Greens ‘will not back von der Leyen’ for re-election if she does deal with far right

German Green MEP chair warns that EU plan to tackle climate crisis will be put at risk by agreement with hard right parties

Green members of the European parliament will not support Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as the commission president if she makes a deal with hard-right nationalists, the party's joint lead candidate has said.

Terry Reintke, the German Green MEP chair, said her group would absolutely" not support von der Leyen - the incumbent centre-right commission president who is seeking a second term - if she made a deal with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni's group in the European parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).