11.06.2007
European Greens congratulate Ecolo and Groen! on
excellent results in Belgian Federal Elections
The Spokespersons of the European Green Party today
congratulated their member parties in Belgium for achieving a huge
increase in their number of votes and seats in the federal elections which took
place on Sunday June 10th.
EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe
Lamberts, who is Belgian himself and was an
Ecolo councillor in the Brussels borough of
Anderlecht until very recently, said: “I would like to send my warmest
congratulations to Ecolo,
the Green Party in Francophone Belgium and Groen!, the Green Party in Dutch-speaking Belgium.
Both parties had fantastic results in the elections on Sunday and have shown
that the Green parties in Belgium
are enjoying a revival after disappointing results in the 2003 federal
elections. In the elections for the chamber,in Wallonia, Ecolo obtained 12.7 %
of the vote (an increase of 5.2% from 2003) and have doubled their number of
seats from 4 to 8.In Flanders, Groen! increased
their percentage of the vote from 3.9% to 6.2 % and so will now have 4 seats in
the chamber. In Brussels,
the two parties combined obtained a result of more than 14%. This is a particularly
impressive result when one considers that in the last federal elections in 2003
Groen! were not able to win any seats. In elections for the Senate, Ecolo
obtained an incredible 15.2% of votes and 2 seats (up 1 from 2003) and Groen
obtained 5.9% of votes and 1 seat.”
EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek continued: “These results show that the Green parties in Belgium
have an important role to play in Belgian politics and appeal to an increasing
number of voters. We hope that this growing electoral strength of the Greens
will help put climate change, environmental policy and social justice at the heart
of policy decisions in Belgium,
which unfortunately has not been the case in recent years. I am sure that
Greens throughout Europe will join me in
congratulating Groen! Chair Vera
Dua, Vice Chair Tinne
van der Straeten and Ecolo Federal Secretaries Jean-Michel Javaux,Isabelle Durant and Claude Brouir.”
Graham Burgess
Communications Officer
European Green Party
email:graham.burgess@europeangreens.org
Tel no: +32 2 626 0724
Mobile no: +32 477 902 023