Naturefriends continues political dialogue with EU decision makers for better future of nature
Monitoring Desk: Brussels: The Naturefriends has initiated dialogue with EU decision makers to ensure a better future for nature and tourism in Europe.
Initiated by Michael Müller, the Chair of Naturefriends Germany, Naturefriends team met Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament here on January 20, 2015 while meeting was also attended by Manfred Pils, the President of Naturefriends International and Seda Orhan from the NFI Brussels Office .
According to a press statement, the meeting took place in a friendly and cordial atmosphere. During the meeting Michael Müller articulated socio-ecological justice as the guiding principle of Naturefriends movement and gave a brief history of Naturefriends while highlighting fundamental values of democracy, freedom, justice and solidarity.
Manfred Pils expressed the strong concern over the new European Commission, with regard to its composition, political priorities and its new Work Programme which fails to address Europe’s current environmental and sustainability challenges (see also the latest releases from the Green 10). Pils especially underlined Naturefriends’ opposition to Commission’s withdrawal of important environmental legislations and its inadequate approach to sustainable development. He also pointed out Naturefriends deep concerns over the controversial TTIP negotiations (the EU-US transatlantic trade and investment partnership). Naturefriends is going to continue its political dialogue with the leading decision makers at EU level.
It may be mentioned that Naturefriends International is the global umbrella organisation and a member of the Green 10, the platform of the ten largest European environmental organisations. With 500’000 members in approximately 50member and/or partner organisations throughout the globe, the Naturefriends movement – which was founded in 1895 – is one of the largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) worldwide.
