Climate change is hot topic in the European Parliament vote

Hungry tourists stream into the glass-fronted balcony of Michael Recktenwald's restaurant on the German island of Langeoog, with its splendid view of the North Sea and the blue skies above.

The 49-year-old has lived on Langeoog for most of his life, and his wife's family has been there for generations, but Recktenwald fears their children may not be able to stay if the world keeps on warming.

Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year. For the first time, the issue is expected to have a significant impact on this week's elections for the European Parliament.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Restaurateur Michael Recktenwald, who has taken legal action against the EU to protect climate walks on the beach near his restaurant, poses for the media on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

Recktenwald pointed to the damaged levees protecting the island, which is part of the Frisian Archipelago off the coasts of Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Islands like Langeoog are among the regions most vulnerable to the rising sea levels predicted to result from climate change.

"The sea level has already risen and storm surges are getting more violent," he told The Associated Press. "The chain of dunes is being attacked more strongly, endangering our freshwater supply."

A recent opinion poll in Germany showed that climate change has overtaken immigration as the issue voters in the EU's most populous nation are most concerned about. Elsewhere across the EU, climate change also features prominently among the top issues — along with immigration and the economy — ahead of the European Parliament vote that began Thursday and runs through Sunday in all of the bloc's 28 nations.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Susanne Hasenpflug takes dogs on a tour on her bicycle on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

"In many countries, the climate issue has become increasingly one of the top issues that voters are concerned about when they talk about European issues," said Derek Beach, a political scientist at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. "In Denmark, for example, this year it's really almost the only issue that people are talking about in relation to the European Parliament election."

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg inspired a 'Fridays for Future' school strikes movement in her native Sweden that's spread across Europe, bringing tens of thousands to the streets demanding faster action on climate change. The Extinction Rebellion direct action group upended traffic across London for days to press the point. Both cite spiking temperature records and dramatic warnings from scientists as reasons to act now to fight global warming.

Yet what remains an abstract threat to most Europeans has become very real to Recktenwald.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, flowers in boots are pictured in a no parking zone on the environmental island Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

"We're directly affected," he said, walking past beachgoers enjoying the sun from behind the wicker windbreaks that are a signature of German coastal resorts.

Together with eight other families elsewhere in the world and a Scandinavian youth group, the Recktenwalds launched a legal action to force the European Union to set more ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A court rejected their case on procedural grounds Wednesday, but the plaintiffs plan to appeal.

In the meantime, Recktenwald — who doesn't belong to any political party — is hoping that European leaders listen to voters who want their governments and the EU to take decisive action against global warming.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, tourists enjoy the sun in beach chairs on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

Parties that have traditionally championed environmental causes, such as the Greens in Germany, are well-placed to benefit from the growing concern about climate change. The party clocked an unprecedented 19% support in Germany in a survey published last week, overtaking the center-left Social Democrats that are part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition.

"We are very optimistic that we will achieve the largest parliamentary group we have ever had in the European Parliament," said Ska Keller, one of two leading candidates for the European Greens.

"The climate issue is now finally on everyone's lips, a subject that we have been credibly promoting for many decades," she added. "We have very concrete proposals for what we want to do against the climate crisis, for the preservation of biodiversity, for the preservation of our environment."

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Restaurateur Michael Recktenwald, who has taken legal action against the EU to protect climate walks on the beach near his restaurant, cooks on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

The Greens had 52 seats in the last EU legislature, making it fourth biggest political grouping, and are expected to gain more of the European Parliament's 751 total seats.

Other parties, too, have been waking up to the issue of global warming.

Merkel's center-right Union bloc has pledged to implement the 2015 Paris climate accord, which aims to keep average temperatures increases worldwide well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times. But the party, like many others, has hesitated when it comes to backing tough measures scientists say are necessary to drastically curb greenhouse gas emissions, such as adding a climate tax to fossil fuels.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, the old water tower is pictured on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

In France, raising gas taxes sparked nationwide protests and created the yellow vest movement for economic justice, whose weekly protests since November, especially in Paris, have often turned violent. That has made other European governments leery of openly backing such a move. Some right-wing parties are attacking the science of global warming in an effort to win voters fearing the economic consequences of combating climate change.

Experts say the EU as a whole is possibly a better place for making decisions on climate change than its national governments.

"This is probably one of the easiest things for most voters to see something that only Europe can deal with," said Beach.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Mayor Uwe Garrels talks to The Associated Press in front of the town hall on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

Still, climate change may seem like a luxury issue for voters in struggling economies such as Italy, he said.

"When your 20-something kids are both unemployed, then you would definitely perhaps be a little bit more concerned about that kind of economic bread-and butter-issue," Beach said.

Uwe Garrels, the mayor of Langeoog, is well aware of the tension between environmental protection and economic prosperity.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, coastal management workers build up the defense against flooding and erosion on the car-free environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

The island, a half hour's ferry ride from the German mainland, was poor until tourism brought jobs. Now about 1,800 permanent residents and 2,400 seasonal workers look after more than 10,000 visitors during the summer months.

Despite a drought last year, locals are unwilling to give up their lush lawns for fear of spoiling the island's idyllic image.

Garrels suggests that Langeoog, a 20-square kilometer (7.7-square mile) island in the heart of a World Heritage site with car-free streets and clean air, can at least help make visitors more environmentally aware.

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, an electric vehicle of Deutsche Post drives beside pedestrians on the environmental island of Langeoog in the North Sea, Germany. Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year and are expected to draw tens of thousands onto the streets again Friday, May 24. For the first time, the issue is predicted to have a significant impact on this week’s elections for the European Parliament. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner)

"We can't be viewed in isolation to the entire country or the whole EU," he said. "You can't create an oasis of sustainability on Langeoog if that's not the case in the rest of the country."

Recktenwald, the restaurant owner, hopes the EU election will spur tougher top-down climate action.

"If we do nothing," he said, "then my children will probably experience not being able to live here anymore. That's relatively certain."

For more news from The Associated Press on the European Parliament elections, go to https://www.apnews.com/EuropeanParliament

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that Europe could “die” if it fails to build its own robust defense as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, or if it fails to undertake major trade and economic reforms to compete with China and the U.S.

Macron urged Europeans to become more ambitious in a fast-changing world to face the challenges of war, fierce trade competition, energy scarcity, climate change and increasing authoritarianism.

In a nearly two-hour speech at Sorbonne University in Paris, Macron said that the continent is divided and “too slow and lacks ambition” at a time when the 27-member European Union needs to become a superpower, defend its own borders and speak with one voice if it wants to survive and thrive.

“Our Europe today is mortal,” Macron said. “It can die and that depends solely on our choices,” he added. He called on people to make those choices now because, “it’s today that Europe is between war and peace.”

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year, is an existential threat and Europe isn't armed enough to defend itself when “confronted by a power like Russia that has no inhibitions, no limits,” Macron said.

‘Our ability to ensure our security is at stake," Macron said. “Russia mustn’t be allowed to win.”

Europe now has the “good fortune” of having the Biden administration’s commitment to supporting Ukraine, Macron said. But, in a year of key elections around Europe, in the U.S. and elsewhere, support may fragment or disappear entirely, he added.

“Europe must become capable of defending its interests, with its allies by our side whenever they are willing, and alone if necessary,” Macron said.

Strong armies, a European rapid intervention program and force, tanks, a missile shield and other weapons, produced in Europe, will need the support of “a joint diplomatic force that will speak with one voice and build bridges with Africa and Latin America,” the French leader said.

“Only then will Europe show that it's not a United States’ lap dog, and that it also knows how to talk to other regions of the world,” he said.

France has been a firm supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, and Macron has often clashed with other Western leaders as he has insisted that Europe must stand by the country at any cost. The French president alarmed European leaders by saying recently that sending Western troops into Ukraine to shore up its defenses shouldn’t be ruled out.

Referring to trade practices of China and the U.S., Macron said “the two world powers have decided not to respect the rules of global trade” by shoring up protections and subsides while Europe’s industry remains open and is stuck in overregulation.

“Let’s do the same, we are in competition,” Macron said.

“We must buy faster, we must produce more and we must buy more that is made in Europe. That is key,” Macron said.

Thursday's speech came less than two months before a pivotal European Parliament election.

Macron, an avid advocate of a united and assertive Europe, also rallied support for his centrist Renaissance party before the June 6-9 vote as far-right parties lead the moderate coalitions in the polls. He called for safeguarding democratic values as the “authoritarian model” was becoming “more popular” across the continent.

The war in Ukraine and immigration are top priorities for European Union voters, according to polls. Far-right parties have gained support by criticizing Macron’s government policies on both issues. Macron acknowledged divisions on immigration policies, including on asylum and deportation rules for those who have arrived to Europe illegally.

He emphasized the need for an effective response and Europe-wide coordination for curbing illegal immigration, closer cooperation with immigrants' countries of origin and a unified, relentless fight against human traffickers.

Macron criticized the idea of striking an agreement, as Britain as done, with countries in Africa and elsewhere to transfer immigrants there.

“This is a betrayal of our values that ultimately leads us to dependency on other counties,” Macron said.

The British government earlier this week approved a law allowing the deportation of some migrants who enter the country illegally to Rwanda.

Macron lost his majority in France’s most influential house of parliament, the National Assembly, after the 2022 election to the far-left coalition and the far-right National Rally party.

The social situation in France remains tense as Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games this summer, amid protests from teachers and police officers, and farmer demonstrations in recent weeks. The protests follow huge rallies last year against Macron’s ultimately successful proposal to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Barbara Surk reported from Nice, France. Lorne Cook contributed to this report from Brussels.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives to deliver a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on Europe in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University, Thursday, April 25 in Paris. 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will outline his vision for Europe as a more assertive global power at the backdrop of war in Ukraine, security, and economic challenges in a speech ahead of pivotal election for the European Parliament in June. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, April 18, 2024. European Union leaders on Wednesday debated a new "European Competitiveness Deal" aimed at helping the 27-nation bloc close the gap with Chinese and American rivals amid fears the region's industries will otherwise be left behind for good. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)