders showed us
that in times of crisis the Greens find inspiration, support and motivation in
their pan-European family.

Greens in Government (GiG)

With more and more EGP member parties now represented in national governments,
the EGP has facilitated space for exchange and enhanced communication and
cooperation among those parties and their relevant representatives. The has also
facilitated exchanges between the Green parties in government and the rest of
the Green family.

EGP Committee members joined online Green Ministers meetings ahead of the EU
Councils organised by the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, ensuring good
coordination between our party and the governmental, European and institutional
level.

B. Study visits and Fact-Finding Missions (FFM)

Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic made physical visits to member
parties very difficult. While some visits were able to go ahead physically, most
of the contact with member parties took place digitally. The large number of
digital meetings organised ensured ongoing fruitful exchanges and good
cooperation between the EGP and its members, even in times of crisis.

An FFM to Catalunya en Comú (CeC) was organised in a hybrid format, with some
members of the EGP delegation physically present in Barcelona and others online.
Throughout the mission, the EGP met several relevant Catalan stakeholders who
described their relationship with and gave their opinion on CeC. The full report
of the mission is available on the Council’s web pages.

C. Network meetings

MedNet

The Mediterranean network established a monthly meeting (every third Thursday of
the month) with stable participation of around 12 people from almost all the
Southern member parties. MedNet has also organised two online trainings with
more than 60 participants attending each one, focusing on the topics ‘Political
Ecology: from narrative to action’ and ‘Reinforcing communication skills and
building narratives’.

Balkan Network

At the end of 2021, the Balkan Network was reactivated and held a regional
meeting. It took place in October in Montenegro, hosted by URA from Montenegro,
and gathered together more than 60 participants from the region and wider
Europe. The EGP also supported a gathering of the regional parties in November
in Serbia. Both of these meetings resulted in an ambitious action plan for 2022.

Gender Network

During the online Spring Council, on 29 May, the Gender Network met to reflect
on the digital gender gap and digital feminism. A webinar was organised on 2
November to explore the topic of the Pay Transparency Directive.

Queer Network

The Queer Network met on 21 June to discuss the perspectives of participants and
member parties concerning EuroPride 2021 scheduled to take place in Copenhagen,
Denmark. One outcome of the meeting was to organise an event for the Greens to
go to Copenhagen, but due to the pandemic, the scope of action had to be
downsized. However, the Queer Network did coordinate the presence of the Greens
and supported the EuroPride programme.

European Network of Senior Greens (ENGS)

The Network met during the online Spring Council, on 28 May, to discuss the
topics of poverty and homelessness and to hold the internal assembly to elect
their new board.

Local Councillors Network

In 2021, EGP invested more resources in the project supporting Green Local
Councillors. We built the Local Councillors Network platform which was pre-
launched at the Spring Council and officially launched in June.

Research was conducted into the different situations of EGP member parties at
the local councillors level and used to create the framework of the platform. We
have established connections and regular communication with member parties’
local councillor coordinators.

The Local Councillors Network organised several events throughout the year
including a webinar on EU funding, a dedicated session at the COP26 Green Hub in
Glasgow, a webinar on mobility, and an online Green Mayors meeting concerning
the cities’ answers to the COVID-19 crisis.

D. Other

New Year's reception

The EGP’s new year's reception took place online on 27 January 2021, due to
COVID-19 regulations. The event focused on the topic of culture, included
interviews and performances by two artists as well as interventions by Bénédicte
Linard, Vice-President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and Minister of
Children, Health, Media, Culture and Women's Rights and MEP Romeo Franz, Vice-
chair Committee on Culture and Education.

European Ideas Lab

The European Ideas Lab (EIL) is a unique space that brings together
changemakers, Green decision-makers and activists for three days to discuss the
most pressing issues in Europe. In 2021, the EGP and the Greens/EFA in the
European Parliament organised an EIL from 30 September to 2 October. Due to
COVID-19 regulations, the EIL took place in a hybrid format, with events in
Milan, Italy and online. Thematically, it focused on climate and biodiversity in
preparation for the UN Climate Summit (COP26) and Biodiversity Summit (COP15).

COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, took place in Glasgow,
Scotland, from 31 October to 12 November 2021. During the two weeks of COP26,
together with the Green Group in the European Parliament and the Green European
Foundation, we hosted the Green Hub – a physical meeting space to support Green
stakeholders in organising events, hosting dozens of workshops, bilateral
meetings, debates, etc. A special focus was given to supporting the participants
from the Global South and FYEG.

Research

The EGP has further developed its capacities in research, namely with on-topic
research, for the preparation of the 2024 European Elections and the
continuation of its longer-term project on the Green electorate, with a specific
focus on Southern and Eastern countries. The project will achieve its results in
2022 and will be further discussed with the respective member parties.
Furthermore, in 2021, we commissioned an overview of the legislative framework
for the European elections in all 27 EU Member States, a study that will also
help us prepare for the election campaign in 2024.

Policy Labs

During 2021, several meetings were held within the framework of the Policy Labs.
They covered the topics of culture and the future of work, whereby we gathered
member parties’ advisers and experts to look into the topics that are not yet
part of the mainstream discussions and for which some member parties still had
to define their positions. Several of these topics were reflected in external
activities through the Green Talking Heads series.

3. Communication – Outreach

A. Climate Campaign

The climate campaign builds on the EGP’s Climate Emergency Resolution that was
adopted in Tampere, Finland in 2019 and the Climate Neutrality Resolution
adopted in June 2020. In 2021, the Climate Campaign continued to develop along
four pillars: supporting and developing the capacities of member parties;
working with the local councillor project to continue the development of climate
emergency resolutions; cooperation with NGOs to root the EGP as a strong
partner; and EU-level action for a strong Green Deal.

In particular, in the lead up to COP26, the campaign highlighted Green
leadership on the climate by communicating our most-pressing climate priorities:

B. Green Recovery Campaign

The Green Recovery campaign builds on the Green Recovery towards climate
neutrality Resolution that was adopted at the online 31^st EGP Council in June
2020. The aim was to establish the Green Recovery Plan as a relevant part of the
public debate across Europe and support local and regional Green Recovery
policies by communicating in media outlets and a ‘Green answers to the crisis’
tour, spreading our shared vision and having discussions with local Green
parties, relevant stakeholders and the wider public. This project is ongoing
since 2020, with activities also planned for 2022.

Polish Green Recovery Tour

The Polish Green Recovery Tour, co-organised by the European Green Party and the
Polish Greens, was held in 16 cities across Poland. Between 17 September and 11
November 2021, the Recovery Campaign visited every voivodeship in Poland with a
street exhibition on key topics of the Green Recovery relevant to both the
European and national context. Public panels and side meetings were organised in
each city alongside the exhibition.

Each debate featured a topic either relevant or closely linked to post-pandemic
recovery in Europe and Poland and hosted national and international speakers,
including Members of the European and national parliaments, EGP committee
members, mayors, academia, NGOs, activists and civil society. All tour events
were open to the public.

C. The Green Screen

The Green Screen project was launched with the aim of introducing the Greens’
eight main positions on the pandemic recovery to the general public and
contributing to the European debate in a creative and original way.

Through a series of online film screenings, the Green Screen project invited
citizens to engage with contemporary debates on the future of Europe, the post-
COVID recovery, and making our societies more resilient and sustainable.

Each month, the Green Screen was dedicated to a key theme for building a better
future for Europe. On the third week of each month, a film screening was made
available on a platform for 48 hours, on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, viewers
could follow a live debate on an issue inspired by the film, which took place on
Thursday evenings.

The following Green Screens were organised (with the names of the films):

D. Green Talking Heads

The Green Talking Heads project, launched in June 2021, aimed to enhance
perceived competencies in certain areas towards external audiences. In 2021,
seven Policy Lab-related packages were published on the topics of health, the
future of work, culture and climate, the main deliverables being podcasts,
articles and social media posts.

The packages tackled the following topics:

E. Tilt! The ChangeMaking Network

Since Tilt! started in May 2018, it has become a large and lively platform. In
2021, some of Tilt's most engaging campaigns included a campaign to ban bottom
trawling in the EU Action Plan on ocean protection, and an effort to save
European forests by banning clear-cutting. We have cooperated with civil society
by, for example, organising webinars and workshops for people who want to learn
more about Tilt's campaign topics at the EGP Council and European Ideas Lab.
Moreover, we teamed up with a coalition of civil society organisations in a
campaign against the Energy Charter Treaty which is ongoing and in which over 1
million Europeans have taken action. Another fruitful collaboration concerned a
campaign for an EU Directive on gender-based violence, in collaboration with the
Greens/EFA in the European Parliament. We also launched a campaign on a four-day
working week as a follow-up to the EGP Council in May. Finally, we wrapped up
two larger campaigns from previous years during 2021; the campaign to save bees
and farmers as well as the effort to end cruel animal transports in Europe.

On the technical side, we experimented with some of the possibilities for online
actions offered by the Action Network tool, as well as expanding the range of
countries where Tilt can reach out to new people via social-media marketing.

Campaigns on climate and biodiversity worked particularly well in 2021. From
these, as well as many others, we have learned useful lessons that strengthen
our digital campaigns and citizen engagement.

F. Social media

As regards the EGP’s resources, outputs, and activities on social media, 2021
was another year of change, growth and experimentation. The second year of
COVID-19 continued to orient the vast majority of our activities online and on
social media.

The newly created digital team, comprising a coordinator, a social media
manager, a copywriter, a community manager, a data analyst, and a digital
technology strategist, took office towards the end of the first semester of
2021.

The EGP was then allowed to increase its output on all social media and extend
its reach in a targeted manner, in particular around the time of the 33^rd
Council, but also to effectively engage in more collaborative outreach.

At the same time, the online ecosystem became overcrowded as all stakeholders
switched online, creating online fatigue. This prompted a new reflection on a
renewed digital strategy, which is currently being developed and focuses more on
qualitative relationships with communities and stakeholders rather than simple
quantitative indicators. Thanks to our data analyst, we also started to collect
data about our social media presence and activities more consistently.

G. Fundraising

In 2020, the EGP started to develop an EGP and Tilt fundraising strategy. In
2021, these overarching plans were implemented and further developed. The EGP
improved the fundraising infrastructure by launching a donation website and
streamlined the donation process by using a simplified form. Two distinctive
approaches were created, focusing on both the Green family and a more general
audience. Furthermore, the EGP focused on building capacity with its member
parties, which included organising two workshops.

4. Partners

The EGP Committee and its partners strive to find synergies, align strategies
and work in a complementary way – always within the boundaries of the financial
and legal regulations set by the EP and the Authority for European Political
Parties.

A. Greens-EFA in the European Parliament

The Committee continued its strong working relationship with the Greens-EFA in
the EP, collaborating with MEPs where relevant. The EGP Committee is represented
in the Green Group Bureau meetings and vice versa. Meetings took place between
the EGP Co-Chairs, the Green Group Co-Presidents and the Secretary Generals.
Furthermore, there were daily bilateral contacts between the staff of both the
Group and the EGP across different departments (press/campaign/advisors).

Concrete cooperation included the following projects:

B. Green European Foundation (GEF)

For most of our research, political analysis and information platforms, we
continued to rely on the expertise of our partner GEF. EGP is represented in the
GEF General Assembly and can attend the board and strategy meetings. The GEF is
also represented in the EGP Committee meetings, and there are regular bilateral
contacts on leadership and staffing levels.

To provide support for Green actors in Glasgow during the COP26 negotiations,
the Green European Foundation, with the support of the European Green Party and
the Scottish Greens, organised a Green Hub: a meeting point which any member of
the Green family could use to rest and recharge, meet other actors, attend a
multitude of green events, or prepare for the protest.

C. Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG)

We continued to enjoy close cooperation with our youth partner FYEG, which
proved consistent and very fruitful overall, especially in the framework of the
climate and recovery campaign. The FYEG was represented in the EGP Committee
meetings while EGP Committee members participated in FYEG events. The EGP and
FYEG continued the programme of joint activities in areas of overlapping
priorities and interests, which has proven to be beneficial to both partners.

EGP/FYEG joint projects in 2021:

D. Global Greens

The Global Greens are preparing for their next congress, in South Korea in 2023.
In 2020, Bob Hale from the Australian Greens and Gloria Polanco from the
Dominican Green Party were nominated as co-conveners to lead the Global Greens
up to the Congress, where elections will be undertaken.

In order to strengthen the participation of underrepresented regions at the
COP26, specifically from the Global South, the European Greens supported the
participation of the Global Greens at COP26 in Glasgow. They were also present
at the Green Hub throughout various sessions.

Jean Lambert and Evelyne Huytebroeck represent the EGP Committee in the Global
Greens Coordination. The EGP Treasurer Ute Michel is a member of the Global
Greens’ Budget and Finance Working Group.

E. Committee of the Regions (CoR)

The European Committee of the Regions, an EU consultative institution, is known
as ‘the voice of the regions and cities in Europe”. The Green group in the
Committee of the Regions was first established in 2020 with the support of the
EGP. In 2021, the EGP organised the first coordination meetings on future
cooperation and explored the synergies of such a cooperation. The EGP and the
Green group in the CoR are planning to support each other particularly in the
areas of outreach, research and policy content as well as being involved in each
other's events.

F. European Movement International (EMI)

EGP has been member of EMI since November 2018. The cooperation in 2021
comprised participating in EMI online events (webinars, council) and, more
notably, the two Federal Assemblies and one Members Council held online on 27
May and 9 December 2021. The EGP has also supported Monica Frassoni as the EMI
elected board member nominated by the Greens. In addition, the EGP Committee
nominated female candidates for the yearly EMI Women of Europe Awards, which
took place on 1 December. Our candidate, Kauthar Bouchallikht, MP of GroenLinks
in the Netherlands, was a finalist in the Woman in Power category. Further
cooperation between the EGP and EMI occurred in policy development and in the
process of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

G. Das Progressive Zentrum

Das Progressive Zentrum is an independent think tank founded in 2007 as a non-
profit initiative. The EGP participated in and supported the Progressive
Governance Digital Summit from 9-11 June which tackled themes related to
democracy, progressive leadership, and Europe and also contributed to the event
programme, ensuring the Green perspective was represented.

H. Civil Society Organisations (CSO)

In 2021, the EGP joined one of the new projects from SOLIDAR, a European network
of NGOs working to advance social justice in Europe. The project, called the
Just Transition Alliance, brought together social, climate and environmental
NGOs, political families, youth organisations, social partners as well as other
stakeholders to adopt a Common Declaration on Just Transition. The European
political parties involved are EGP, PES and PEL, while the NGO side includes CAN
Europe, Youth and Environment Europe, the European Environmental Bureau, WWF,
the European Women's Lobby, the European Anti-Poverty Network, Open Society
Foundations, Equinox: Racial Justice Initiative among others.

5. Organisation

A. Team and office space

At the beginning of 2021, the EGP office counted 33 staff members with 38 by the
end of the year. The Committee decided to reinforce the communication and social
media units and the programme unit. With the pandemic ongoing in 2021, staff
members had to continue teleworking for almost the entire year. The EGP
supported them by organising their home offices where required. Online
communication was reinforced and refined to ensure continued exchange and
teamwork. Frequent, mainly weekly, online meetings of the units and between the
management levels were organised, and biweekly online office meetings were held
to present and discuss topics and developments relevant for the entire office.

B. Staff training

The EGP provided training for the team members, covering fundraising, VAT,
lithography, feature and creative writing, and data visualisation. Following
implementation of the middle-management level, a comprehensive leadership
training was organised with the four heads of unit and the two team leaders to
support the new structure. At the beginning of 2021, staff were offered anti-
stress training to help them cope with the continuing teleworking situation.