In two weeks there will be elections in Romania. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it is easy to choose the best out of multiple bad choices. Still, it is unpleasant not to have a party or, at least, a candidate one could wholeheartedly trust and support.

What I miss most is a party with a solid ecological program. There is an interesting article on this (in Romanian), from which what struck me most was the association between climate changes attitudes and ideologies in the first figure: in the western democracies ecological thinking is associated with left , anti free-market ideologies. In former communist countries there is no such association, everyone being uniformly uninterested in ecology.

My feeling is that ecology does not need to be associated with the left. A green party is naturally a centrist one. One argument is that it can be argued that everywhere parties denying the need for green politics are effectively representing extreme right or left positions. I include here many conservative parties like the US republicans and UK conservatives, both associated with the extreme right wing.

So, what would my ideal green party support? First strong government because green policies involve large scale projects, strong education and large investments in fundamental and applied research. Good and transparent governance because strong governments are plagued by corruption. Free global market because the nature and climate know no borders. Foreign intervention for the same reasons. Private initiatives,because it is almost impossible to know beforehand which is the best way forward and where the best ideas can be found. New, fair and efficient taxation because both “low taxes” and “wealth redistribution” are wholly insufficient ideologies.