Groenen vrezen verlies politiek gewicht door zwakte in nieuwe lidstaten (en)

With practically no support in Central and Eastern Europe, the Greens look set to lose influence within the parliament when the EU expands on 1 May.

Mr Schlyter heading the list of the Swedish Green party, Miljöpartiet, in the June 2004 European elections is worried that few Green MEPs will enter the European Parliament:

"There will be a few, perhaps only one or two of the over hundred new arrivals. That will weaken us as a green force", he told Swedish Radio.

Currently, the Greens have 49 MEPs from the current member states and only seven observers from the new member states. This corresponds to 7.8 percent of MEPs and only 4.3 percent of Observers.

To secure more influence in the future, the Greens are to run an EU-wide campaign - with particular emphasis in the ten new member states.

At a congress over the weekend, the Swedish Greens elected their candidates to run in the EP-elections on 13 June 2004.

The two current Swedish green MEPs Per Gahrton and Inger Schörling are both leaving.

Candidates opposed to EU membership top the new list, while the more EU positive Green candidates featured lower on the list in this weekend's party nomination.