Interview: European Greens look east for 2009 EU elections[fr][de] 

Climate change, the future of Europe and social policy will be the Greens' dominant campaign themes for the elections in June 2009 - the very first to cover all 27 member states - Lamberts pointed out. These are the topics that "really unite Greens without discussion", he explained. 

Compared to 2004, "we are much more ambitious", he said. "This time, the focus will be more on doing things together in various capitals from Rome to Prague and big cities across Europe." The Greens will also make stronger use of the web to bring people together, Lamberts explained, "so that you will really feel that the Greens are acting together rather than just speaking together." 

"This will probably be the biggest difference between the 2004 and 2009 elections," Lamberts said. 

One of the main objectives will be to get the first Green Party member from a new member state elected, the co-spokesperson told EurActiv. "Unfortunately, up to now, we do not have any Green MEPs from there. This is kind of difficult for us because we as Greens were the ones supporting enlargement so much." 

The EGP particularly wants to focus on those countries where the prospects are best, such as Malta (which missed out very narrowly last time), Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Estonia, where the Greens only recently re-entered the national parliament, Lamberts said. 

The Greens' EU-wide campaign will be based on a common political platform, as it was in 2004. This clearly distinguishes the Greens from other European parties, who find it harder to agree upon common campaign themes, the Green representative said. 

"In some countries, the common campaign will make up 99% of the whole campaign because some national parties do not want to add a national touch to it, whereas in other countries, the common campaign might only make up 15% of the overall one", Lamberts said. 

In Germany, for example, the European campaign is meant to be the "first step of the national campaign", with federal elections set to take place in autumn 2009. 

The "hot phase" of the campaign will officially be heralded at the campaign congress in March 2009, Lamberts said.

To read the interview with Philippe Lamberts in full, please click here.