Introduction Green parties’ fi rst forays into national governments did not augur well for their future beyond the threshold of cabinet participation. In Central and Eastern Europe, they participated in several short-lived transition governments in the early 1990s, only to be absorbed or marginalised as new party systems became established (Rihoux and Rüdig, 2006; Rüdig, 2006). In Western Europe, the Italian Greens’ Francesco Rutelli was appointed as Minister for the Environment by Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on 28 April 1993. One day later, Rutelli submitted his resignation (Pasquino and Vassalo, 1995, pp. 68-69; Parlamento Italiano , 2013).