EU: Green parties from 31 countries are to form a European Green Party which will campaign in June's European elections on a joint manifesto, with a unified publicity campaign.
The parties, which include Ireland's Greens, will launch the European Green Party at a three-day conference in Rome next month.
The Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, yesterday welcomed the foundation of the new party, which he said would boost the Green campaign in June. He acknowledged that the Irish Greens differ from most of their European counterparts in their approach to European integration.
"We can agree on over 90 per cent of things. Of course, you'll get differences in every political family but we are very happy with the way the manifesto is going," he said.
Mr Gormley said Europe's Greens have employed media consultants to design a poster campaign and a new website.
"It is going to look very good. The posters are excellent and it is always good when you can benefit from political expertise," he said.
Among European Green parties, only the British, the Swedish and the Portuguese share the Irish Greens' cautious approach to European integration. The keynote speakers at next month's conference include Germany's foreign minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, who will speak on "Europe as a Global Player" and the integrationist MEP, Mr Daniel Cohn-Bendit.
European Greens have campaigned in the last two European elections on a common platform but Mr Gormley acknowledged that it was not possible to find a common approach on issues such as security policy.
Austria's strongly pro-European Greens are currently engaged in an internal debate about their country's military neutrality and are expected to support a new constitutional treaty for the EU.
Ireland's Greens will discuss the constitutional treaty next month but sources within the party suggest that, although the final text of the treaty has yet to be agreed by EU leaders, it is unlikely that the party will support it in a referendum.
Some leading German Greens have complained that their British and Irish counterparts pursue a narrow political agenda and one MEP dismissed the two parties as "a bunch of anti-vivisectionists".
Mr Gormley insisted that a unified campaign in the European elections would boost Green fortunes throughout the EU and he played down the importance of ideological differences.
There will always be different shades of Green. Within Europe, we'll soon have 40 shades of Green," he said.
The Greens are defending two seats in the European elections, Ms Patricia McKenna's in Dublin and Ms Nuala Ahern's in Ireland East.
Ms Ahern, who is not seeking re-election, last week accused Ms McKenna of using underhand tactics to prevent her from speaking in a debate on Ireland's EU presidency. The poor relationship between the two MEPs reflects a division within Irish Greens between those who, like Ms McKenna, are critical of the direction the EU is taking and others who would like to adopt a more pro-European policy in line with most EU Green parties.