Damian Boeselager

In parliament, Boeselager has been serving as member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and as substitute of the Committee on Budgets.[18] He has been the parliament's rapporteur on the budget of the European Union for 2022.[19]

He is also a member of:

• Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (as substitute)
• Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (as substitute)
• Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (as substitute)
• Delegation for relations with the United States (as substitute)
• Delegation for relations with Canada

Boeselager was re-elected as the top candidate for the 2024 European Election at the party's convention in Erfurt on 16 September. The top quartet for the European election also includes Nela Riehl, Kai Tegethoff and Rebekka Müller.

Boeselager advocates the introduction of transnational lists for the election of the European Parliament, so that European parties with a common programme can be elected with a second vote, thus Europeanising the elections. In addition, the right to vote from the age of 16 should be introduced for European elections.[20] He also called for making it easier for EU citizens outside their home country to vote in local and European elections, abolishing an exemption that allows EU states to restrict the right to vote of EU citizens of other states if they make up more than 20% of all EU citizens residing in the national territory, and the possibility of reserving top positions in local governments for their own nationals.[21][22]

As representative of the Green Group, Boeselager negotiated the EU electoral law reform and brought the legislation through the Parliament.[20] In doing so, he welcomed the introduction of transnational lists, but criticised the introduction of a 3.5% blocking clause in European elections as anti-democratic. Currently, the legislative proposal is with the EU Council.[20][23][24]

Boeselager is an advocate of digital payment methods. In his opinion, the European Central Bank could have a special function here, in that every citizen would have a "digital euro note that could be transferred". In fact, this could eliminate many transaction costs. However, this could damage the current national banking system.[25]

During the Corona pandemic, Boeselager often criticised the national approach as well as the sometimes different ways of the member states. In his opinion, a European exchange of information could have led to a much better response and saved lives. He also notes that the pandemic was first and foremost a health crisis. In future, there should be better supranational cooperation in health crises.[26]

For future pandemics, training and recruiting good medical professionals could also be helpful. In general, Boeselager believes that working conditions in the medical sector should also be improved.[27]

Boeselager advocated for better distribution or targeted recruitment of migrants according to their professional skills. In this way, the Europe-wide shortage of skilled workers in many technical and medical professions could be combated. If we did not act promptly, he said, there could be financial losses and disadvantages in terms of technological progress because up to 50 million skilled workers would be lost over the next 30 years. He also wants to push for people to have the right to move freely within the EU once they have lived there for at least three years. Boeselager sees advantages for internal migration in Europe in Europe-wide regulations for migrants, as this could create a Europe-wide labour market. "For migrants, European freedom of movement is [still] an illusion," says Boeselager.[27]

Boeselager condemns the deaths at Europe's external borders. He advocates a common European asylum system.[28]

Boeselager is his group's spokesperson for the European Corona Recovery Plan. He was a negotiator of the Reconstruction and Resilience Facility in 2020 (EUR 672.5 billion) and the RePowerEU support programme. Boeselagers opposed greenwashing in these programmes.[29][30] He supports the European Green Deal.[31]

Boeselager supports Ukraine and negotiates EU funding for Ukrainian reconstruction.[32][33]

Boeselager wants to advocate that data collected through digital devices should not only be available to the manufacturing companies, but also to the end users. He also advocates using non-personal data as information to improve products and making it available on data marketplaces. This could be particularly useful with regard to improving wind turbines, for example. Based on this, the EU's Data Act was drafted.[34]

Boeselager calls for more transparency in politics. It should be clearly visible whether and how much additional money MPs receive and what they spend public money on. He therefore also calls for EU-wide transparency of lobbying activities.[35]

Boeselager calls for European federalism. It should be clearly regulated which measures and laws are regulated at which level. He also criticises the lack of an institution at the European level comparable to the Bundesrat and the lack of the European Parliament's right of initiative. Furthermore, there should be a government that can be elected by the people.[35]

Furthermore, he would like to see us in Europe and the EU grow together more strongly again. We can only solve the great challenges of our time together.[35]