EU, Greens don’t want M5S in: too little pro-Ukraine, a betrayal

The 5 Star Movement’s path to joining the Greens/Ale group in the European Parliament remains an obstacle course. To oppose the sending of arms to the Ukraine invaded by Russia, as the Movement does, amounts to a real “betrayal” of the ideals of the EU, Greens/Ale deputy Reinhard Bütikofer told Adnkronos.

Former Federal Secretary and President of the Grünen, the German Greens, and former President of the European Ecologists Party, Bütikofer now sits on the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs the House Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China . In 2021 he was sanctioned by Beijing, along with other MEPs, in retaliation for sanctions adopted by the EU against Chinese leaders for human rights violations committed in Xinjiang. That of the MEP from Mannheim, in Baden-Württemberg, is a voice heard in the environmentalist group, which on the 8th of March met with the leader of the M5S Giuseppe Conte, in a four-hour question and answer session, behind closed doors, with a view to possible membership of the five-star eco-group of MEPs.

Movement parliamentarians still sit in the Non-Attached, a limbo they have been trying to get out of since 2019. For Verde Alemão, “we are defending our fundamental interests, in solidarity with Ukraine. Some people – adds Bütikofer – are in the hands of the Russian leader, like Beppe Grillo, Vladimir Putin has had him in his pocket for years. I don’t trust these people.” And “whatever excuses they give to rationalize the options against Ukraine’s freedom, they don’t convince me.” But Conte has a more nuanced stance on arms supplies to Ukraine: “It’s not subtle – he replies promptly – he was publicly opposed to supporting Kiev, which for me is a betrayal of European ideals”. Let’s limit ourselves to saying that the discussions are still ongoing. And I don’t want to draw conclusions before they’re over…”