A pan-European campaigner

Making sure the Greens are prepared for next year’s elections

The European Green Party’s campaign for the 2014 elections to the European Parliament officially begins in February, when an electoral congress will approve the manifesto. But preparations have been going on since May – which was when Johannes Hillje took up the post of campaign manager. “At that point there was just the idea that we wanted to have a common campaign,” he says. “The campaign as such was not developed at all.”

Throughout the year Hillje has been liaising between the party’s political leadership, the campaign team and external partners such as the advertising agency that is helping with campaign material.

At the same time, he co-ordinates with campaign managers from the national Green parties. “Since I have a background in political communication, I am also advising our political leadership on what direction we should go from a campaigning perspective,” he says.

The role of the campaign is to underline the European dimension in an election that often follows national agendas. “We want to show that we are united as the Green Party family and that you can only tackle European issues through better and greater European co-operation,” Hillje says.

In addition to the manifesto, the common campaign provides national parties with material that they can draw on, from posters and videos to social media tools. “This gives a common message from the European Greens, but there is flexibility and room for customisation in the tone and issues.” The shade of green used, for example, varies according to local traditions.

Campaign experience

This will be Hillje’s first involvement with a European election. Although the 28-year-old has a long-standing association with the German Greens, his experience lies in journalism and campaigning with Go Ahead!, a German non-governmental organisation that supports educational projects in southern and eastern Africa. Hillje is a founding member of the group and was the organisation’s president in 2010-12. “In Germany we quite often worked with the Green Party, and ex-party leader Claudia Roth was an ambassador of our campaign, so I was co-ordinating with them quite a lot.”

More recently, Hillje completed a second master’s degree, in political communication, at the London School of Economics and Political Science, then worked on a public awareness campaign at the United Nations Development Programme in New York. While this was good preparation for his current role, it is the NGO experience that underpins his approach. “NGOs never have money, but they want to create a lot of visibility and awareness, so you get really creative. It’s a good school for learning campaigning.”

This creativity shows in the US-style primary that the Greens are running on-line to select two candidates for president of the European Commission. Anyone over 16 can vote. “We think this is a nice exercise in direct democracy, encouraging more political participation on a European level,” Hillje says.

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Voting closes in January and the winning candidates will play a prominent role in the election. “They will represent the European Greens in the campaign, and this is why we think our sympathisers, our potential voters, should choose them.”

Hillje’s contract ends shortly after the election. He would like to continue his involvement with green issues and European politics, but he has no definite plans. Standing for election to the European Parliament is not an immediate priority. “I would never say never, but I wouldn’t consider it in the next ten or 20 years,” he says. “I think it needs a lot of experience of politics, but also in issues where you can make improvements, such as social justice or climate change. I think you should build this expertise first.”

Ian Mundell is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.