Jacqueline Cremers Secretary General, European Green Party

Dear Greens,

it was a very exciting weekend in Malmö! Would the EGP delegates choose me, a relative unknown women, from a small member state as their Secretary General? Oké, I know EGP allready for a very long time and have clear ideas on how to improve its functioning and organisation, but the last few years I was not there at the inner EGP circle. Therefore I am all the more proud to say that I was chosen by a two third majority of the votes. Thank you very much delegates for your trust in me! A big thank you also for my fellow candidates, Ari Heikinen and Juan Behrend. You always know that one has to loose when more candidates present themselves and it takes courage to do it!

From the first moment on that I was chosen I was deep down in EGP business. Difficult because my real start will be as from January onwards. I have to finish my job at the GroenLinks delegation first. So I will only do the most necessary things now. And there are lots of things that need urgent (or less urgent) attention. From a possible new office to the intricate situation with the Bulgarian and Spanish Greens. From banners untill the prepartion of a conference on effective cooperation between Green european organisations and foundations.

My focus points for the coming year will be threefold:

• communication strategy

• future of the EGP

• project 2014, up to more than 100 Green seats in the EP

I will do my utmost best to strenghten our EGP organisation and make it future proof. And I will provide a platform for future development of our common green policy and vision.

I am very happy I am not alone in this. First there are 8 more great committee members elected in MALMÖ. Seewww.europeangreens.eu Second there is the wonderfull staff, Ann, Cecile and Graham! And third there is the Green Group in the European Parliament. Together with Vula Tsetsi (the female (coincidence?) General Secretary of the Green Group) I will invest and build, build, build on our common green European future.

Please keep me posted and lets keep in touch!