Ska for YOUrope

Last weekend, Ska visited Ceuta, a Spanish city located on the African continent, right at the Moroccan border. Many migrants and refugees try to enter EU here, trying to avoid the much more dangerous route across the Mediterranean Sea. Ernest Urtasun and Florent Marcellesi, two Spanish Greens, accompanied Ska on her trip. The Green delegation was welcomed by Caballas Party, a local party in Ceuta that defends migrants’ rights and Green values.

Ceuta, located right at the Strait of Gibraltar.

On Sunday, Ska visit the fence. The fence is a monstrosity: six meters high and reinforced with barbed wire, the fence encircles Ceuta from Morocco along the 8,5km long border. Before the fence was set up in 1995, people were able to freely move in and out of the city of Ceuta. Today, movement is severely restricted by the mega installation with its 20 watch towers and night vision cameras. The fence is patrolled by forces of the Spanish Interior Ministry. Its operations are supported by a the European border protection agency Frontex, which provides the agents with new technologies to control the border.

Built in 1995, the fence separates Ceuta from the Morocco.

The fence does not keep people from wanting to go to Europe, it just keeps them from making it across the border. Being kept out of the "European Fortress", migrants and refugees are forced to stay in the surrounding mountains. Some local newspapers estimate that up to 30.000 displaced people are living in inhuman conditions close to the border. Waiting to cross the fence, they do not have any form of protection. Many don't even has access to drinking water.

These conditions often result in tragic incidences: Last January, 15 people were shot dead by the Spanish police in Spanish waters and territory. Neither the involved personnel nor the public authorities were punished and the Popular Party Government refused to take political responsibility. This is not an isolated case: Violence against migrants is a cruel reality in Ceuta.

Spain has a bilateral agreement with Morocco which allows them to deport irregular migrants back across the border. However, many legal procedures of this agreement are not being respected in the current deportations. Refugees in Ceuta are deported back to Morocco even if they have asked for asylum, are sick, or are under serious danger in their home countries. The involved authorities pay little respect to migrant's rights and regularly violate the Spanish Constitution, EU principles, and international law.

On Monday morning, Ska and the delegation met a group of local NGOs: Migreurop Spain, Sos Racisme/Mugak, Elin asociation, CEAR and l’Asociación pro derechos humanos Andalucia. The NGOs explained the tragedy of Ceuta: migrants who manage to cross the border see themselves trapped in what is essentially a prison: They cannot go to the peninsula, they cannot go back to their origin, they are not allowed to work. They are forced to wait - sometimes up to two years.

Ska in a meeting with local NGOs.

The NGOs voiced three concrete steps to alleviate the situation for trapped migrants: (1) A Humanitarian Visa, to allow asylum seekers to move freely within the EU until they receive an answer about their status; (2) An improved family reunion policy within European migration laws; (3) A more coherent cooperation policy with Morocco. The EU currently gives money to Morocco and other neighboring countries so that they patrol their own borders more effectively. It is an externalization of frontiers that is totally unacceptable and jeopardizes asylum seekers' human rights.

The NGOs accompanied the Green delegation on their visit to the open centre for immigrants (CETI - Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes) in Ceuta. The open centre is operated by the Employment and Social Affairs Ministry of Spain and provides migrants and refugees with health services, housing and food. In an ideal world, they should be able to facilitate the process to demand asylum or regularize their situation. In reality however, the CETI cooperates with the police corps that decides who was to be repatriated, who can go directly to the peninsula with an expulsion order, and who has to wait for asylum.

CETI facilities in Ceuta, picture by alertadigital.com

The CETI offers space for 500 people, but it is heavily overcrowded: A policeman indicated that currently 800 people are housed at the facility. A family policy does not exist, women and children are strictly separated from men. The women sleep in bedrooms with 20 beds, in some of them 6 children sleep together. Officially, the 54 children in the CETI are supposed to get into schools as soon as they arrive, but in practice they receive no education. Women coming from Syria where particularly keen to share their own experiences with the Greens and the NGOs. They told us that they have arrived to Ceuta after two years of fleeing from Syria. With nothing left but their children, they want to move on to Madrid eventually.

Some people might not have noticed it, but my campaign for the European elections is already at cruising speed. I’m on the road since February, touring through Europe and meeting people. If you wake me up by night, I'll have no difficulties telling you the Green campaign priorities in whatever language you like.

The last to days for instance, I spent in Madrid. Equo, the Spanish Green Party, has high hopes of sending their first deputy to Brussels. Their leading candidate, Florent Marcellesi, is an old friend from young green times. I arrived Thursday morning for a press conference - as a leading candidate, you have to get used to getting up at 5:30am after spending the night drinking with the young greens. The press conference was held in an organic supermarket/café. It's a cosy place; although, in the newspapers, it looks like we’re sitting in front of supermarket shelves. I tried my best to speak Spanish, regretting every minute that I haven’t been working on it more. At one point, I almost called for a common asylum police rather than a common asylum policy…

And that was just the introduction. The rest of my stay I had to survive in Spanish. In general that works for me, but it's much more tiring than speaking English. I learnt much about Spanish politics at a lunch with environmental NGOs (all the words I didn’t understand turned out to be new political parties..) before visiting a common workspace of social and environmental enterprises. They have a great view over Madrid there. They also do fantastic work.

A highlight was the demonstration for universal access to education later that night. Thousands of students were marching for universal access to education. The conservative government has been increasing student fees and cutting the educational budget. Not a smart move when you want to get out of a crisis! The manifestation was huge, it was near impossible to see the end of it. You’ll see some impressions of it in my upcoming video blog. The day ended with an impressive veggie menu together with the Spanish Young Greens.

On Friday, I spoke at a Green conference on migration at the Spanish parliament building. Luckily, as a member of the European Parliament, you don’t have much trouble entering national parliaments. At least I’ve always been lucky, because security can be cumbersome. There were speakers from amnesty, a Spanish NGO that offers legal support to migrants, a Green from Melilla who lives right next to the fence, and many more.

Last weekend I went to the Czech Republic to support the Czech Greens in their election campaign. I participated in a youth debate organised by the Czech Young Greens and spoke at a workshop on TTIP.

On Sunday, we went to Horní Jiřetín, a small town in North Bohemia. The existence of this town is threatened by lignite mining. Horní Jiřetín's citizens were promised many years ago that no more village would be destroyed for coal mining. Now, the government is debating this promise again.

As we know from Lusatia (Lausitz), promises don’t last long. In my home region, south-eastern Brandenburg, people too were told that their homes were safe from coal mining. But just like in the Czech Republic, the government is not keeping true to their promises. Reason enough to be vigilant!

The view is impressive in Horní Jiřetín. If you climb the close by hill, you can see the entire mining area. From left to right, you can see massive  devastation, with not a single patch of green left.

For us Greens, the message is clear: we want that people can remain in their towns and villages. We want to make energy renewable and efficient, so that neither people, nor the climate has to suffer.

Ich möchte hiermit allen fleißigen UnterstützerInnen danken, die dieses Ergebnis möglich gemacht haben.

                              We support SKA!

She is our candidate of social justice!

She is our candidate for youth empowerment!

She is the one that bound TTIP in chains!

She is the one fighting against Frontex and smart borders!

She is the one taking a stand for more democracy and civil rights!

She is the one fighting for more human rights in the EU migration policy!

She is the one granting more rights and security to refugees and asylum seekers!

Ska is the one who takes a stand against coal and lignite!

She is the one who took a stand against ACTA!

She is the one who demands a lower voting age!

She is the one who wants an approval of climate refugees!

She fights for more FAIR TRADE than Free Trade!

She fights against Investor-State-Lawsuits, that nuke can stay out!

She fights against a FORTRESS EUROPE and EUROSUR!

She fights against FRACKING!

She fights for a better development coordination!

She fights for qualitative Internships!

She takes a stand for the Homeless in Europe!

She takes a stand against fascism!

She takes a stand for food security and against Monsanto!

She is our candidate for the eradication of poverty!

She is our candidate for direct democracy!

She is our candidate for the freedom of movement!

She is our candidate for more exchange in Europe and Erasmus!

She is our candidate for more LGBT rights!

  She is our candidate!

3 Tage noch um bei der #GreenPrimary Deine Stimme abzugeben!

Warum Du dies für #SkaforYOUrope tun solltest? Weil ich gar nicht genug betonen kann wie schlimm es noch kommen kann, wenn wir in Zukunft in der EU auf Methoden wie 'Fracking' setzen. Nicht nur dass die Rückstände dieser Methode unsere Lebensräume zerstört und vergiftet, sondern die dort geförderten Kohlenwasserstoffe kurbeln den Treibhauseffekt noch einmal so richtig an.

"Fracking" oder auch "Hydraulische Frakturierung" ist eine umstrittene Methode zum Abbau von Kohlenwasserstoffen, der so genannten unkonventionellen Erdgasförderung. In  bis zu mehrere Kilometer Tiefe werden Bohrungen, auch in der Horizontalen  vorgenommen. Anschließend werden durch das Einbringen einer Frac-Flüssigkeit unter sehr hohem Druck Risse erzeugt, um so das Gestein für vor allem für Gas durchlässig zu machen. Diese Frac-Flüssigkeit besteht aus Wasser und Sand, allerdings ebenso aus vielen weiteren Chemikalien. Ungeachtet den Beteuerungen der Konzerne zukünftig mit nur wenigen bis keinen gefährlichen Chemikalien arbeiten zu können, ist das größere Problem der Umgang mit dem bei der Produktion entstehenden Lagerstättenwasser. Stoffe, vor allem radioaktive, die seit Urzeiten in weiter Tiefe eingeschlossen waren, werden beim Fracking an die Erdoberfläche gefördert und müssen gemeinsam mit der Frac-Füssigkeit entsorgt werden. Eine ordnungsgemäße Entsorgung muss von Behörden begleitet und überprüft werden. Beispiele aus Europa und den USA zeigen, dass es vielfach zu Umweltschäden beim Transport des Lagerstättenwassers sowie auch illegaler Entsorgung kommt. Das Einbringen toxischer Stoffe in die Umwelt steht neben der Zunahme von Erdbeben in eben jenen Gebieten, in denen gefrackt worden ist, aber auch dort, wo in der Regel in stillgelegte Förderstätten Lagerstättenwasser verpresst wird. Auch hier entstehen weitere unabsehbare Risiken.

  Die EU_Kommission sollte angesichts dieser erkennbaren Gefährdungspotentiale für das Trinkwasser, die lebenswerten Flächen bei nicht einmal erkennbarer Gewinnbeteiligung der Gesellschaft durch diese neue Technik, bindende Maßnahmen einführen, das Risiko der Gasgewinnung generell zu minimieren und die Handhabung des Risikos nicht in die Hände von Mineralölkonzernen wie Total, Chevron oder ConocoPhilips legen. Die EU-BürgerInnen müssen zwingend in solche Entscheidungen mit einbezogen werden. Gesetzlich nicht bindende und freiwillige Empfehlungen können wir nicht akzeptieren.

  Die EU Kommission muss sich an dem öffentlichen Interesse orientieren und nicht bloß die Energieintensiven Großindustrien wie der Chemie-, Stahl- oder der Aluminium verarbeitenden Industrie zuwenden. Wir verlangen außerdem eine weitläufige und großzügige „Wasserschutzzone“ in Gebieten, in denen Fracking in Frage kommt. Es muss eine gesetzlich bindende Definition für die Entfernungen von „Wasserschutzzonen“ und den Abbaugebieten von unkonventionellen Energien gefunden werden. Dies muss den Risiken, die eine Wasserbeeinträchtigung von unten und nicht nur von oben (was bisher die alleinige Denkweise bei derartigen Definitionen war) - sofern das überhaupt gehen kann - gerecht werden.

  Die berechtigten Bedenken, welche die Zerstörung der Umwelt, Wasservorkommen, Infrastruktur, Lärmbelästigung, der negativen Auswirkungen auf die Biodiversität oder gar die Intransparenz während des Abbaus angehen, müssen die Hauptbedenken der Kommission bei Ihrer Entscheidungsfindung sein. Selbst wenn der Abbau von unkonventionellen Erdgases bis 2030 nur 3 % am gesamten E-Energie-Mix ausmachen würden, wäre dies gesamtumweltpolitisch gesehen bereits fatal und mit wesentlich mehr Kosten zur Wiederherstellung eventueller Umweltschäden verbunden, als die Industrie durch unkonventionelle Energien gewinnen kann. Dabei kommen die Gewinne in keiner Weise der Gesellschaft zu Gute, sondern fließen ausschließlich in die Taschen der Unternehmen.

Ein Verbot von Fracking wie es Frankreich und Bulgarien vorgemacht haben, wäre in unseren Augen ein Vorbild gewesen. Leider wird aber in der EU schon gefrackt. In Großbritannien und Polen hat dies bereits ein schlimmes Ausmaß angenommen. Die Arbeit der zahlreichen Initiativen europaweit schätzen wir sehr. Der lokale Widerstand hat Europa ein wichtiges Image für die drohende Auseinandersetzung mit der Industrie verliehen.

Wir setzen uns dafür ein, dass schnellstmöglich bindende Regelungen gefunden werden um dem Ausweiten von Fracking Einhalt gebieten zu können. In den zahlreichen Aufsuchungsgebieten, wie auch in Deutschland, darf es in den nächsten Jahren keine Bohrungen geben! Die Gebiete, die bereits betroffen sind, müssen bessere Möglichkeiten bekommen, mit den Konzernen verhandeln zu können. Das Scheitern der verpflichtenden Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung in den jüngsten Ratsverhandlungen ist aus unserer Sicht ein völlig falsches Signal. Ebenso sprechen wir uns gegen die Einführung von Investor-Staats-Klagen aus, denen es mit TTIP ermöglicht würde gegen Moratorien und Verbote juristisch vor zu gehen. Beispiele wie dem der Ressources Inc., die derzeit auf Grund eines Fracking-Moratoriums in Quebec Kanada verklagt, würden mittels TTIP auch in Europa bittere Realität werden. Wir können uns gegen diese Praktik aussprechen und  uns gemeinsam im Europawahlkampf für ein Europa ohne Fracking und ohne die Möglichkeit sich darin einzuklagen, einsetzen.

4 days left to cast your vote in the #GreenPrimary - Reason No.25 to vote #SkaforYOUrope:

Ska fights for a real freedom of movement in Europe, exempt of populism! Citizens of the EU have the right to move within the EU, settle, study and work where they want. We cannot start criminalize populations and fuel fears on the backs of immigrants.

I think it was in Prague where I was first asked what the difference was between the various primary debates. That was during an interview I had with the Czech weekly “Respekt”. I had to think a bit about this question.

In fact, it’s quite amazing how similar the debates have been – and not just because there are always the same contenders. The questions of the audience have been remarkably similar: about democracy, economy, gender equality or TTIP. For sure, there have been local differences, for example questions on the relationship of UK and EU which was only addressed by people in and from UK, but overall I found it positively surprising how close we have come to a European debate. Yes, we’re only the Greens plus like-minded, so that is certainly distorting the picture but I’m still hopeful that we’re getting closer and closer to European-wide debates that are not led Greeks vs Germans but pro-nuclear vs anti-nuclear, to give an example.

It was funny that journalists doing this interview, on the other hand, were much more interested in German politics, Merkel and even internal stuff of the German Greens, than they were in the primary and the EU elections as such. Maybe people are ahead of media when it comes to debating Europe.

Ska speaking about what she fights for in Europe.

Stop the discrimination!

Ska fights in the Parliament and out on the streets against the discrimiation and for the rights of LGBT people. Still in the EU, LGBT people hide their identities and live in fear. They isolate themselves because they life in fear of harassment and exclusion.

It is said that especially the young and poor LGBT people suffer the most from discrimination.

The local Greens in Catalunya had prepared a tough programme: the day started with a visit to a detention centre in Barcelona. I have been visiting detention centres all over Europe and even though they are certainly not nice places, we have so far always been allowed in for an official visit and talk with the management. Not here: our request for a visit together with a Catalan MP was rejected. In the end, we entered as friends of detainees during the visiting time. The centre looked like a prison. We had to state the number of the person that we wanted to visit – and at first, they brought the wrong person. We talked over a phone, separated by a glass wall and were only allowed 10min. The detainee had huge bruises in his face and said he had been beaten both by police and other detainees, after those had been told by the police to beat him up. In December, a detainee had died in unclear circumstances. Even for being a detention centre, this one looked exceptionally horrific and I can only join the demand of activists to close it down!

Afterwards we had a meeting with NGOs working on the rights of migrants and migrant activists to exchange views on the developments in migration policy and discuss strategies. 

Then in the evening, I took part in a youth debate with young people from all over Europe explaining how the crisis effects their generation and what policies they expect to improve the situation. The problems are indeed vast: unemployment, lack of affordable housing, unpaid internships, being unheard and a lack of perspective are common features. I discussed with the catalan green top candidate Ernest Urtasun what we should do differently: invest in the jobs of the future, in green economics, health care, education, shift the paradigm away from GDP and growth, make Europe work for the social rights of everybody. All changes that we need to fight for in the European elections!

Since 27 years, Erasmus brings young people together and creates a European Identity!