(Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 for Social Liberal Party) was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 political party formed after dissolution of the moderate nationalist People's Union

People's Union (Belgium)

People's Union was a Belgian political party, formed in 1954 as a successor to the "Christian Flemish People's Union", an electoral alliance of Flemish nationalists....

 (Volksunie) party. Prior to 19 April 2008 it was known as Spirit, and intermediately as Flemish Progressives (VlaamsProgressieven). The party fused with Green!

Green!

Groen! is a Belgian green political party. Green! is the smallest Flemish party with a representation in the federal, regional or European parliament.-Before 1979:...

 in the end of 2009 thus ceasing to exist.

History

The People's Union separated into two parties, the social 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...

 Spirit and the centre-right New-Flemish Alliance

New-Flemish Alliance

' is a Flemish right-wing political party, founded in the autumn of 2001. It is a conservative and liberal movement that promotes civic nationalism...

 (N-VA), which formed a cartel with the Christian Democratic and Flemish

Christian Democratic and Flemish

The Christian Democratic and Flemish is a political party of Belgium, formerly called Christian People's Party...

 (CD&V) party. The formation of a cartel

Cartel

A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...

 is seen as a way in which Spirit and N-VA can guarantee their influence and position in Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 and Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 politics. The forming of the cartel led the 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,...

 wing of the party to join the Flemish Liberals and Democrats

Flemish Liberals and Democrats

' , commonly known as Open VLD and also simply as the VLD, is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium, created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress and a few other politicians from other parties. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999...

 (VLD).

Abbreviation

Spirit was the abbreviation for

• Sociaal (Social)
• Progressief (Progressive)
• Internationaal (International)
• Regionalistisch (Regional)
• Integraal-democratisch (Completely democratic)
• Toekomstgericht (Future oriented)

2007 elections

In the 10 June 2007 general elections

Belgian general election, 2007

The 2007 Belgian general election took place on Sunday 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.Eligible voters were Belgian citizens 18 years and older...

, the Social Liberal party was in a cartel (electoral alliance) with Socialist Party Different (SP.A) and won 14 out of 88 Flemish seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 Flemish seats in the Senate

Belgian Senate

The Belgian Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parliament.-History and future:...

.

End of the cartel

In the autumn of 2008, following a scandal causing its leader, Bettina Geysen

Bettina Geysen

Bettina Geysen has been president of Spirit, a Flemish political party, since 2007. She succeeded Geert Lambert as president. Previously she worked in the media as a journalist and was director of the één television channel of Flemish public broadcaster VRT.-External links:* Spirit home page...

 to step down, the Social Liberal Party ended its cooperation with SP.A. Geert Lambert

Geert Lambert

Geert Lambert is a Flemish politician and lawyer. He was the president of Spirit, a Flemish political party, from 2004 until 2007, when he was succeeded by Bettina Geysen...

 was elected the new leader. Many prominent party members, including cofounder Bert Anciaux

Bert Anciaux

Bert Jozef Herman Vic Anciaux is a Belgian politician, a founder and former member of Spirit...

, left the party.

External links

• s-lp.be official site