A political party is the organization sitting in a turning and wheeled chair, between the politicians and the people. It turns and rolls, never staying in a fixed, easy to define position. At some moments it leans to the people, inspiring and being inspired by movements of change or preservation. At some other moments it gets closer to the members of a parliament, or a government, leading or helping the lead of a country. It could be that a political party form from her rank and file future leaders, and it can also be that searching in the society at large, a party brings unheard voices to power. In any case, a political party is a flexible and dynamic organization. And more in our times, when our continent faces challenges unheard of, being massive climate change, or deep going economical reform.

This needed flexibility, then, is the first characteristic that comes to our mind when asked what do we want as political goals for the future of the European Green Party. A manager might think that flexibility is a trait inherent to an organization, and not a political goal per se. Nevertheless we are convinced that a relevant political goal that our EGP must keep on aiming at is flexibility. The flexibility that would allow our party to recognize both societal movements and political streams. It is a political goal to be embedded in societal organizations. Not to function as a mere representative of sectorial interests. This is a political model that did bear past fruits and that we are convinced belongs to the past. But yes to an embedding that allows the EGP to be a speaking partner, a dialogue partner to the many faces that our vibrant societies today have. A political goal of the EGP is then the active presence in the civil society. And, to be more explicit, we are talking of an unashamed presence. Our national parties are actually formed by individuals active in the civil society. But for many of them there is a tension field there. Today it might not be very fashionable to be politically active, meanwhile functioning in an independent of government group. A fundamental challenge that the EGP faces is to restore the credibility of politics as a dialogue. And for that we need unashamed dialogants. Persons that are active in the society at large and have recognized and specified roles inside the EGP decision making process.

But of course, this is a general sounding goal. How to implement it? To begin with, which of the uncounted and uncountable civil organizations should become focus for the EGP? For that, we need to turn to our raison d' etre as political movement, and the choice of issues do follow accordingly. The Green European movement started with the recognition of another way of living as a real and advantageous possibility. A way of living that not only enjoys and celebrate the planet we share, but works on a daily basis to harmonize our mere existence with the realities of nature. Our first political priority then is the civil society that strive for similar goals. Ranging from Greenpeace to the organized neighbors that defend a small park for their children, we aim at producing a sustainable future, and we do that collaborating and -again- talking with our allies in this strife.

But the EGP is more than a pure and deep green movement. We become of age when we recognized that the challenge is not to preserve a pristine nature away from humans, but to generate a mutually respecting dynamic. So our second political goal is the human itself. Our left wing roots make us deeply aware of all the persons that can not experience the good life that we dream off, because they are limited in their aspirations. As a political movement that has been always strong on civil rights, we extended the notion of fairness against the law, to fairness of chances for personal development. Our political agenda focus on the dispossessed, on the excluded and on the oppressed. Not as the abstract masses of the proletarians of yore, but as the very concrete individuals that are exploited today in Europa or outside. Our second political goal then is to build a society, to go on building a society, in which all of us, and not the few lucky ones, can live the good life, balanced with nature.

We have mention the two aspects that define our political identity. The green and the red colors, if you want. But there is yet a third element in our agenda. Today's world is globalized in ways that were not even dreamed of few decades ago. We europeans, with a simple computer and a internet connection have windows to the incredible palette of the world at large. Political upheavals, new music, natural disasters, genocides and gay pride demonstrations are a click away from our daily life. What is most, they are closer than a click away. Europe put a stamp in a big part of the world in the past centuries, but the rest of the world also placed, and is placing now a stamp in Europe. We as a political party cherish this development, which make our societies complex, rich, and vibrant. But looking at today's political balance of power, we are a minority.

Our political ancestors, more than a century ago, forced the leading elite of the world then to sit in the governing table with the dispossessed. They won this fight. Today there is no political force that do not recognize poverty reduction as a valid policy goal. Our political parents brought yet another uninvited guest to the table of the powerful, nature. Today there is almost no political party that do not include a green paragraph in their manifestos. We are winning this fight on a daily basis. We still have a long way to go, but we are getting there. Yet there is another fight, where opposite poles are fighting for Europe soul. There is another guest in our countries, not yet quite involved in our power dealings. This guest, this guest-worker or new european as is called in some of our countries, is perceived by the many as a threat to the Europe of today. Not by us. We think that diversity is force for good, we believe that in a heterogenous society individuals can fulfill their development. But we have to fight hard for making this dream of us true. And that is why we think that this is the third political challenge that the EGP faces today. The creation of a diverse Europe has already happened whether our political opponents like it, or not. What we are fighting for is for a Europe that make diversity blossom to its true potential.

Three political goals, then. From the dispossessed of yore and today, to our surrounding nature, to the other, the different, the newcomer. Those are the political priorities that I see as the challenges that we face today. This are our political priorities.