12 climate activists want to enter EU Parliament

In the future, the struggle of the past generation must take place not only in the streets, but also in the European Parliament. As they announced a few weeks ago, the group will contest the EU elections on June 9 with the full name “Stirring Parliament – The Voice of the Last Generation”.

These are the most popular names in the list of twelve candidates:

Lina Johnson from Freiburg topped the list. The future environmental scientist promised to “shake things up” when his candidacy was announced in March. The 26-year-old has repeatedly explained that he wants to go to the EU Parliament to do politics. “I’m going out there to knock on the table. And, folks, we’ve got to rebuild our system.

The protests have been disruptive and irritating, Johnson admitted in interviews: “But that doesn’t change the fact that the majority are still in favor of climate protection. We’re doing this purely out of necessity,” he said, referring to criticism of roadblocks and protests at airports.

Theodor Schnarr from Greifswald finished second. In an interview with the “Frankfurter Rundschau” he talks about interrupting the normal agenda in parliament. Because: “In the climate crisis we have reached a situation that is not normal.” The biochemistry PhD student can’t say how he envisions the disruption in the EU parliament: “We’re still figuring out how to do it right. We will take the opportunities we have and take paths that are completely unconventional or completely out of line with the rules.

Raoul Semler, who was convicted of coercion a few months ago, is the fourth candidate on the last generation list. In January 2023 he blocked a street in Mainz with other members of the group. The 39-year-old former actor, who appeared in TV series such as “Polizeiruf”, “Soko Leipzig” and “Ein Fall für zwei”, did not only attract attention with roadblocks: he did in the summer of 2022. He made headlines when he, along with another activist, pasted up a painting by Nicolas Poussin at the Stadtmuseum in Frankfurt am Main.

Semler hit the headlines again in December 2022 when he stuck himself to the asphalt of the Alicenbrücke with a special mixture of strong glue and sand during a protest in Mainz. The mixture was so strong that his arm had to be removed with a piece of road. In the summer of 2023, he was sentenced to three days in prison for publishing photos of a protest at the PCK oil refinery, even though the company was barred from doing so by a court.

Christian Blue from Dresden is one of the best climate activists of the last generation and is number seven on the EU list. The physicist, who most recently worked as a software developer, now says he’s a “full-time climate stickler.” The 41-year-old quit his job in the winter of 2023 and applied for unemployment benefits. “This means I have more time for action,” he told the “Tag24” portal.

Bläul was in prison in Sweden in the summer of 2022 because he stuck himself on a road and blocked it. As Bild newspaper writes, he is too extreme for many climate activists: when asked if he is not afraid that his actions could block ambulances and people die as a result, the activist said: “It would be incredibly difficult. Endure “But it’s something we have to take some risk on.”