The Green European Foundation is a European level political foundation, established in 2008 and funded on an annual basis by the European Parliament. Whilst being affiliated to the European Green Party, the foundation remains an independent and distinct organisation with its own priorities.
GEF is neither an umbrella organisation for national Green foundations, nor a substitute for their indispensable work, but provides a platform for their exchange and cooperation.

GEF´s mission

European-level political foundations have been created to foster greater involvement by citizens in the European Union´s political system. With this in mind, GEF strives to mainstream discussions on European policies and politics both within and beyond the Green political family.

GEF´s goals are to:

• contribute to the development of a lively European public sphere, by engaging citizens in political dialogue at the European level;
• contribute to the ´Europeanisation´ of the Green political debate;
• provide a platform for networking between Green actors at the European level;
• develop and disseminate expertise on European issues within and beyond the Green political family.

Background

Green Members of the European Parliament and national Green political foundations were very active in the set-up of the Green European Foundation in 2008. The Greens have always embraced the idea of a European public sphere and enabling citizens to engage in informed participation. This idea in turn, calls for strengthening the democratic infrastructure, also on the European level, with European political foundations contributing one piece of the puzzle.

The European Union itself, doubtlessly at a time of crisis of confidence, has been searching for new ways to reach out to its citizens. As political foundations on a national level have proven highly successful in engaging citizens in a political dialogue, their European level counterparts could provide the equivalent space for debate on a transnational level.

The regulation by the European Parliament and Council regarding the establishment of political foundations at the European level (EC 1524/2007) was adopted at the end of 2007 and it amended the regulation put in place for the establishment of European political parties in 2003.