GreenLeft
Encyclopedia
GreenLeft is a green
political party
operating in the Netherlands
.
GreenLeft was formed on 1 March 1989 as a merger of four left-wing
political parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands
, Pacifist Socialist Party
, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party. After disappointing results in the 1989 and 1994 general elections, the party fared particularly well between 1994 and 2002. The party's leader Paul Rosenmöller
was seen as the unofficial leader of the opposition
against the Kok cabinet-led Purple government
s by the media, fellow politicians and academics, even though it was only the second largest party in the opposition.
GreenLeft describes itself as "green
" "social
", and "tolerant
". It places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the Left
.
Currently the party is represented by ten seats in the House of Representatives, four in the Senate and three in the European Parliament. The party leader, and chair of the parliamentary party in the House of Representatives, is Jolande Sap
. The party is in opposition against the governing Rutte cabinet. The party has over 100 local councillors and it participates in the government of sixteen of the twenty largest municipalities in the Netherlands. The party's voters are concentrated in larger cities, especially those with a university.
The party has over 21,901 members which are organised in over 250 municipal branches. The party congress
is open to all members. It is a member of the Global Greens
and the European Green Party
. The Party increased its number of seats from 7 to 10 in the 2010 Dutch general election
.
of the Labour Party
(PvdA), a social-democratic
party which is traditionally the largest centre-left
party in the Netherlands. The founding parties were the (destalinised) Communist Party of the Netherlands
(CPN), the Pacifist Socialist Party
(PSP), which originated in the peace movement
, the green
-influenced Political Party of Radicals (PPR), originally a progressive Christian party, and the progressive Christian
Evangelical People's Party. These four parties were frequently classified as "small left"; to indicate their marginal existence. In the 1972 general election
these parties won sixteen seats (out of 150), in the 1977 general election
they won only six. From that moment on, members and voters began to argue for close cooperation.
From the 1980s onwards the four parties started to cooperate in municipal and provincial elections. As fewer seats are available in these representations a higher percentage of votes is required to gain a seat. In 1984 European election
the PPR, CPN and PSP formed the Green Progressive Accord
that entered as one into the European elections
. They gained one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party-members of the four parties also encountered each other in grassroots
extraparliamentary protest against nuclear energy
and nuclear weapons
. More than 80% of the members of the PSP, CPN and PPR attended at least one of the two mass protests against the placement nuclear weapons
of 1981 and 1983
The Evangelical People's Party was a relatively new party, founded in 1981, as a splinter group from the Christian Democratic Appeal
, the largest party of the Dutch centre-right
. During its period in parliament 1982-1986 it had trouble positioning itself between the small left parties (PSP, PPR and CPN), the PvdA and the CDA.
The increasingly close cooperation between PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP, and the ideological change that accompanied it was not without internal dissent within the parties. The ideological change that CPN made from official communism
to 'reformism
' led to a split in the CPN; and the subsequent founding of the League of Communists in the Netherlands
in 1982. In 1983, a group of "deep" Greens split from the PPR, to found The Greens
. The CPN and the PPR wanted to form an electoral alliance
with the PSP for the 1986 elections. This led to a crisis within the PSP, in which chair of the parliamentary party
(Fractievoorzitter) Fred van der Spek, who opposed cooperation, was replaced by Andrée van Es
, who favoured cooperation. Van der Spek left the PSP to found his own Party for Socialism and Disarmament. The 1986 PSP congress
, however, rejected the electoral alliance.
In the 1986 general election
, all four parties lost seats. The CPN and the EVP disappeared from parliament. The PPR was left with two and the PSP with one seat. While the parties were preparing to enter in the 1990 elections separately, the pressure to cooperate however also increased. In 1989 the PPR, CPN and PSP entered the 1989 European Parliament election
with a single list, called the Rainbow
. Joost Lagendijk and Leo Platvoet, both PSP party board members, initiated an internal referendum in which the members of the PSP declared to support leftwing cooperation (70% in favour; 64% of all members voting). Their initiative for left-wing cooperation was supported by an open letter from influential members of trade union
s (such as Paul Rosenmöller
and Karin Adelmund
), of environmental movement
s (e.g., Jacqueline Cramer
) and from arts
(such as Rudi van Dantzig
). In the letter they called for the formation of a single progressive
party to the left of the Labour Party
. Lagendijk and Platvoet had been taking part in informal meetings between prominent PSP, PPR and CPN-members, who favoured cooperation. Other participants were PPR chairman Bram van Ojik
and former CPN leader Ina Brouwer
. These talks were called "F.C. Sittardia" or Cliché bv.
In the spring of 1989 the PSP party board initiated formal talks between the CPN, the PSP and the PPR about a common list for the upcoming general elections. It soon became clear tha the CPN wanted to maintain an independent communist identity and not merge into a new left-wing formation. This was reason for the PPR leaving the talks. Negotiations about cooperation were reopened after the fall of the second Lubbers cabinet and the announcement that elections would be held in the autumn of that year. This time the EVP was included in the discussion. The PPR was represented for a short while by an informal delegation led by former chair Wim de Boer, because the party board did not want to be seen re-entering the negotiations it had left only a short while earlier. In the summer of 1989 the party congress
es of all four parties accepted to enter the elections with a shared programme and list of candidates. Additionally the association GreenLeft (Dutch: Vereniging GroenLinks; VGL) was set up to allow sympathisers, not member of any of the four parties to join. Meanwhile the European elections of 1989
were held, in which same group of parties had entered as a single list under the name "Rainbow
". In practice the merger of the parties had now happened and the party GreenLeft was officially founded on 24 November 1990.
the PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP entered in the elections with one single list called Groen Links. In the Netherlands, which forms one single electoral district
, parties enter in the elections with one list for the whole country. The top spot of the list (the lijsttrekker
) is taken by the party's political leader, who often becomes Fractievoorzitter (parliamentary group leader
). The GreenLeft list of candidates was organised in such a way that all the parties were represented and new figures could enter. The PPR which had been the largest party in 1986 got the top candidate (taken by Ria Beckers
) and the number five, the PSP the numbers two and six, the CPN the number three and the EVP number eleven. The first independent candidate was Paul Rosenmöller
, trade unionist from Rotterdam, the number four. In the elections the party doubled its seats in comparison to 1986 (from three to six) but the expectations had been much higher. In the 1990 municipal elections the party fared much better however, strengthening the resolve to cooperate.
In the period 1989-1991 the merger developed further. A board was organised for the party-in-foundation and a GreenLeft Council, which was supposed to control the board and the parliamentary party and stimulate the process of merger, all five groups (CPN, PPR, PSP, EVP and the Vereniging Groen Links all had seats as ratio of the number of party members. Originally, the three youth organisations, the CPN-linked General Dutch Youth League
, the PSP-linked Pacifist Socialist Young Working Groups
and the PPR-linked Political Party of Radical Youth refused to merge under pressure of the government, who controlled their subsidies they did merge to form DWARS
. In 1990 some opposition formed against the moderate, green course of GreenLeft. Several former PSP members united in the "Left Forum" in 1992 they would leave the party to join former PSP leader Van der Spek to found the PSP'92. Similarly former members of the CPN joined the League of Communists in the Netherlands
to found the New Communist Party in the same year. In 1991 the congresses of the four founding parties (PSP, PPR, CPN and EVP) decided to officially abolish their parties.
GreenLeft had considerable problems with formulating its own ideology. In 1990 the attempt to write the first manifesto of principles failed because of the difference between socialists
and communists
on the one side and the more liberal
former PPR members on the other side. The second manifesto of principles which was not allowed the name manifesto of principles was adopted after a lengthy debate and many amendments in 1991.
Although the party was internally divided, the GreenLeft parliamentary party was the only party in the Dutch parliament which opposed the Gulf War
. A debate within the party about the role military intervention led to a more nuanced standpoint than the pacifism
of some of its predecessors: GreenLeft would support peace-keeping missions as long as they were mandated by the United Nations
.
In the fall of 1990 MEP Verbeek announced that he would, as he had promised, leave the European Parliament after two and a half years to make room for a new candidate. He would continue as an independent and remain in parliament until 1994. In the 1994 European elections
, he would run unsuccessfully as top candidate of The Greens
.
In 1992 party leader Ria Beckers
left the House of Representatives because she wanted more private time. Peter Lankhorst replaced her as chair ad interim, but he announced that he would not take part in the internal elections.
, GreenLeft organised an internal election on the party's political leadership. Two duos entered: Ina Brouwer
(former CPN) combined with Mohammed Rabbae (independent), while Paul Rosenmöller
(independent) formed a combination with Leoni Sipkes (former PSP); there were also five individual candidates, including Wim de Boer (former chair of the PPR and member of the Senate), Herman Meijer (former CPN, future chair of the party) and Ineke van Gent
(former PSP and future MP)).
Some candidates ran in duos because they wanted to combine family life with politics. Brouwer, Rosenmöller and Sipkes already were MPs for GreenLeft, whilst Rabbae was new - he had been chair of the Dutch Centre for Foreigners. In the first round the duos ended up ahead of the others, but neither had an absolute majority. A second round was need which Brouwer and Rabbae won with 51%. Brouwer became the first candidate and Rabbae second, the second duo Rosenmöller and Sipkes occupied the following place followed by Marijke Vos
, former chair of the party. The idea of a dual top candidacy
did not communicate well to the voters. GreenLeft lost one seat, leaving only five. Yet in the same election the centre-left Labour Party also lost a lot of seats.
After the elections, Brouwer left parliament. She was replaced as party leader by Paul Rosenmöller
and her seat was taken by Tara Singh Varma
. The charismatic Rosenmöller became the "unofficial leader" of the opposition against the first Kok cabinet because the main opposition party Christian Democratic Appeal
was unable to adapt well to its new role as opposition party. Rosenmöller set out a new strategy: GreenLeft should offer alternatives instead of just rejecting the proposals made by the government.
In the 1998 general election
, GreenLeft more than doubled its seats to eleven. The charisma of the charismatic "unofficial leader" Rosenmöller played an important role in this. Many new faces entered parliament, including Femke Halsema
, a political talent who had left the Labour Party for GreenLeft in 1997.
The party began to speculate openly about joining government after the elections of 2002.
The 1999 Kosovo War
divided the party internally. The parliamentary party in the House of Representatives supported the NATO intervention, while the Senate parliamentary party was against the intervention. Several former PSP members within the House of Representatives parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. A compromise was found: GreenLeft would support the intervention as long as it limited itself to military targets. Prominent members of the founding parties including Marcus Bakker
en Joop Vogt left the party over this issue.
In 2001 the integrity of former MP Tara Singh Varma came into doubt: it was revealed that she had lied about her illness and that she had made promises to development organisations which she did not fulfill. In 2000 she had left parliament because as she claimed, she had only a few months to live before she would die of cancer. The TROS
program "Opgelicht" (In English "Framed") revealed that she had lied and the she did not have cancer. Later she apologised on public television and claimed she suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder.
In the same year the parliamentary party supported the invasion of Afghanistan
after the terrorist attacks of September 11 of the year. This invasion led to great upheaval within the party. Several former PSP members within the House of Representatives parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. Under pressure of internal opposition, led by former PSP members and the party's youth organisation DWARS
, the parliamentary party changed its position: the attacks should be cancelled.
Several members of The Greens
, including Roel van Duijn
, joined GreenLeft, while maintaining their membership of the Greens.
was characterised by changes in the political climate. The right-wing populist
political commentator Pim Fortuyn
entered politics. He had anti-establishment message, combined with a call for restrictions of immigration
. Although his critique was oriented at the second Kok cabinet, Rosenmöller was one of the few politicians who could muster some resistance against his message. Days before the election Fortuyn was assassinated. Ab Harrewijn, GreenLeft MP and candidate also died. Before and after the elections serious threats were made against Rosenmöller, his wife and his children. These events caused considerable stress for Rosenmöller. GreenLeft lost one seat in the election, although it had gained more votes than in the 1998 elections. Before the 2003 general election
Rosenmöller left parliament, citing the ongoing threats against his life and those of his family as the main reason. He was replaced as chair of the parliamentary party and top candidate by Femke Halsema
. She was unable to keep ten seats and lost two.
In 2003 GreenLeft almost unanimously turned against the Iraq War. It took part in the protests against the war
, for instance by organising its party congress
in Amsterdam at the day of the large demonstration, with an interval allowing its members to join the protest.
At the end of 2003 Halsema temporarily left parliament to give birth to her twins
. During her absence Marijke Vos
took her place as chair of the parliamentary party. When she returned to parliament, Halsema started a discussion about the principles of her party. She emphasized individual freedom, tolerance
, self-realisation and emancipation
. In one interview she called her party "the last liberal party of the Netherlands" This led to considerable attention of media and other observers, which speculated about an ideological change. In 2005 the party's scientific bureau published the book "Vrijheid als Ideaal" ("Freedom as Ideal") in which prominent opinion-makers explored the new political space and the position of the left within that space. During the congress of February 2007 the party board was ordered to organize a party-wide discussion about the party's principles.
During the European Elections congress of 2004, the candidacy committee proposed that the chair of the GreenLeft delegation, Joost Lagendijk, should become the party's top candidate
in those elections. A group of members, led by Senator Leo Platvoet submitted a motion "We want to choose". They wanted a serious choice for such an important office. The party's board announced a new electoral procedure. During the congress Kathalijne Buitenweg
, an MEP and candidate, announced wish to be considered for the position of top candidate. She narrowly won the elections from Lagendijk. This came as a great surprise to all. Especially for Buitenweg who had not written an acceptance speech and read out Lagendijk's.
In May 2005 MP Farah Karimi
wrote a book in which discussed in detail how she had taken part in the Iranian Revolution
, because this information was already known by the party board this did not lead to any upheaval. In November 2005 the party board asked Senator Sam Pormes to give up his seat. Continuing rumours about his involvement with guerrilla-training in Yemen
in the 1970s and the 1977 train hijacking by Moluccan
youth and allegations of welfare fraud were harmful for the party, or at least so the party board claimed.
When Pormes refused to step down, the party board threatened to expel him. Pormes fought this decision. The party council of March 2006 sided with Pormes. Party chair Herman Meijer felt forced to resign. He was succeeded by Henk Nijhof who was chose by the party council in May 2006. In November 2006 Pormes left the Senate, he was replaced by Goos Minderman.
In the 2006 Dutch municipal election
the party stayed relatively stable, losing only a few seats. After the elections GreenLeft took part in 75 local executives, including Amsterdam
where MP Marijke Vos
became an alderwoman.
In preparation of the 2006 general election
the party held a congress in October. It elected Halsema, again the only candidate, as the party's top candidate. MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg
and comedian Vincent Bijlo were last candidates
. In the 2006 elections the party lost one seat.
In the subsequent cabinet formation an initial exploratory round among the Christian Democratic Appeal
(CDA), Labour Paty
(PvdA) and Socialist Party
(SP) failed, Halsema announced that GreenLeft would not be involved in further discussion at that point in time, as the party lost, was too small, and had less in common with CDA than the SP had. Following this decision an internal debate about the political course and the leadership of Halsema re-erupted. The debate does not just concern the series of lost elections and the decision not to participate in the formation talks, but also the elitist image of the party, the new liberal
course, initiated by Halsema, and the lack of party democracy. Since the last weeks of January 2007 several prominent party members have voiced their doubts including former leader Ina Brouwer
, Senator Leo Platvoet and MEP Joost Lagendijk. In reaction to this the party board has set up a commission led by former MP and chair of the PPR Bram van Ojik
. They looked into the lost series of elections. In the summer of 2007 another committee was formed to organize a larger debate about the course of the party's principles, organization and strategy. Van Ojik also led this committee. The committee implemented a motion already adopted by the party's congress in 2006 to re-evaluate the party's principle in light of the party's course started by Halsema ion 2004. Over the course of 2007 and 2008 the committee organised an internal debate about the party's principles, organisation and strategy. In November 2008 this led to the adoption of a new manifesto of principles.
In August 2008, GreenLeft parliamentarian Wijnand Duyvendak
published a book in which he admitted to a burglary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in order to steal plans for nuclear power plants. This led to his resignation on August 14, after media reported that the burglary also led to threats against civil servants
. He was replaced by Jolande Sap
.
In 2008 MEPs Joost Lagendijk and Kathalijne Buitenweg
announced that they would not seek a new term in the European Parliament. The party had to elect a new top candidate
for the 2009 European elections
. There were five candidates for this position: Amsterdam
city councillor Judith Sargentini
, former MEP Alexander de Roo, senator Tineke Strik
, environmental researcher Bas Eickhout
and Niels van den Berge
assistant of MEP Buitenweg. In an internal referendum Sargentini was elected. The party congress
put Eickhout on a second position on the list.
On 18 April 2010 the party congress composed the list of candidates for the 2010 general election
. Two sitting MPs Ineke van Gent
and Femke Halsema
were granted dispensation to stand for a fourth term. Halsema was re-elected as party leader. Van Gent was put as fifth on the party list. All of the first five candidates were sitting MPs and four were women. There other high newcomers were former Greenpeace director Liesbeth van Tongeren
and chairman of CNV
youth Jesse Klaver
. The party won 10 seats in the election and participated in the formation talks of a Green/Purple government
.
" in the name of the party, the PSP and the CPN the word "Left
". It also emphasises the core ideals of the party, environmental sustainability and social justice.
In 1984 the common list of the PPR, PSP and CPN for the 1984 European elections
was called Green Progressive Accord
at that time the PPR did not want to accept the word "left" in the name of the political combination. The parties had entered in the 1989 European elections
as the Rainbow
(Regenboog), in reference to the Rainbow Group
in the European Parliament in which had participated between 1984 and 1989
The party's principles reflect the ideological convergence between the four founding parties which came from different ideological traditions: the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party, from a progressive Christian
tradition; and the Pacifist Socialist Party
and the Communist Party of the Netherlands
from the socialist
and communist
traditions. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s the parties had come to embrace environmentalism
and feminism
; they all favoured democratisation of society and had opposed the creation of new nuclear plants and the placement of new nuclear weapons in the Netherlands
.
Halsema, the former political leader of the party, has started a debate about the ideological course of GreenLeft. She emphasised the freedom loving tradition of the left and chose freedom as key value. Her course is called left-liberal
by herself and observers, although Halsema herself claims that she does not want to force an ideological change.
Following Isaiah Berlin
, Halsema distinguishes between positive and negative freedom. Negative freedom is according to Halsema the freedom citizens from government influence; she applies this concept especially to the multicultural society
and the rechtsstaat
, where the government should protect the rights of citizens and not limit them. Positive freedom is the emancipation
of citizens from poverty and discrimination. Halsema wants to apply this concept to welfare state
and the environment where government should take more action. According to Halsema, GreenLeft is undogmatic
party, that has anarchist
tendencies.
was adopted in April of that year. It was titled "Klaar voor de Toekomst" ("Prepared for the Future"). The manifesto emphasises international cooperation, welfare state reform, environmental policy and social tolerance.
GreenLeft considers itself as a "social reform party" which is able to reform the government finances as well as increasing the position of "outsiders" on the labour market, such as migrant youth, single parents, workers with short term-contracts and people with disabilities. The means that it disagrees with the parties on the right which, in the eyes of GreenLeft, were only oriented towards cutting costs and did not offer the worst off a chance for work, emancipation and participation. But, unlike the other opposition parties of the left, the party does not want to defend the current welfare state either which the party calls "powerless", because it merely offers the worst off a benefit, but not a perspective for work. The party wants to reform the Dutch welfare state
so it will benefit "outsiders" - those who have been excluded from the welfare state until now. To increase employment the GreenLeft proposes a participation contract. The unemployment benefit should be increased and limited to one year. In this period people would have to look for a job or education. If at the end of the year one should not succeed in finding a job, the government will offer one a job for the minimum wage
. In order to create more employment they want to implement the green tax shift, which will lower taxes on lower paid labour. This would be compensated by higher taxes on pollution. In order to increase the perspectives for the underprivileged, it wants to invest in education, especially the vmbo
. In order to ensure that migrants have a better chance for jobs it wants to deal firmly with discrimination, especially on the labour market. The party also wants to decrease income differences by making child benefit
s. The party also favours reform of the government pension
s: after 45 years of employment one should get the right to a pension. If one starts working young, one is able to stop working earlier, than if one starts working when one is older. Receiving unemployment or disability benefits is counted as work, as well as caring for children or family members. The system of mortgage interest deductions should be abolished over a forty year period.
International cooperation is an important theme for the party. This includes development cooperation with underdeveloped countries. GreenLeft wants to increase spending on development aid
to 0.8% of the Gross National Product. It wants to open the European markets to goods from Third World countries, under conditions of fair trade
. In order to ensure free and fair trade it wants to increase the democratise international economic organisations such as the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank
. The party also favours greater international control over financial markets. GreenLeft favours European integration
, but critical about the current policies of the European Commission
. It favoured the European Constitution, but after it was voted down in the 2005 referendum, GreenLeft advocated a new treaty which emphasised democracy
and subsidiarity
. The party is critical about the war against terrorism
. It wants to strengthen the peacekeeping
powers of the United Nations
and reform the Dutch armed forces into a peace force. The functions of NATO should be taken over by the European Union and the United Nations.
GreenLeft wants to solve environmental problems, especially climate change
, by stimulating durable alternatives. The party wants to use taxes and emissions trading
to stimulate alternative energy
as an alternative to both fossil fuel
and nuclear plants. It wants to close all nuclear plants in the Netherlands and impose a tax on the use of coal in energy production, in order to discourage the building of new coal-based power plants. Moreover it wants to stimulate energy saving. It wants to invest in clean public transport
, as an alternative to private transport. Investments in public transport
can be financed by not expanding highway
s and imposing tolls on the use of roads (called "rekening rijden"). The party wants to stimulate organic farming
through taxes as an alternative to industrial agriculture
. Moreover, GreenLeft wants to codify animal rights
in the Constitution
.
GreenLeft values individual freedom and the rule of law
. The party wants to legalise soft drugs
. It wants to protect civil rights on the internet by extending constitutional protection for free communication to email and other modern technologies. It also favours a reform of copyright
to allow non-commercial reproduction and the use of open-source software
in the public sector. In the long term it seeks to abolish the monarchy
and create a republic
. It also favours a reduction of the size of the government bureaucracy, for instance by decreasing the number of Dutch ministries
and abolishing the Senate. Finally, GreenLeft favours liberal immigration
and asylum policies. It wants to empower victims of human trafficking
by giving them a residence permit and it wants to abolish the income requirements for marriage migration.
(EP), States-Provincial
(SP) and local-authority elections
, as well as the number of politicians in provincial
(GS) and local executives
(aldermen). It also shows the party's political leadership: the "fractievoorzitter", the chair of the parliamentary party and the "lijsttrekker
", the party's top candidate in the general election. These posts are normally taken by the party leader. The member count and the partijvoorzitter, the chair of the party's organisation are also shown. The party chair has an organisational function and is not part of the political leadership of the party.
, the party now has ten seats in the House of Representatives:
the party has five representatives in the Senate:
the party has three representatives in the European Parliament
:
, Diemen
and Wormerland
, these are also appointed by the Minister of the Interior. GreenLeft did not perform particularly well in the 2006 municipal elections, losing 14 of its 415 seats, making it the fourth largest party in the Netherlands on the municipal level. In the formation of municipal executives it was more successful and the number of municipal executives GreenLeft was part of grew from around 70 to around 100.
It is part of the municipal executive of several larger cities notably Nijmegen, Utrecht
, the Hague
, Leiden, Rotterdam
and Amsterdam
, where former MP Marijke Vos
was alderwoman. GreenLeft has 70 members of borough-level legislatiures
, 53 in Amsterdam and 17 in Rotterdam.
On the provincial level, GreenLeft provides one Queen's Commissioner
(out of 12) in North Holland
. Queen's Commissioners are appointed by the Minister of the Interior. GreenLeft is part of the North Holland
provincial executive
. It holds 51 seats in provincial legislatures. In the following figure one can see the election results of the provincial election of 2007 per province. It shows the areas where GreenLeft is strong, namely the urban areas like North Holland and Utrecht. The party is weaker in rural provinces like Friesland and Zeeland, but also strong in rural Groningen, where the Communist Party of the Netherlands
, one of the founding parties of GreenLeft was very strong.
(where it scored 12,5%), Utrecht
(12,2%) and Wageningen
(11,8%), Nijmegen (10,4%) and Leiden (10,0%).
More women vote for GreenLeft than men by a margin of 20%. The party also disproportionately appeals to homosexual
voters. The party also polls well among migrant voters, especially those from Turkey
and Morocco
, where its support is twice as high as in the general population.
GreenLeft voters have an eccentric position in their preferences for particular policies. Between 1989 and 2003 they were the most leftwing voters in the Netherlands, often a little more to the left than voters of the SP
. These voters are in favor of the redistribution of wealth, free choice for euthanasia
, opening the borders for asylum seekers, the multicultural society
and are firmly against building new nuclear plants.
" written in red
and the word "Left" written in green since 1994. Additional colours used in the logo are white, yellow and blue. An earlier logo, used between 1989 and 1994, and which can be seen on the poster above showed a variation of a peace sign projected on a green triangle on which "PPR PSP CPN EVP" was written and next to it GreenLeft in green and pink.
Many well-known Dutch people have supported GreenLeft election campaigns. In 1989 choreographer Rudi van Dantzig
and writer Astrid Roemer were last candidates
. In 2006 comedian Vincent Bijlo shared this position with MEP
Kathalijne Buitenweg
. Comedienne Sara Kroos, rapper Raymzter
, astronaut Wubbo Ockels
en soccer player Khalid Boulahrouz
, business man Harry de Winter, journalist Anil Ramdas
, actrice Kim van Kooten
, commediene Sanne Wallis de Vries, comedian Herman Finkers
, artist Herman van Veen
, soccer player-columnist Jan Mulder
and writer Geert Mak
have also committed their name to (part of) the 2006 or 2007 GreenLeft election campaign. In 2004 singer Ellen ten Damme
, poet Rutger Kopland and presenter Martijn Krabbé supported the European election campaign.
From 2007 onwards GroenLinks has adopted the idea of a "permanent campaign", which implies that campaign activities are held even when there is no immediate connection to an election. Permanent campaign activities are intended to create and maintain a base level of sympathy and knowledge about the party platform. The introduction of guerrilla gardening
in the Netherlands in 2008 was heavily supported by GreenLeft, as part of the permanent campaign.
, which is open to all members. The congress elects the party-board, it decides on the order of the candidates for national and European elections and it has a final say over the party platform. The congress convenes at least once every year in spring or when needed.
The party board consists of fifteen members who are elected for a two year term. The chairperson of this board is the only paid position on the board, the others are unpaid. The chairperson together with four other boardmembers (the vice-chair, the treasurer, the secretary, the European secretary and the international secretary) handles the daily affairs and meet every two weeks while the other ten board members meet only once a month.
For the months that the congress does not convene, a party council takes over its role. It consists out of 80 representatives of all the 250 municipal branches. The party board and the nationally elected representatives of the party are responsible to the party council. It has the right to fill vacancies in the board, make changes to the party constitution and takes care of the party's finances.
GreenLeft MPs face relatively strong regulation: MPs are not allowed to run for more than three terms and a relatively high percentage of the income of MPs is taken by the party.
GreenLeft has 250 branches in nearly all Dutch municipalities
and each province. There are multiple municipalities in Amsterdam
and Rotterdam
, where every borough
has its own branch and they have federal branches at the municipal level. Branches enjoy considerable independence, and take care of their own campaigns, lists of candidates and programs for elections. Provincial congresses meet at least every year and municipal congresses more often. The total number of members of GreenLeft has been steadily increasing over the last ten years and had 23,490 members in of January 2007.
There are several independent organisations which are linked to GreenLeft:
GreenLeft is also active on the European and the global stage. It is a founding member of the European Green Party
and the Global Greens
. Its MEPs sit in the The Greens–European Free Alliance group. GreenLeft cooperates with seven other Dutch parties in the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
, an institute which supports democratic development in developing countries.
(PvdA). In the 1994 elections however the Socialist Party
(SP) also entered parliament. GreenLeft now takes a central position in the Dutch left between the socialist SP, which is more to the left, and the social-democratic PvdA, which is more to the centre. This position is exemplified by the call of Femke Halsema to form a left-wing coalition after the 2006 elections, knowing that such a coalition is only possible with GreenLeft. The electoral alliance between SP and GL in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 elections, and between GreenLeft and PvdA in the 2004 European elections are examples of this position. In the 2007 First Chamber election it had an electoral alliance with the Party for the Animals
. More and more, however, GreenLeft is seen as the most left-wing and most progressive of the three parties.
Green politics
Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
operating in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
GreenLeft was formed on 1 March 1989 as a merger of four left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
political parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands
Communist Party of the Netherlands
The Communist Party of the Netherlands was a Dutch communist political party. The CPN is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft.- Foundation :...
, Pacifist Socialist Party
Pacifist Socialist Party
The Pacifist Socialist Party was a Dutch left-socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is a predecessor of the GreenLeft.-Before 1957:...
, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party. After disappointing results in the 1989 and 1994 general elections, the party fared particularly well between 1994 and 2002. The party's leader Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks .-Biography:...
was seen as the unofficial leader of the opposition
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest party not in government in a Westminster System of parliamentary government...
against the Kok cabinet-led Purple government
Purple (government)
Purple is a common term in politics for governments or other political entities consisting of parties that have red and blue as their political colours...
s by the media, fellow politicians and academics, even though it was only the second largest party in the opposition.
GreenLeft describes itself as "green
Green politics
Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
" "social
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
", and "tolerant
Toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
". It places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the Left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
.
Currently the party is represented by ten seats in the House of Representatives, four in the Senate and three in the European Parliament. The party leader, and chair of the parliamentary party in the House of Representatives, is Jolande Sap
Jolande Sap
Johanna Catharina Maria Sap is a Dutch GreenLeft politician and former educator and civil servant. She replaced Wijnand Duyvendak as an MP on September 3, 2008, after he left the Dutch House of Representatives...
. The party is in opposition against the governing Rutte cabinet. The party has over 100 local councillors and it participates in the government of sixteen of the twenty largest municipalities in the Netherlands. The party's voters are concentrated in larger cities, especially those with a university.
The party has over 21,901 members which are organised in over 250 municipal branches. The party congress
Party Congress
A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
is open to all members. It is a member of the Global Greens
Global Greens
The Global Greens is a global network of Green parties and political movements. It was founded in 2001 in Canberra, Australia at the First Global Greens Congress, where the Global Green Charter was approved. The Second Global Greens Congress was held in 2008 in Sao Paolo, Brazil...
and the European Green Party
European Green Party
The European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...
. The Party increased its number of seats from 7 to 10 in the 2010 Dutch general election
Dutch general election, 2010
The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
.
Before 1989
GreenLeft was founded in 1989 as merger of four parties that were to the leftLeft-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
of the Labour Party
Labour Party (Netherlands)
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
(PvdA), a social-democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
party which is traditionally the largest centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
party in the Netherlands. The founding parties were the (destalinised) Communist Party of the Netherlands
Communist Party of the Netherlands
The Communist Party of the Netherlands was a Dutch communist political party. The CPN is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft.- Foundation :...
(CPN), the Pacifist Socialist Party
Pacifist Socialist Party
The Pacifist Socialist Party was a Dutch left-socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is a predecessor of the GreenLeft.-Before 1957:...
(PSP), which originated in the peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
, the green
Green politics
Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
-influenced Political Party of Radicals (PPR), originally a progressive Christian party, and the progressive Christian
Christian left
The Christian left is a term originating in the United States, used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embraces social justice....
Evangelical People's Party. These four parties were frequently classified as "small left"; to indicate their marginal existence. In the 1972 general election
Dutch general election, 1972
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on November 29, 1972.-National summary:...
these parties won sixteen seats (out of 150), in the 1977 general election
Dutch general election, 1977
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on May 25, 1977....
they won only six. From that moment on, members and voters began to argue for close cooperation.
From the 1980s onwards the four parties started to cooperate in municipal and provincial elections. As fewer seats are available in these representations a higher percentage of votes is required to gain a seat. In 1984 European election
European Parliament election, 1984 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1984 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1984-1989 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1984 European election. It was held on on June 14, 1984...
the PPR, CPN and PSP formed the Green Progressive Accord
Green Progressive Accord
The Green Progressive Accord was an alliance of Dutch political parties: Political Party of Radicals , Pacifist Socialist Party , Communist Party of the Netherlands and Green Party of the Netherlands ....
that entered as one into the European elections
European Parliament election, 1984 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1984 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1984-1989 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1984 European election. It was held on on June 14, 1984...
. They gained one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party-members of the four parties also encountered each other in grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
extraparliamentary protest against nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and nuclear weapons
Netherlands and weapons of mass destruction
Although the Netherlands does not have weapons of mass destruction made by itself, the country participates in the NATO nuclear weapons sharing arrangements and trains for delivering U.S...
. More than 80% of the members of the PSP, CPN and PPR attended at least one of the two mass protests against the placement nuclear weapons
Hollanditis
Hollanditis was a term coined in 1981 by the American historian Walter Laqueur. It was used to describe the wave of pacifist neutralism that swept through the Netherlands in the first half of the 1980s and which influenced similar grass roots movements in other European countries...
of 1981 and 1983
The Evangelical People's Party was a relatively new party, founded in 1981, as a splinter group from the Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
, the largest party of the Dutch centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
. During its period in parliament 1982-1986 it had trouble positioning itself between the small left parties (PSP, PPR and CPN), the PvdA and the CDA.
The increasingly close cooperation between PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP, and the ideological change that accompanied it was not without internal dissent within the parties. The ideological change that CPN made from official communism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
to 'reformism
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
' led to a split in the CPN; and the subsequent founding of the League of Communists in the Netherlands
League of Communists in the Netherlands
The League of Communists in the Netherlands, in Dutch known as Verbond van Communisten in Nederland was a communist political party in the Netherlands. The VCN was the result of a split in 1984 in the Communist Party of the Netherlands , who disagreed with the revisionist and eurocommunist line of...
in 1982. In 1983, a group of "deep" Greens split from the PPR, to found The Greens
The Greens (Netherlands)
The Greens are a Dutch deep green party, which has been of only marginal importance in Dutch politics, as it has never gained national representation on its own.-History:...
. The CPN and the PPR wanted to form an electoral alliance
Electoral alliance
An electoral alliance may take the form of a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc. It is an association of political parties or individuals which exists solely to stand in elections...
with the PSP for the 1986 elections. This led to a crisis within the PSP, in which chair of the parliamentary party
Parliamentary group leader
The leader or chairman of a parliamentary group holds an influential political post in a parliamentary system with strong party discipline...
(Fractievoorzitter) Fred van der Spek, who opposed cooperation, was replaced by Andrée van Es
Andrée van Es
Andrée Christine van Es is a Dutch politician. She is currently wethouder in the executive of the city of Amsterdam for GreenLeft. She was member of the House of Representatives for the Pacifist Socialist Party and GreenLeft.- Biography :Van Es became assistant to the PSP parliamentary party in...
, who favoured cooperation. Van der Spek left the PSP to found his own Party for Socialism and Disarmament. The 1986 PSP congress
Political convention
In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...
, however, rejected the electoral alliance.
In the 1986 general election
Dutch general election, 1986
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on May 21, 1986.-National summary:...
, all four parties lost seats. The CPN and the EVP disappeared from parliament. The PPR was left with two and the PSP with one seat. While the parties were preparing to enter in the 1990 elections separately, the pressure to cooperate however also increased. In 1989 the PPR, CPN and PSP entered the 1989 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 1989 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1989 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1989-1994 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1989 European election...
with a single list, called the Rainbow
Rainbow (Netherlands)
The Rainbow was an alliance of Dutch political parties Political Party of Radicals, Pacifist Socialist Party, Evangelical People's Party and Communist Party.The parties entered in the 1989 European Parliament elections with a common list...
. Joost Lagendijk and Leo Platvoet, both PSP party board members, initiated an internal referendum in which the members of the PSP declared to support leftwing cooperation (70% in favour; 64% of all members voting). Their initiative for left-wing cooperation was supported by an open letter from influential members of trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s (such as Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks .-Biography:...
and Karin Adelmund
Karin Adelmund
Karin Yvonne Irene Jansen Adelmund was a member of the Dutch House of Representatives and former State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science .From February 1997 to August 1998 Adelmund was chairwoman of the Labour Party .- External...
), of environmental movement
Environmental movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
s (e.g., Jacqueline Cramer
Jacqueline Cramer
Jacqueline Marian Cramer was Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet for the PvdA. Previously she was a professor of sustainable entrepreneurship at Utrecht University and professor of environmental management at Erasmus University...
) and from arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
(such as Rudi van Dantzig
Rudi van Dantzig
Rudi van Dantzig , is a Dutch choreographer, ballet dancer and writer. Since 1965 he has been co-artistic leader of Het Nationale Ballet . After Sonia Gaskell and his other colleague left in 1971, he was the only artistic leader until 1991...
). In the letter they called for the formation of a single progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
party to the left of the Labour Party
Labour Party (Netherlands)
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
. Lagendijk and Platvoet had been taking part in informal meetings between prominent PSP, PPR and CPN-members, who favoured cooperation. Other participants were PPR chairman Bram van Ojik
Bram van Ojik
Abraham van Ojik is a Dutch GreenLeft and former Radical politician.Van Ojik comes from the Political Party of Radicals, one of the four parties that merged to form GreenLeft in 1989. Van Ojik had been member of the PPR since 1973. Between 1972 and 1980 Van Ojik studied economics at the Free...
and former CPN leader Ina Brouwer
Ina Brouwer
Ina Brouwer is a Dutch politician. She was chairperson of the Communist Party of the Netherlands in the House of Representatives and MP for GreenLeft, into which the CPN merged in 1989.-Education and early career:...
. These talks were called "F.C. Sittardia" or Cliché bv.
In the spring of 1989 the PSP party board initiated formal talks between the CPN, the PSP and the PPR about a common list for the upcoming general elections. It soon became clear tha the CPN wanted to maintain an independent communist identity and not merge into a new left-wing formation. This was reason for the PPR leaving the talks. Negotiations about cooperation were reopened after the fall of the second Lubbers cabinet and the announcement that elections would be held in the autumn of that year. This time the EVP was included in the discussion. The PPR was represented for a short while by an informal delegation led by former chair Wim de Boer, because the party board did not want to be seen re-entering the negotiations it had left only a short while earlier. In the summer of 1989 the party congress
Party Congress
A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
es of all four parties accepted to enter the elections with a shared programme and list of candidates. Additionally the association GreenLeft (Dutch: Vereniging GroenLinks; VGL) was set up to allow sympathisers, not member of any of the four parties to join. Meanwhile the European elections of 1989
European Parliament election, 1989 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1989 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1989-1994 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1989 European election...
were held, in which same group of parties had entered as a single list under the name "Rainbow
Rainbow (Netherlands)
The Rainbow was an alliance of Dutch political parties Political Party of Radicals, Pacifist Socialist Party, Evangelical People's Party and Communist Party.The parties entered in the 1989 European Parliament elections with a common list...
". In practice the merger of the parties had now happened and the party GreenLeft was officially founded on 24 November 1990.
1989-1994
In the 1989 electionsDutch general election, 1989
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on September 6, 1989.-National summary:...
the PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP entered in the elections with one single list called Groen Links. In the Netherlands, which forms one single electoral district
Electoral district
An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...
, parties enter in the elections with one list for the whole country. The top spot of the list (the lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
) is taken by the party's political leader, who often becomes Fractievoorzitter (parliamentary group leader
Parliamentary group leader
The leader or chairman of a parliamentary group holds an influential political post in a parliamentary system with strong party discipline...
). The GreenLeft list of candidates was organised in such a way that all the parties were represented and new figures could enter. The PPR which had been the largest party in 1986 got the top candidate (taken by Ria Beckers
Ria Beckers
Maria Brigitta Catherina Beckers-de Bruijn was a Dutch Green politician. She was the political leader of the progressive Christian party PPR and its successor GreenLeft....
) and the number five, the PSP the numbers two and six, the CPN the number three and the EVP number eleven. The first independent candidate was Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks .-Biography:...
, trade unionist from Rotterdam, the number four. In the elections the party doubled its seats in comparison to 1986 (from three to six) but the expectations had been much higher. In the 1990 municipal elections the party fared much better however, strengthening the resolve to cooperate.
In the period 1989-1991 the merger developed further. A board was organised for the party-in-foundation and a GreenLeft Council, which was supposed to control the board and the parliamentary party and stimulate the process of merger, all five groups (CPN, PPR, PSP, EVP and the Vereniging Groen Links all had seats as ratio of the number of party members. Originally, the three youth organisations, the CPN-linked General Dutch Youth League
General Dutch Youth League
Algemeen Nederlands Jeugd Verbond, a political youth movement in the Netherlands. ANJV was founded on June 15, 1945 in Concert building, Amsterdam...
, the PSP-linked Pacifist Socialist Young Working Groups
Pacifist Socialist Young Working Groups
Pacifist Socialist Young Working Groups was the youth wing of the Pacifist Socialist Party in the Netherlands....
and the PPR-linked Political Party of Radical Youth refused to merge under pressure of the government, who controlled their subsidies they did merge to form DWARS
DWARS
DWARS, de GroenLinkse jongerenorganisatie is the independent youth wing of GreenLeft, the Dutch Green political party.-Ideals and policies:...
. In 1990 some opposition formed against the moderate, green course of GreenLeft. Several former PSP members united in the "Left Forum" in 1992 they would leave the party to join former PSP leader Van der Spek to found the PSP'92. Similarly former members of the CPN joined the League of Communists in the Netherlands
League of Communists in the Netherlands
The League of Communists in the Netherlands, in Dutch known as Verbond van Communisten in Nederland was a communist political party in the Netherlands. The VCN was the result of a split in 1984 in the Communist Party of the Netherlands , who disagreed with the revisionist and eurocommunist line of...
to found the New Communist Party in the same year. In 1991 the congresses of the four founding parties (PSP, PPR, CPN and EVP) decided to officially abolish their parties.
GreenLeft had considerable problems with formulating its own ideology. In 1990 the attempt to write the first manifesto of principles failed because of the difference between socialists
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
on the one side and the more liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
former PPR members on the other side. The second manifesto of principles which was not allowed the name manifesto of principles was adopted after a lengthy debate and many amendments in 1991.
Although the party was internally divided, the GreenLeft parliamentary party was the only party in the Dutch parliament which opposed the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. A debate within the party about the role military intervention led to a more nuanced standpoint than the pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
of some of its predecessors: GreenLeft would support peace-keeping missions as long as they were mandated by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
In the fall of 1990 MEP Verbeek announced that he would, as he had promised, leave the European Parliament after two and a half years to make room for a new candidate. He would continue as an independent and remain in parliament until 1994. In the 1994 European elections
European Parliament election, 1994 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1994 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1994-1999 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1994 European election. It was held on on June 9, 1994....
, he would run unsuccessfully as top candidate of The Greens
The Greens (Netherlands)
The Greens are a Dutch deep green party, which has been of only marginal importance in Dutch politics, as it has never gained national representation on its own.-History:...
.
In 1992 party leader Ria Beckers
Ria Beckers
Maria Brigitta Catherina Beckers-de Bruijn was a Dutch Green politician. She was the political leader of the progressive Christian party PPR and its successor GreenLeft....
left the House of Representatives because she wanted more private time. Peter Lankhorst replaced her as chair ad interim, but he announced that he would not take part in the internal elections.
1994-2002
Before the general election of 1994Dutch general election, 1994
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on May 3, 1994.-Results:...
, GreenLeft organised an internal election on the party's political leadership. Two duos entered: Ina Brouwer
Ina Brouwer
Ina Brouwer is a Dutch politician. She was chairperson of the Communist Party of the Netherlands in the House of Representatives and MP for GreenLeft, into which the CPN merged in 1989.-Education and early career:...
(former CPN) combined with Mohammed Rabbae (independent), while Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks .-Biography:...
(independent) formed a combination with Leoni Sipkes (former PSP); there were also five individual candidates, including Wim de Boer (former chair of the PPR and member of the Senate), Herman Meijer (former CPN, future chair of the party) and Ineke van Gent
Ineke van Gent
Wilhelmina van Gent is a Dutch politician. She has been a member of the House of Representatives for GreenLeft since May 19, 1998...
(former PSP and future MP)).
Some candidates ran in duos because they wanted to combine family life with politics. Brouwer, Rosenmöller and Sipkes already were MPs for GreenLeft, whilst Rabbae was new - he had been chair of the Dutch Centre for Foreigners. In the first round the duos ended up ahead of the others, but neither had an absolute majority. A second round was need which Brouwer and Rabbae won with 51%. Brouwer became the first candidate and Rabbae second, the second duo Rosenmöller and Sipkes occupied the following place followed by Marijke Vos
Marijke Vos
Maria Bernadina Vos is a Dutch politician.-Pre-political career:Vos's father was a judge in 's-Hertogenbosch. Her grandfather, A.H.J. Engels was member of parliament for the Roman-Catholic RKSP....
, former chair of the party. The idea of a dual top candidacy
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
did not communicate well to the voters. GreenLeft lost one seat, leaving only five. Yet in the same election the centre-left Labour Party also lost a lot of seats.
After the elections, Brouwer left parliament. She was replaced as party leader by Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller
Paul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks .-Biography:...
and her seat was taken by Tara Singh Varma
Tara Singh Varma
Tarapatie Oedayraj Singh Varma is a former Dutch politician and former member of the House of Representatives for the GreenLeft party who gained notoriety after falsely claiming to suffer from an incurable cancer.- Life before politics :Although she was born in British Guyana, she attended...
. The charismatic Rosenmöller became the "unofficial leader" of the opposition against the first Kok cabinet because the main opposition party Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
was unable to adapt well to its new role as opposition party. Rosenmöller set out a new strategy: GreenLeft should offer alternatives instead of just rejecting the proposals made by the government.
In the 1998 general election
Dutch general election, 1998
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998.-Result:...
, GreenLeft more than doubled its seats to eleven. The charisma of the charismatic "unofficial leader" Rosenmöller played an important role in this. Many new faces entered parliament, including Femke Halsema
Femke Halsema
is a former Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 till 2011. She was also the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives from 2002 till 2010.-Pre-political career:...
, a political talent who had left the Labour Party for GreenLeft in 1997.
The party began to speculate openly about joining government after the elections of 2002.
The 1999 Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
divided the party internally. The parliamentary party in the House of Representatives supported the NATO intervention, while the Senate parliamentary party was against the intervention. Several former PSP members within the House of Representatives parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. A compromise was found: GreenLeft would support the intervention as long as it limited itself to military targets. Prominent members of the founding parties including Marcus Bakker
Marcus Bakker
Marcus Bakker was a Dutch politician of the defunct Communist Party of the Netherlands now merged into GreenLeft . He was the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from December 15, 1963 until September 7, 1982.-Early life:Bakker was the son of an accountant who worked for the...
en Joop Vogt left the party over this issue.
In 2001 the integrity of former MP Tara Singh Varma came into doubt: it was revealed that she had lied about her illness and that she had made promises to development organisations which she did not fulfill. In 2000 she had left parliament because as she claimed, she had only a few months to live before she would die of cancer. The TROS
TROS
TROS is a Dutch television and radio organization part of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting...
program "Opgelicht" (In English "Framed") revealed that she had lied and the she did not have cancer. Later she apologised on public television and claimed she suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder.
In the same year the parliamentary party supported the invasion of Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
after the terrorist attacks of September 11 of the year. This invasion led to great upheaval within the party. Several former PSP members within the House of Representatives parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. Under pressure of internal opposition, led by former PSP members and the party's youth organisation DWARS
DWARS
DWARS, de GroenLinkse jongerenorganisatie is the independent youth wing of GreenLeft, the Dutch Green political party.-Ideals and policies:...
, the parliamentary party changed its position: the attacks should be cancelled.
Several members of The Greens
The Greens (Netherlands)
The Greens are a Dutch deep green party, which has been of only marginal importance in Dutch politics, as it has never gained national representation on its own.-History:...
, including Roel van Duijn
Roel van Duijn
Roeland Gerrit Hugo van Duijn is a Dutch politician, political activist and writer. He was a founder of Provo and the Kabouterbeweging. He was alderman for the Political Party of Radicals and currently is wardcouncillor for the GreenLeft.-Biography:Van Duijn was born into an anthroposophical...
, joined GreenLeft, while maintaining their membership of the Greens.
2002-now
The 2002 general electionDutch general election, 2002
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on May 15, 2002....
was characterised by changes in the political climate. The right-wing populist
Right-wing populism
Right-wing populism is a political ideology that rejects existing political consensus and combines laissez-faire liberalism and anti-elitism. It is considered "right-wing" because of its rejection of social equality and government programs to achieve it, its opposition to social integration, and...
political commentator Pim Fortuyn
Pim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....
entered politics. He had anti-establishment message, combined with a call for restrictions of immigration
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
. Although his critique was oriented at the second Kok cabinet, Rosenmöller was one of the few politicians who could muster some resistance against his message. Days before the election Fortuyn was assassinated. Ab Harrewijn, GreenLeft MP and candidate also died. Before and after the elections serious threats were made against Rosenmöller, his wife and his children. These events caused considerable stress for Rosenmöller. GreenLeft lost one seat in the election, although it had gained more votes than in the 1998 elections. Before the 2003 general election
Dutch general election, 2003
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on January 22, 2003.-Background:...
Rosenmöller left parliament, citing the ongoing threats against his life and those of his family as the main reason. He was replaced as chair of the parliamentary party and top candidate by Femke Halsema
Femke Halsema
is a former Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 till 2011. She was also the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives from 2002 till 2010.-Pre-political career:...
. She was unable to keep ten seats and lost two.
In 2003 GreenLeft almost unanimously turned against the Iraq War. It took part in the protests against the war
Protests against the Iraq War
Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
, for instance by organising its party congress
Party Congress
A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
in Amsterdam at the day of the large demonstration, with an interval allowing its members to join the protest.
At the end of 2003 Halsema temporarily left parliament to give birth to her twins
TWINS
Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral-Atom Spectrometers are a pair of NASA instruments aboard two United States National Reconnaissance Office satellites in Molniya orbits. TWINS was designed to provide stereo images of the Earth's ring current. The first instrument, TWINS-1, was launched aboard USA-184...
. During her absence Marijke Vos
Marijke Vos
Maria Bernadina Vos is a Dutch politician.-Pre-political career:Vos's father was a judge in 's-Hertogenbosch. Her grandfather, A.H.J. Engels was member of parliament for the Roman-Catholic RKSP....
took her place as chair of the parliamentary party. When she returned to parliament, Halsema started a discussion about the principles of her party. She emphasized individual freedom, tolerance
Toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
, self-realisation and emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
. In one interview she called her party "the last liberal party of the Netherlands" This led to considerable attention of media and other observers, which speculated about an ideological change. In 2005 the party's scientific bureau published the book "Vrijheid als Ideaal" ("Freedom as Ideal") in which prominent opinion-makers explored the new political space and the position of the left within that space. During the congress of February 2007 the party board was ordered to organize a party-wide discussion about the party's principles.
During the European Elections congress of 2004, the candidacy committee proposed that the chair of the GreenLeft delegation, Joost Lagendijk, should become the party's top candidate
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
in those elections. A group of members, led by Senator Leo Platvoet submitted a motion "We want to choose". They wanted a serious choice for such an important office. The party's board announced a new electoral procedure. During the congress Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg is a Dutch politician. Between 1999 and 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament for the Green Left, which is part of the European Greens, and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.-Before politics:From 1985 to...
, an MEP and candidate, announced wish to be considered for the position of top candidate. She narrowly won the elections from Lagendijk. This came as a great surprise to all. Especially for Buitenweg who had not written an acceptance speech and read out Lagendijk's.
In May 2005 MP Farah Karimi
Farah Karimi
Farahnaz Karimi , 15 November 1960) is an Iranian-Dutch politician. She was member of the House of Representatives between 1998 and 2006 for GreenLeft.-Life before Politics:...
wrote a book in which discussed in detail how she had taken part in the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, because this information was already known by the party board this did not lead to any upheaval. In November 2005 the party board asked Senator Sam Pormes to give up his seat. Continuing rumours about his involvement with guerrilla-training in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
in the 1970s and the 1977 train hijacking by Moluccan
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
youth and allegations of welfare fraud were harmful for the party, or at least so the party board claimed.
When Pormes refused to step down, the party board threatened to expel him. Pormes fought this decision. The party council of March 2006 sided with Pormes. Party chair Herman Meijer felt forced to resign. He was succeeded by Henk Nijhof who was chose by the party council in May 2006. In November 2006 Pormes left the Senate, he was replaced by Goos Minderman.
In the 2006 Dutch municipal election
Dutch municipal elections, 2006
The Dutch municipal elections of 2006 were held on March 7, 2006. About 11.8 million people could vote in 419 municipalities. Due to local redistricting, 15 municipalities have already held elections in January 2006 and 24 municipalities will hold elections in November 2006...
the party stayed relatively stable, losing only a few seats. After the elections GreenLeft took part in 75 local executives, including Amsterdam
Amsterdam (municipality)
The Government of Amsterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Amsterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as the Waterschap or the...
where MP Marijke Vos
Marijke Vos
Maria Bernadina Vos is a Dutch politician.-Pre-political career:Vos's father was a judge in 's-Hertogenbosch. Her grandfather, A.H.J. Engels was member of parliament for the Roman-Catholic RKSP....
became an alderwoman.
In preparation of the 2006 general election
Dutch general election, 2006
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on November 22, 2006. And followed the call for new elections after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet....
the party held a congress in October. It elected Halsema, again the only candidate, as the party's top candidate. MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg is a Dutch politician. Between 1999 and 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament for the Green Left, which is part of the European Greens, and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.-Before politics:From 1985 to...
and comedian Vincent Bijlo were last candidates
Lijstduwer
Lijstduwer is a Dutch term for the last candidate on a party list.In Suriname, the Netherlands and Belgium, this position is often taken by well-known non-politicians such as artists and sportspeople. They are officially a candidate, but they are put at the end of the party list in a bid to...
. In the 2006 elections the party lost one seat.
In the subsequent cabinet formation an initial exploratory round among the Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
(CDA), Labour Paty
Labour Party (Netherlands)
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
(PvdA) and Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
(SP) failed, Halsema announced that GreenLeft would not be involved in further discussion at that point in time, as the party lost, was too small, and had less in common with CDA than the SP had. Following this decision an internal debate about the political course and the leadership of Halsema re-erupted. The debate does not just concern the series of lost elections and the decision not to participate in the formation talks, but also the elitist image of the party, the new liberal
Green liberalism
Green liberalism is a term used to refer to liberals who have incorporated green concerns into their ideology.- Philosophy :Green liberalism values the Earth very highly, and this philosophy highly values the planet being passed down to the next generation unharmed...
course, initiated by Halsema, and the lack of party democracy. Since the last weeks of January 2007 several prominent party members have voiced their doubts including former leader Ina Brouwer
Ina Brouwer
Ina Brouwer is a Dutch politician. She was chairperson of the Communist Party of the Netherlands in the House of Representatives and MP for GreenLeft, into which the CPN merged in 1989.-Education and early career:...
, Senator Leo Platvoet and MEP Joost Lagendijk. In reaction to this the party board has set up a commission led by former MP and chair of the PPR Bram van Ojik
Bram van Ojik
Abraham van Ojik is a Dutch GreenLeft and former Radical politician.Van Ojik comes from the Political Party of Radicals, one of the four parties that merged to form GreenLeft in 1989. Van Ojik had been member of the PPR since 1973. Between 1972 and 1980 Van Ojik studied economics at the Free...
. They looked into the lost series of elections. In the summer of 2007 another committee was formed to organize a larger debate about the course of the party's principles, organization and strategy. Van Ojik also led this committee. The committee implemented a motion already adopted by the party's congress in 2006 to re-evaluate the party's principle in light of the party's course started by Halsema ion 2004. Over the course of 2007 and 2008 the committee organised an internal debate about the party's principles, organisation and strategy. In November 2008 this led to the adoption of a new manifesto of principles.
In August 2008, GreenLeft parliamentarian Wijnand Duyvendak
Wijnand Duyvendak
Anton Johan Wijnand Duijvendak is a Dutch politician. He is a former member of the House of Representatives for GreenLeft.Duyvendak is the eldest son of a minister from Zeist....
published a book in which he admitted to a burglary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in order to steal plans for nuclear power plants. This led to his resignation on August 14, after media reported that the burglary also led to threats against civil servants
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
. He was replaced by Jolande Sap
Jolande Sap
Johanna Catharina Maria Sap is a Dutch GreenLeft politician and former educator and civil servant. She replaced Wijnand Duyvendak as an MP on September 3, 2008, after he left the Dutch House of Representatives...
.
In 2008 MEPs Joost Lagendijk and Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg is a Dutch politician. Between 1999 and 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament for the Green Left, which is part of the European Greens, and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.-Before politics:From 1985 to...
announced that they would not seek a new term in the European Parliament. The party had to elect a new top candidate
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
for the 2009 European elections
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
. There were five candidates for this position: Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
city councillor Judith Sargentini
Judith Sargentini
Judith Sargentini is a Dutch GreenLeft politician. She is currently a Member of the European Parliament where she leads the GreenLeft delegation. Previously she was chair of the GreenLeft in the Amsterdam city council....
, former MEP Alexander de Roo, senator Tineke Strik
Tineke Strik
Martina Hermina Antonia Strik is a Dutch politician. she is a member of the Senate for GreenLeft.-Biography:...
, environmental researcher Bas Eickhout
Bas Eickhout
Bas Eickhout is a Dutch politician for the GreenLeft. He has been elected to the European Parliament in the 2009 election.- Life before politics :...
and Niels van den Berge
Niels van den Berge
Cornelis Niels van den Berge is a Dutch former politician. As a member of GreenLeft he was a temporary MP from January 12 till March 11, 2011, replacing Mariko Peters, who was on maternity leave...
assistant of MEP Buitenweg. In an internal referendum Sargentini was elected. The party congress
Party Congress
A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
put Eickhout on a second position on the list.
On 18 April 2010 the party congress composed the list of candidates for the 2010 general election
Dutch general election, 2010
The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
. Two sitting MPs Ineke van Gent
Ineke van Gent
Wilhelmina van Gent is a Dutch politician. She has been a member of the House of Representatives for GreenLeft since May 19, 1998...
and Femke Halsema
Femke Halsema
is a former Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 till 2011. She was also the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives from 2002 till 2010.-Pre-political career:...
were granted dispensation to stand for a fourth term. Halsema was re-elected as party leader. Van Gent was put as fifth on the party list. All of the first five candidates were sitting MPs and four were women. There other high newcomers were former Greenpeace director Liesbeth van Tongeren
Liesbeth van Tongeren
Liesbeth van Tongeren is a Dutch politician and former activist and civil servant. As a member of GreenLeft she has been an MP since 17 June 2010. She focuses on matters of climate, energy, spatial planning, conservation and traffic.Van Tongeren grew up in Almelo and obtained an LL.B...
and chairman of CNV
Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond
The Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.-History:...
youth Jesse Klaver
Jesse Klaver
Jesse Feras Klaver is a Dutch politician. As a member of GreenLeft he has been an MP since June 17, 2010...
. The party won 10 seats in the election and participated in the formation talks of a Green/Purple government
Purple (government)
Purple is a common term in politics for governments or other political entities consisting of parties that have red and blue as their political colours...
.
Name
The name "GroenLinks" (until 1992 "Groen Links" with a space between Groen and Links) is a compromise between the PPR and the CPN and the PSP. The PPR wanted the word "GreenGreen politics
Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
" in the name of the party, the PSP and the CPN the word "Left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
". It also emphasises the core ideals of the party, environmental sustainability and social justice.
In 1984 the common list of the PPR, PSP and CPN for the 1984 European elections
European Parliament election, 1984 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1984 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1984-1989 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1984 European election. It was held on on June 14, 1984...
was called Green Progressive Accord
Green Progressive Accord
The Green Progressive Accord was an alliance of Dutch political parties: Political Party of Radicals , Pacifist Socialist Party , Communist Party of the Netherlands and Green Party of the Netherlands ....
at that time the PPR did not want to accept the word "left" in the name of the political combination. The parties had entered in the 1989 European elections
European Parliament election, 1989 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 1989 in the Netherlands was the election of MEP representing Netherlands constituency for the 1989-1994 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 1989 European election...
as the Rainbow
Rainbow (Netherlands)
The Rainbow was an alliance of Dutch political parties Political Party of Radicals, Pacifist Socialist Party, Evangelical People's Party and Communist Party.The parties entered in the 1989 European Parliament elections with a common list...
(Regenboog), in reference to the Rainbow Group
Rainbow Group (1984–1989)
The Rainbow Group: Federation of the Green Alternative European Links, Agalev-Ecolo, the Danish People's Movement against Membership of the European Community, and the European Free Alliance, in the European Parliament was a Green, far left and Regionalist political group with seats in the...
in the European Parliament in which had participated between 1984 and 1989
Ideology
The party combines green with left-wing ideals. The core ideals of GreenLeft are codified in the party's programme of principles (called "Partij voor de Toekomst" - Party for the Future). The party places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the left. Its principles include- The protection of the EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, ecosystemEcosystemAn ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s and a respectful treatment of animalsAnimal rightsAnimal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings... - A fair distribution of natural resources between all citizens of the world and all generations.
- An just distribution of income and fair chance for everyone to work, care, education and recreation.
- A pluralist society where everyone can participate in freedom. The party combines openness with a sense of community.
- Strengthening the international rule of law, in order to ensure peace and respect for human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
The party's principles reflect the ideological convergence between the four founding parties which came from different ideological traditions: the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party, from a progressive Christian
Christian left
The Christian left is a term originating in the United States, used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embraces social justice....
tradition; and the Pacifist Socialist Party
Pacifist Socialist Party
The Pacifist Socialist Party was a Dutch left-socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is a predecessor of the GreenLeft.-Before 1957:...
and the Communist Party of the Netherlands
Communist Party of the Netherlands
The Communist Party of the Netherlands was a Dutch communist political party. The CPN is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft.- Foundation :...
from the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
traditions. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s the parties had come to embrace environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
; they all favoured democratisation of society and had opposed the creation of new nuclear plants and the placement of new nuclear weapons in the Netherlands
Netherlands and weapons of mass destruction
Although the Netherlands does not have weapons of mass destruction made by itself, the country participates in the NATO nuclear weapons sharing arrangements and trains for delivering U.S...
.
Halsema, the former political leader of the party, has started a debate about the ideological course of GreenLeft. She emphasised the freedom loving tradition of the left and chose freedom as key value. Her course is called left-liberal
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
by herself and observers, although Halsema herself claims that she does not want to force an ideological change.
Following Isaiah Berlin
Isaiah Berlin
Sir Isaiah Berlin OM, FBA was a British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas of Russian-Jewish origin, regarded as one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century and a dominant liberal scholar of his generation...
, Halsema distinguishes between positive and negative freedom. Negative freedom is according to Halsema the freedom citizens from government influence; she applies this concept especially to the multicultural society
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and the rechtsstaat
Rechtsstaat
Rechtsstaat is a concept in continental European legal thinking, originally borrowed from German jurisprudence, which can be translated as "legal state", "state of law", "state of justice", or "state of rights"...
, where the government should protect the rights of citizens and not limit them. Positive freedom is the emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
of citizens from poverty and discrimination. Halsema wants to apply this concept to welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
and the environment where government should take more action. According to Halsema, GreenLeft is undogmatic
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
party, that has anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
tendencies.
Proposals
The election manifesto for the 2010 electionsDutch general election, 2010
The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
was adopted in April of that year. It was titled "Klaar voor de Toekomst" ("Prepared for the Future"). The manifesto emphasises international cooperation, welfare state reform, environmental policy and social tolerance.
GreenLeft considers itself as a "social reform party" which is able to reform the government finances as well as increasing the position of "outsiders" on the labour market, such as migrant youth, single parents, workers with short term-contracts and people with disabilities. The means that it disagrees with the parties on the right which, in the eyes of GreenLeft, were only oriented towards cutting costs and did not offer the worst off a chance for work, emancipation and participation. But, unlike the other opposition parties of the left, the party does not want to defend the current welfare state either which the party calls "powerless", because it merely offers the worst off a benefit, but not a perspective for work. The party wants to reform the Dutch welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
so it will benefit "outsiders" - those who have been excluded from the welfare state until now. To increase employment the GreenLeft proposes a participation contract. The unemployment benefit should be increased and limited to one year. In this period people would have to look for a job or education. If at the end of the year one should not succeed in finding a job, the government will offer one a job for the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
. In order to create more employment they want to implement the green tax shift, which will lower taxes on lower paid labour. This would be compensated by higher taxes on pollution. In order to increase the perspectives for the underprivileged, it wants to invest in education, especially the vmbo
Voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs
The vmbo education is a school track in the Netherlands. It lasts four years, from the age of twelve to sixteen. It combines vocational training with theoretical education in languages, mathematics, history, arts and sciences...
. In order to ensure that migrants have a better chance for jobs it wants to deal firmly with discrimination, especially on the labour market. The party also wants to decrease income differences by making child benefit
Child benefit
Child benefit is a social security payment disbursed to the parents or guardians of children. Child benefit is means-tested in some countries.-Australia:...
s. The party also favours reform of the government pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
s: after 45 years of employment one should get the right to a pension. If one starts working young, one is able to stop working earlier, than if one starts working when one is older. Receiving unemployment or disability benefits is counted as work, as well as caring for children or family members. The system of mortgage interest deductions should be abolished over a forty year period.
International cooperation is an important theme for the party. This includes development cooperation with underdeveloped countries. GreenLeft wants to increase spending on development aid
Development aid
Development aid or development cooperation is aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social and political development of developing countries.It is distinguished...
to 0.8% of the Gross National Product. It wants to open the European markets to goods from Third World countries, under conditions of fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
. In order to ensure free and fair trade it wants to increase the democratise international economic organisations such as the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. The party also favours greater international control over financial markets. GreenLeft favours European integration
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe...
, but critical about the current policies of the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
. It favoured the European Constitution, but after it was voted down in the 2005 referendum, GreenLeft advocated a new treaty which emphasised democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and subsidiarity
Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which...
. The party is critical about the war against terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. It wants to strengthen the peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
powers of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and reform the Dutch armed forces into a peace force. The functions of NATO should be taken over by the European Union and the United Nations.
GreenLeft wants to solve environmental problems, especially climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, by stimulating durable alternatives. The party wants to use taxes and emissions trading
Emissions trading
Emissions trading is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants....
to stimulate alternative energy
Alternative energy
Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
as an alternative to both fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
and nuclear plants. It wants to close all nuclear plants in the Netherlands and impose a tax on the use of coal in energy production, in order to discourage the building of new coal-based power plants. Moreover it wants to stimulate energy saving. It wants to invest in clean public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, as an alternative to private transport. Investments in public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
can be financed by not expanding highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
s and imposing tolls on the use of roads (called "rekening rijden"). The party wants to stimulate organic farming
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
through taxes as an alternative to industrial agriculture
Industrial agriculture
Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political...
. Moreover, GreenLeft wants to codify animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
in the Constitution
Constitution of the Netherlands
The Constitution of the Netherlands is the fundamental law of the European territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The present constitution is generally seen as directly derived from the one issued in 1815, constituting a constitutional monarchy. A revision in 1848 instituted a system of...
.
GreenLeft values individual freedom and the rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
. The party wants to legalise soft drugs
Drug policy of the Netherlands
The drug policy of the Netherlands officially has four major objectives:# To prevent recreational drug use and to treat and rehabilitate recreational drug users.# To reduce harm to users....
. It wants to protect civil rights on the internet by extending constitutional protection for free communication to email and other modern technologies. It also favours a reform of copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
to allow non-commercial reproduction and the use of open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
in the public sector. In the long term it seeks to abolish the monarchy
Monarchy of the Netherlands
The Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815, and has been governed by members of the House of Orange-Nassau since.-Constitutional role and position of the monarch:...
and create a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. It also favours a reduction of the size of the government bureaucracy, for instance by decreasing the number of Dutch ministries
Dutch ministries
There are eleven ministries of the Netherlands, all with their own minister, there are also several ministers without portfolio and about as many state secretaries...
and abolishing the Senate. Finally, GreenLeft favours liberal immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and asylum policies. It wants to empower victims of human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
by giving them a residence permit and it wants to abolish the income requirements for marriage migration.
Overview
This table shows the results of GreenLeft elections to the House of Representatives (HoR), Senate (S), European ParliamentEuropean Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
(EP), States-Provincial
States-Provincial
The States'-Provincial is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the Provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance...
(SP) and local-authority elections
Elections in the Netherlands
Elections in the Netherlands are held for six territorial levels of government: the European Union, the state, the twelve Provinces of the Netherlands, the 25 water boards, the 418 municipalities and in two cities for neighbourhood councils...
, as well as the number of politicians in provincial
Gedeputeerde Staten
The gedeputeerde staten are the executive councillors of a Dutch province. Together with the Queen's Commissioner they form the College van Commissaris van de Koningin en Gedeputeerde Staten, which is the executive council of the province. States Deputed are elected by the States Provincial, the...
(GS) and local executives
College van Burgemeester en Wethouders
The college van burgemeester en wethouders is the executive board of a municipality in the Netherlands. This local government body plays a central role in municipal politics in the Netherlands. It consists of the mayor and the members of the municipal executive...
(aldermen). It also shows the party's political leadership: the "fractievoorzitter", the chair of the parliamentary party and the "lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...
", the party's top candidate in the general election. These posts are normally taken by the party leader. The member count and the partijvoorzitter, the chair of the party's organisation are also shown. The party chair has an organisational function and is not part of the political leadership of the party.
Members of the House of Representatives
Following the 2010 electionsDutch general election, 2010
The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
, the party now has ten seats in the House of Representatives:
- Jolande SapJolande SapJohanna Catharina Maria Sap is a Dutch GreenLeft politician and former educator and civil servant. She replaced Wijnand Duyvendak as an MP on September 3, 2008, after he left the Dutch House of Representatives...
, chair of the parliamentary party. In parliament since 2008, when she replaced Wijnand DuyvendakWijnand DuyvendakAnton Johan Wijnand Duijvendak is a Dutch politician. He is a former member of the House of Representatives for GreenLeft.Duyvendak is the eldest son of a minister from Zeist....
. She is a feminist economistFeminist economicsFeminist economics broadly refers to a developing branch of economics that applies feminist lenses to economics. Research under this heading is often interdisciplinary or heterodox...
. - Tofik DibiTofik DibiTovek Dibi is a Dutch politician for GreenLeft . Since November 30, 2006 he has been an MP. He focuses on matters of criminal law, safety, youth, family and integration.- Biography :...
, safety, youth and integration spokesperson. In parliament since 2006Dutch general election, 2006The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on November 22, 2006. And followed the call for new elections after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet....
. He studied media studiesMedia studiesMedia studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
and was involved in the anti-racism movement. - Mariko PetersMariko PetersMariko Peters is a Dutch politician and former civil servant and lawyer. She has been an MP since November 30, 2006...
, foreign affairs, culture and justice spokesperson. In parliament since 2006Dutch general election, 2006The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on November 22, 2006. And followed the call for new elections after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet....
. LawyerLawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, who has been deputy chef de post in Kabul. - Ineke van GentIneke van GentWilhelmina van Gent is a Dutch politician. She has been a member of the House of Representatives for GreenLeft since May 19, 1998...
, spokesperson on emancipation, public transport and kingdom relations. In parliament since 1998Dutch general election, 1998The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on 6 May 1998.-Result:...
. She worked for the FNVFederatie Nederlandse VakbewegingThe Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.-History:...
. She was a member of the PSPPacifist Socialist PartyThe Pacifist Socialist Party was a Dutch left-socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is a predecessor of the GreenLeft.-Before 1957:...
before 1991. - Liesbeth van TongerenLiesbeth van TongerenLiesbeth van Tongeren is a Dutch politician and former activist and civil servant. As a member of GreenLeft she has been an MP since 17 June 2010. She focuses on matters of climate, energy, spatial planning, conservation and traffic.Van Tongeren grew up in Almelo and obtained an LL.B...
, spokesperson on the environment. In parliament since 2010Dutch general election, 2010The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
. She was director of the Dutch branch of GreenPeaceGreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
before entering parliament. - Jesse KlaverJesse KlaverJesse Feras Klaver is a Dutch politician. As a member of GreenLeft he has been an MP since June 17, 2010...
, spokesperson on social affairs and education. In parliament since 2010Dutch general election, 2010The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
. He was chair of the youth organisation of the CNVChristelijk Nationaal VakverbondThe Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.-History:...
before entering parliament. - Bruno BraakhuisBruno BraakhuisBruno Adrianus Maria Braakhuis is a Dutch politician and former marketing and communication manager. As a member of the 'GreenLeft' he has been an MP since June 17, 2010...
, spokesperson on economic affairs, science and European affairs. In parliament since 2010Dutch general election, 2010The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
. He worked on corporate social responsibilityCorporate social responsibilityCorporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
before entering parliament. - Arjan El FassedArjan El FassedArjan El Fassed is a Dutch politician, and former human rights activist and development aid worker. As a member of GreenLeft he has been an MP since June 17, 2010...
, spokesperson on foreign affairs and development cooperation. In parliament since 2010Dutch general election, 2010The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
. He worked for OxfamOxfamOxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
before entering parliament. - Linda VoortmanLinda VoortmanLinda Geertruida Johanna Voortman is a Dutch politician and former trade unionist. As a member of GreenLeft she has been an MP since June 17, 2010...
, spokesperson on housing and healthcare. In parliament since 2010Dutch general election, 2010The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
. She worked for FNVFederatie Nederlandse VakbewegingThe Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.-History:...
before entering parliament. - Rik GrashoffRik GrashoffHendrik Johannes Grashoff is a Dutch engineer and politician. He is a member of GroenLinks , a left-wing, Green political party. Since 23 November 2010 he has been a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands...
, spokesperson on agriculture, defense and public administration. In parliament since 2010, when he replaced Mariko PetersMariko PetersMariko Peters is a Dutch politician and former civil servant and lawyer. She has been an MP since November 30, 2006...
and later on Femke HalsemaFemke Halsemais a former Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 till 2011. She was also the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives from 2002 till 2010.-Pre-political career:...
. He was an aldermanAldermanAn alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
of RotterdamRotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and DelftDelftDelft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
.
Members of the Senate
Following the 2011 electionsDutch Senate election, 2011
The elections of the Dutch Senate of 2011 were held on 23 May 2011, following the provincial elections on 2 March 2011. The 566 members of the twelve States-Provincial elected the 75 Senate members...
the party has five representatives in the Senate:
- Tof ThissenTof ThissenChristoffel Paul Thissen is a Dutch politician. Since 2004 he is member of the Senate for GreenLeft.-Life before politics:...
, chair of the parliamentary party. He has been a Senate member since 2004. He is spokesperson on education, local government and the economy. In addition to his membership of the Senate, he works for the Federation of Dutch municipalities. He was an alderman in RoermondRoermondRoermond is a city, a municipality, and a diocese in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.The city of Roermond is a historically important town, on the lower Roer at the east bank of the Meuse river. It received city rights in 1231...
for GreenLeft. Before 1991 he was member of the PSP. - Margreet de Boer, a Senate member since 2011.
- Ruard Ganzevoort, a Senate member since 2011.
- Tineke StrikTineke StrikMartina Hermina Antonia Strik is a Dutch politician. she is a member of the Senate for GreenLeft.-Biography:...
is spokesperson on home affairs, foreign affairs and social affairs. She has been a Senate member since 2007. In addition to her membership of the Senate, she is a legal researcher. She was an alderwoman in WageningenWageningen' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...
for GreenLeft. - Marijke VosMarijke VosMaria Bernadina Vos is a Dutch politician.-Pre-political career:Vos's father was a judge in 's-Hertogenbosch. Her grandfather, A.H.J. Engels was member of parliament for the Roman-Catholic RKSP....
, a Senate member since 2011.
Members of the European Parliament
After the 2009 European Parliament electionsEuropean Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
the party has three representatives in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
:
- Judith SargentiniJudith SargentiniJudith Sargentini is a Dutch GreenLeft politician. She is currently a Member of the European Parliament where she leads the GreenLeft delegation. Previously she was chair of the GreenLeft in the Amsterdam city council....
- chair of the GreenLeft delegation, member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home AffairsCommittee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home AffairsThe Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs is a standing committee of the European Parliament.-External links:*...
of the European parliament and substitute for the Committee on DevelopmentCommittee on DevelopmentThe Committee on Development is a standing committee of the European Parliament responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the European Union, notably talks with developing countries; aid to developing countries; and promotion of democratic...
. - Bas EickhoutBas EickhoutBas Eickhout is a Dutch politician for the GreenLeft. He has been elected to the European Parliament in the 2009 election.- Life before politics :...
- member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food SafetyCommittee on the Environment, Public Health and Food SafetyThe Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 68 members and a secretariat of 10 administrators. Its chairman is...
and substitute for the Committee on Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentCommittee on Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentThe Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development is a committee of the European Parliament.-Responsibilities of the Committee:AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for:...
. - Marije CornelissenMarije CornelissenMarije Cornelissen is a Dutch politician. In the 2009 she was elected in the European Parliament.- Life before politics :...
- member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender EqualityCommittee on Women's Rights and Gender EqualityThe Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality is a committee of the European Parliament.-Chair:-Members:*BASTOS, Regina *BAUER, Edit *BOZKURT, Emine *ČEŠKOVÁ, Andrea *CORNELISSEN, Marije *COSTA, Silvia *CYMAŃSKI, Tadeusz...
and Committee on Employment and Social AffairsCommittee on Employment and Social AffairsThe Committee on Employment and Social Affairs is a committee of the European Parliament.- Chairman :2009 - : -External links:*...
Municipal and provincial government
On the municipal level, the party provides 8 mayors (out of 414, as of December 2008), in smaller municipalities such as BloemendaalBloemendaal
Bloemendaal is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. According to the Dutch Central Statistical Bureau, Bloemendaal is the wealthiest place in the Netherlands.-Population centres :...
, Diemen
Diemen
Diemen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands with a population of around 24,000. Diemen is located in the province of North Holland directly to the east of Amsterdam within the capital's metropolitan area.-Geography:...
and Wormerland
Wormerland
Wormerland is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.- Population centres :The municipality of Wormerland consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Jisp, Neck, Oostknollendam, Spijkerboor, Wijdewormer, Wormer.It borders the municipalities...
, these are also appointed by the Minister of the Interior. GreenLeft did not perform particularly well in the 2006 municipal elections, losing 14 of its 415 seats, making it the fourth largest party in the Netherlands on the municipal level. In the formation of municipal executives it was more successful and the number of municipal executives GreenLeft was part of grew from around 70 to around 100.
It is part of the municipal executive of several larger cities notably Nijmegen, Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
, the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Leiden, Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and Amsterdam
Amsterdam (municipality)
The Government of Amsterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Amsterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as the Waterschap or the...
, where former MP Marijke Vos
Marijke Vos
Maria Bernadina Vos is a Dutch politician.-Pre-political career:Vos's father was a judge in 's-Hertogenbosch. Her grandfather, A.H.J. Engels was member of parliament for the Roman-Catholic RKSP....
was alderwoman. GreenLeft has 70 members of borough-level legislatiures
Deelgemeente
A deelgemeente is a subdivision of a gemeente in Belgium and the Netherlands.-Belgium:...
, 53 in Amsterdam and 17 in Rotterdam.
On the provincial level, GreenLeft provides one Queen's Commissioner
Queen's Commissioner
The Queen's Commissioner is the head of a province in the Netherlands, who is chairman of both the Provinciale Staten and the Gedeputeerde Staten , but only has a right to vote in the latter...
(out of 12) in North Holland
North Holland
North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
. Queen's Commissioners are appointed by the Minister of the Interior. GreenLeft is part of the North Holland
North Holland
North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
provincial executive
Gedeputeerde Staten
The gedeputeerde staten are the executive councillors of a Dutch province. Together with the Queen's Commissioner they form the College van Commissaris van de Koningin en Gedeputeerde Staten, which is the executive council of the province. States Deputed are elected by the States Provincial, the...
. It holds 51 seats in provincial legislatures. In the following figure one can see the election results of the provincial election of 2007 per province. It shows the areas where GreenLeft is strong, namely the urban areas like North Holland and Utrecht. The party is weaker in rural provinces like Friesland and Zeeland, but also strong in rural Groningen, where the Communist Party of the Netherlands
Communist Party of the Netherlands
The Communist Party of the Netherlands was a Dutch communist political party. The CPN is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft.- Foundation :...
, one of the founding parties of GreenLeft was very strong.
| Province | Votes (%) | Seats | Provincial Executives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groningen Groningen (province) Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea... |
7,6% | 3 | opposition |
| Friesland Friesland Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân... |
3.9% | 2 | opposition |
| Drenthe Drenthe Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a... |
4.7% | 2 | opposition |
| Overijssel Overijssel Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede... |
4.3% | 2 | opposition |
| Flevoland Flevoland Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital... |
5.5% | 2 | opposition |
| Gelderland Gelderland Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,... |
5.9% | 3 | opposition |
| Utrecht Utrecht (province) Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest... |
9.0% | 4 | opposition |
| Noord-Holland | 9.7% | 5 | Bart Heller (prov. exec. Gedeputeerde Staten The gedeputeerde staten are the executive councillors of a Dutch province. Together with the Queen's Commissioner they form the College van Commissaris van de Koningin en Gedeputeerde Staten, which is the executive council of the province. States Deputed are elected by the States Provincial, the... ) |
| Zuid-Holland | 5.9% | 3 | opposition |
| Zeeland Zeeland Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about... |
4.9% | 2 | Marten Wiersma (prov. exec.) |
| North-Brabant | 4.1% | 2 | opposition |
| Limburg Limburg (Netherlands) Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to... |
4.2% | 2 | opposition |
Electorate
As can be seen on the map on the right, GreenLeft tends to do particularly well in larger cities, especially ones that host a university, such as AmsterdamAmsterdam (municipality)
The Government of Amsterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Amsterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as the Waterschap or the...
(where it scored 12,5%), Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
(12,2%) and Wageningen
Wageningen
' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...
(11,8%), Nijmegen (10,4%) and Leiden (10,0%).
More women vote for GreenLeft than men by a margin of 20%. The party also disproportionately appeals to homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
voters. The party also polls well among migrant voters, especially those from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, where its support is twice as high as in the general population.
GreenLeft voters have an eccentric position in their preferences for particular policies. Between 1989 and 2003 they were the most leftwing voters in the Netherlands, often a little more to the left than voters of the SP
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
. These voters are in favor of the redistribution of wealth, free choice for euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
, opening the borders for asylum seekers, the multicultural society
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and are firmly against building new nuclear plants.
Style and campaign
The logo of GreenLeft is the name of the party with the word "GreenGreen
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
" written in red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
and the word "Left" written in green since 1994. Additional colours used in the logo are white, yellow and blue. An earlier logo, used between 1989 and 1994, and which can be seen on the poster above showed a variation of a peace sign projected on a green triangle on which "PPR PSP CPN EVP" was written and next to it GreenLeft in green and pink.
Many well-known Dutch people have supported GreenLeft election campaigns. In 1989 choreographer Rudi van Dantzig
Rudi van Dantzig
Rudi van Dantzig , is a Dutch choreographer, ballet dancer and writer. Since 1965 he has been co-artistic leader of Het Nationale Ballet . After Sonia Gaskell and his other colleague left in 1971, he was the only artistic leader until 1991...
and writer Astrid Roemer were last candidates
Lijstduwer
Lijstduwer is a Dutch term for the last candidate on a party list.In Suriname, the Netherlands and Belgium, this position is often taken by well-known non-politicians such as artists and sportspeople. They are officially a candidate, but they are put at the end of the party list in a bid to...
. In 2006 comedian Vincent Bijlo shared this position with MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Buitenweg
Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg is a Dutch politician. Between 1999 and 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament for the Green Left, which is part of the European Greens, and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.-Before politics:From 1985 to...
. Comedienne Sara Kroos, rapper Raymzter
Raymzter
Raymond Redouan Christiaan Rensen a.k.a Raymzter is a Dutch rapper.-Biography:Raymzter was born in Almere to a Moroccan father and a Dutch mother. He developed an interest in hip hop music early in life, after listening to a Public Enemy album he received from his aunt. He started writing song...
, astronaut Wubbo Ockels
Wubbo Ockels
Prof. Dr. Wubbo Johannes Ockels is a Dutch physicist and a former ESA astronaut. In 1985 he participated in a flight on a space shuttle , making him the first Dutch citizen in space. He was not the first Dutch-born astronaut, as he is preceded by the naturalized American Lodewijk van den Berg, who...
en soccer player Khalid Boulahrouz
Khalid Boulahrouz
Khalid Boulahrouz is a Dutch footballer of Berber Moroccan Rif descent, who plays for the Netherlands and VfB Stuttgart. His nickname is "Khalid the Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" his opposition....
, business man Harry de Winter, journalist Anil Ramdas
Anil Ramdas
Anil Ramdas is a Dutch -Suriname columnist, correspondent, essayist, journalist making TV and radio programs, and presenter. In 1997 he was awarded the E. du Perron-prize for all of his works.-References:*Dutch Wikipedia...
, actrice Kim van Kooten
Kim van Kooten
Kim van Kooten is a Dutch actress and screenwriter. In international cinema she is best known for the 2003 Dutch/US co-production Phileine Says Sorry , filmed partly in New York, and in which she plays the lead.Van Kooten grew up in Zuidoostbeemster. She is the daughter of Kees van Kooten and...
, commediene Sanne Wallis de Vries, comedian Herman Finkers
Herman Finkers
Hermenegildus "Herman" Felix Victor Maria Finkers is a comedian from the Dutch region of Twente, who is well-known in the Netherlands for his friendly, dry-witted humour and his ambiguous style of storytelling. In his way of telling a story the moral should never be in the way of a good joke or pun...
, artist Herman van Veen
Herman van Veen
Hermannus Jantinus "Herman" van Veen is a Dutch stage performer, actor, musician and singer/songwriter and author. He is most famous as the creator of the Dutch-Japanese cartoon Alfred J...
, soccer player-columnist Jan Mulder
Jan Mulder (footballer)
For other Jan Mulders see Jan MulderJohan Mulder is a former Dutch football striker who played for R.S.C. Anderlecht and AFC Ajax. He also played five matches for the Netherlands, scoring once. Mulder was topscorer of the 1966-67 season in the Belgian Jupiler League...
and writer Geert Mak
Geert Mak
Geert Mak is a Dutch journalist and a non-fiction writer in the field of history. His ten books about Amsterdam, Netherlands and Europe have earned him great popularity. His best-known work, In Europe, a combination of a travelogue through the continent of Europe and a history of the 20th century,...
have also committed their name to (part of) the 2006 or 2007 GreenLeft election campaign. In 2004 singer Ellen ten Damme
Ellen ten Damme
Ellen ten Damme is a Dutch actress and singer.She was born in Warnsveld, and was raised in the village Roden....
, poet Rutger Kopland and presenter Martijn Krabbé supported the European election campaign.
From 2007 onwards GroenLinks has adopted the idea of a "permanent campaign", which implies that campaign activities are held even when there is no immediate connection to an election. Permanent campaign activities are intended to create and maintain a base level of sympathy and knowledge about the party platform. The introduction of guerrilla gardening
Guerrilla gardening
Guerrilla gardening is gardening on another person's land without permission. It encompasses a very diverse range of people and motivations, from the enthusiastic gardener who spills over their legal boundaries to the highly political gardener who seeks to provoke change through direct action. It...
in the Netherlands in 2008 was heavily supported by GreenLeft, as part of the permanent campaign.
Organisational structure
The highest organ of GreenLeft is the party congressParty Congress
A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
, which is open to all members. The congress elects the party-board, it decides on the order of the candidates for national and European elections and it has a final say over the party platform. The congress convenes at least once every year in spring or when needed.
The party board consists of fifteen members who are elected for a two year term. The chairperson of this board is the only paid position on the board, the others are unpaid. The chairperson together with four other boardmembers (the vice-chair, the treasurer, the secretary, the European secretary and the international secretary) handles the daily affairs and meet every two weeks while the other ten board members meet only once a month.
For the months that the congress does not convene, a party council takes over its role. It consists out of 80 representatives of all the 250 municipal branches. The party board and the nationally elected representatives of the party are responsible to the party council. It has the right to fill vacancies in the board, make changes to the party constitution and takes care of the party's finances.
GreenLeft MPs face relatively strong regulation: MPs are not allowed to run for more than three terms and a relatively high percentage of the income of MPs is taken by the party.
GreenLeft has 250 branches in nearly all Dutch municipalities
Municipalities of the Netherlands
|All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities , together 418 , excl. the 3 "special municipalities" of the Caribbean Netherlands.Among the municipalities we can distinguish:...
and each province. There are multiple municipalities in Amsterdam
Amsterdam (municipality)
The Government of Amsterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Amsterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as the Waterschap or the...
and Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, where every borough
Deelgemeente
A deelgemeente is a subdivision of a gemeente in Belgium and the Netherlands.-Belgium:...
has its own branch and they have federal branches at the municipal level. Branches enjoy considerable independence, and take care of their own campaigns, lists of candidates and programs for elections. Provincial congresses meet at least every year and municipal congresses more often. The total number of members of GreenLeft has been steadily increasing over the last ten years and had 23,490 members in of January 2007.
There are several independent organisations which are linked to GreenLeft:
- DWARSDWARSDWARS, de GroenLinkse jongerenorganisatie is the independent youth wing of GreenLeft, the Dutch Green political party.-Ideals and policies:...
, the independent youth organisation of GreenLeft - De Linker Wang ("The Left Cheek"), platform for Religion and Politics, which is a progressive ChristianChristian leftThe Christian left is a term originating in the United States, used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embraces social justice....
platform, which was formed by former members of the Evangelical People's Party. - Scientific Bureau GreenLeft, the independent political think tankThink tankA think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
which publishes "de Helling" (Dutch for "the Slope"). - PinkLeft, an LGBTLGBTLGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
organization for GreenLeft members.
GreenLeft is also active on the European and the global stage. It is a founding member of the European Green Party
European Green Party
The European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...
and the Global Greens
Global Greens
The Global Greens is a global network of Green parties and political movements. It was founded in 2001 in Canberra, Australia at the First Global Greens Congress, where the Global Green Charter was approved. The Second Global Greens Congress was held in 2008 in Sao Paolo, Brazil...
. Its MEPs sit in the The Greens–European Free Alliance group. GreenLeft cooperates with seven other Dutch parties in the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
The Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy is a democracy assistance organisation of political parties in the Netherlands for political parties in young democracies...
, an institute which supports democratic development in developing countries.
Relationships to other parties
GreenLeft was founded as a mid-sized party to the left of the Labour PartyLabour Party (Netherlands)
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
(PvdA). In the 1994 elections however the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
(SP) also entered parliament. GreenLeft now takes a central position in the Dutch left between the socialist SP, which is more to the left, and the social-democratic PvdA, which is more to the centre. This position is exemplified by the call of Femke Halsema to form a left-wing coalition after the 2006 elections, knowing that such a coalition is only possible with GreenLeft. The electoral alliance between SP and GL in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 elections, and between GreenLeft and PvdA in the 2004 European elections are examples of this position. In the 2007 First Chamber election it had an electoral alliance with the Party for the Animals
Party for the Animals
The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands.Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party...
. More and more, however, GreenLeft is seen as the most left-wing and most progressive of the three parties.
See also
- Green party
- Green politicsGreen politicsGreen politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
- List of environmental organizations
External links
- GroenLinks.nl Official Site
- campaign ad
- collection of all blogs of GreenLeft members