Europe is finally experiencing a “shift of awareness” on climate change, the Greens’ lead candidate Ska Keller believes.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday morning, together with Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Carmel Cacopardo, Ms Keller expressed satisfaction that Europe was finally coming to the realisation that something had to be done to address climate change issues.

While pointing out that it would have been better had countries acted on climate change before, Ms Keller pointed to the massive storm that battered the Maltese islands at the end of last month as an example of how much the issue was impacting everyone.

Giving an outline of the party’s main rallying call for the upcoming European Parliament elections, Ms Keller said that while environmental issues would remain at the top of the Greens’ agenda, there were a number of other issues that would also be addressed.

Social issues, she said, were very important to the party, insisting that certain minimum standards on such issues should be secured for all European citizens.

“We do not have rules on minimum wages, on no citizen going without healthcare…the way forward is to have those social targets and that we ensure that these are in place for everyone,” the candidate said.

Democracy would also be among the key issues addressed by the party, she said, since “in many states, the rule of law is under threat”.

On his part, Mr Cacopardo said that the party’s local manifesto would be launched soon, pointing out that this would focus on a number of “pressing issues” such as accountability and the issue of regulating lobbying.