Echoing these calls, Daniel Cohn-Bendit proposed the creation of open electoral lists for the 2009 European elections and the Greens' leadership allowed for the exploration of this possibility.
Europe Ecology (EE), launched in the autumn of 2008, allowed The Greens to create a wider electoral alliance with environmentalists and social activists who had not been party members in the past.
The new structure included, alongside longtime Green politicians, new activists or environmentalists such as Jean-Paul Besset (close to Nicolas Hulot), José Bové (alter-globalisation activist from the Confédération paysanne), Yannick Jadot (former head of Greenpeace France), Eva Joly (magistrate) and Michèle Rivasi (founder of CRIIRAD).
Europe Ecology ran independent lists in the first round in every region, once again with the participation of new activists including Philippe Meirieu, Laurence Vichnievsky or Augustin Legrand.
Jean-Paul Besset, for example, resigned all his leadership responsibilities in EELV within weeks and denounced a "poisonous Cold War atmosphere".
Four candidates sought the EELV nomination, most notably Eva Joly, an MEP and Nicolas Hulot, a well known TV personality and environmentalist.
[14] On 8 May 2012, following the left's victory with François Hollande, EELV's federal council voted in favour of cabinet participation in the new left-wing government.
[17] In the 2019 European elections, EELV performed significantly above expectations, winning 13.5% of the vote and 13 out of 79 MEPs, placing third behind LREM and RN.
The second round confirms these good scores since the party wins the municipalities of Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux, the latter not having known alternation since 1945, but also Besançon, Tours, Poitiers and Grenoble.
It calls for a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions, phasing out nuclear energy in favour of renewable energy, the creation of 600,000 green jobs, eco-friendly urban planning (the creation of green housing and the promotion of public transportation), the development of sustainable agriculture and a moratorium on the use of genetically modified organisms.
EELV, like the Greens before it, has been one of the strongest proponents of decentralisation, officially supporting "differentiated federalism" which would devolve significant powers to the regions of France.
The green movement supports political reform, including voting rights for foreigners in both local and national elections, abolishing the cumul des mandats, term limits and a 'Sixth Republic' with a more powers for the parliament and direct democracy.
The federal council is composed of 150 members (75 men and 75 women) and serves as the party's parliament, meeting on a monthly basis.