Groen (political party)

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Green
Groen
1 / 300
Website
www.groen.be

Groen (lit.'Green',

political party in Belgium. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo
; the two parties maintain close relations with each other.

Party history

Before 1979

Many of the founders of political party Agalev came from or were inspired by the social and environmental movement Agalev. This movement was founded by the

Catholicism with environmentalism. It sought to spread environmental consciousness on a small scale first; since 1973, however, it took action to protect the environment and promote environmental consciousness. In the 1974 and 1977 elections
, Agalev supported several candidates from traditional parties; these, however, soon forgot the promises they made. In 1977, the movement entered the elections in several municipalities not to gain seats, but to promote its ideals.

1979–1999

In reaction to these broken promises, a debate erupted within Agalev on whether to set up a political party or to remain independent of politics. In the same year the party contested several municipal elections to no avail. A national level Agalev Working Group was founded to coordinate the new party. It also set up a separate association that could enter in elections. It participated in the 1979 European elections. Although the party won 2.3% of the votes, it won no seats.

In the

Senate. Ecolo, the Walloon green party, also won two seats in the Chamber and three seats in the Senate. The political party Agalev was officially founded in 1982. It remained separate of the social movement. Prominent members of the movement Agalev, such as founder Versteylen chose not to join the political party Agalev. In the municipal elections of 1982 the party performed particularly well winning more than 10% in several municipalities. In its first periods in parliament the party functioned as a protest party forcing the other parties to take more action against environmental pollution and Third World poverty. The party campaigned on specific environmental issues, such as local anti-nuclear energy protests
.

The party won two additional seats in the

1995
the party campaigned on a clean hands theme, after a series of political scandals was revealed. The party however lost two seats.

1999–now

In the

Wellbeing and Development Cooperation and Vera Dua became minister for Agriculture
and the Environment.

On the national level, the greens, both Ecolo and Agalev were able to enact legislation on several key green issues: the cabinet decided to opt out of

Election threshold
in both the Senate and the Chamber.

The

Spirit
or SP.A. Sannen was replaced as minister by Tavernier.

Before the 2004 elections Dua announced that if the party was supported by less than 280.000 votes, the independent green political project would end. The party gained enough support to meet this limit, although it lost half of it seats in Flanders compared to the 2000 elections. The party won seats in every provincial district except Limburg, where the support to cooperate with SP.A and Spirit was greatest.

Groen candidates for Antwerp province (2014)

In the

10 June 2007 federal election
, the party regained representation in both the Chamber and the Senate. It got 265,828 votes (4% of total) and four seats.

The regional (for Flemish Parliament) and European elections of June 2009 were generally devoted to promote the concept of a green economy as an answer to the national and global economic crisis. The results of the election were below the expected and stranded on a status quo. Chairwoman Mieke Vogels chose to give up her presidency and was succeeded by Wouter Van Besien in October 2009.

On 11 January the Party unveiled its new logo and announced the dropping of its trademark exclamation point from the end of the party's name, after 8 years of usage. The new party slogan is "Works for all" to highlight the party's desire to look after the needs of all of society, not just its traditional voter base.

2010 federal election

Electoral arrondissement Main candidate
Chamber of Representatives
Antwerp Meyrem Almaci
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde Tinne Van der Straeten
East Flanders Stefaan Van Hecke
Leuven Eva Brems
Limburg Toon Hermans
West Flanders Wouter De Vriendt
Senate
Freya Piryns

Party chairperson

Co-presidents Nadia Naji and Jeremie Vaneeckhout
Name From Until Vice-chairperson
1 Vera Dua 15 November 2003 10 November 2007 not applicable
2 Mieke Vogels 10 November 2007 25 October 2009 Wouter Van Besien (from 17 May 2008)
3 Wouter Van Besien 25 October 2009 15 November 2014 Björn Rzoska (until 19 January 2013)
Elke Van den Brandt (from 19 January 2013)
4 Meyrem Almaci 15 November 2014 11 June 2022[5] Jeremie Vaneeckhout (until 19 October 2019)
Dany Neudt (from 19 October 2019)
5 Jeremie Vaneeckhout and Nadia Naji 11 June 2022[6] Incumbent to be announced

Name

  • 1982–2003: Agalev
  • 2003–2012: Groen!
  • 2012–present: Groen

The party was founded as Agalev, which meant Anders Gaan Leven (English: to start living differently). This conveyed the green message that humans need to choose alternative lifestyles that are more sustainable. When the party registered at the election authority, it was forced to supply a meaning for each initial. The party thus ran under the name Anders Gaan Arbeiden, Leven, En Vrijen (English: going to work, live and have sex differently), improvised and not entirely serious, but legally correct.

After the 2003 election defeat the party renewed its political profile. This also involved a name change to Groen! (English: Green!). The name conveyed a closer alliance to the

worldwide green movement with the word green and an independent and positive nature with exclamation mark
.

In January 2012 the party underwent another name change by removing the exclamation mark from the end of its name.

Ideology and issues

As a traditional green party, the three core values of Agalev were ecology, peace and participatory democracy. In the early years the party specifically sought to overcome traditional cleavages (liberal-socialist, Catholic-secular and Flemish-Belgian). Since the 1980s the ideals of diversity and social justice have also taken a prominent role. In its current political program it connected these three values by the concept of quality of life.

Representation

In this table the election results of Agalev/Groen!/Groen in House of Representatives, Senate and European elections is represented, as well as the results of regional elections for Flanders and Brussels. The party's political leadership is represented as well. If it was part of the governing federal coalition, then its minister is listed.

Year
Belgian Chamber
Belgian Senate
European Parliament Flemish Parliament
Brussels Parliament
Federal Cabinet
*
1979 0 0 0 n/a n/a extra-parliamentary unknown
1980 0 0 0 n/a n/a extra-parliamentary unknown
1981 2 1 0 n/a n/a opposition
Leo Cox
1982 2 1 0 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1983 2 1 0 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1984 2 1 1 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1985 4 2 1 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1986 4 2 1 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1987 6 3 1 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1988 6 3 1 n/a n/a opposition Leo Cox
1989 6 3 1 na 1 opposition Leo Cox / Johan Malcorps
1990 6 3 1 na 1 opposition Johan Malcorps
1991 7 5 1 na 1 opposition Johan Malcorps
1992 7 5 1 na 1 opposition Johan Malcorps
1993 7 5 1 na 1 opposition Johan Malcorps
1994 7 5 1 na 1 opposition Johan Malcorps
1995
5 1 1 7 0 opposition Johan Malcorps / Wilfried Bervoets
1996 5 1 1 7 0 opposition Wilfried Bervoets
1997 5 1 1 7 0 opposition Wilfried Bervoets / Jos Geysels
1998 5 1 1 7 0 opposition Jos Geysels
1999
9 3 2 12 1 Magda Aelvoet Jos Geysels
2000 9 3 2 12 1 Magda Aelvoet Jos Geysels
2001 9 3 2 12 1 Magda Aelvoet Jos Geysels
2002 9 3 2 12 1 Magda Aelvoet Jos Geysels
2003
0 0 2 12 1 extra-parliamentary Jos Geysels / Dirk Holemans / Vera Dua
2004 0 0 1 6 1 extra-parliamentary Vera Dua
2005 0 0 1 6 1 extra-parliamentary Vera Dua
2006 0 0 1 6 1 extra-parliamentary Vera Dua
2007
4 1 1 6 1 opposition Vera Dua / Mieke Vogels
2008 4 1 1 6 1 opposition Mieke Vogels
2009 4 1 1 7 2 opposition Mieke Vogels / Wouter Van Besien
2010
5 2 1 7 2 opposition Wouter Van Besien
2011 5 2 1 7 2 opposition Wouter Van Besien
2012 5 2 1 7 2 opposition Wouter Van Besien
2013 5 2 1 7 2 opposition Wouter Van Besien
2014 6 3 1 10 3 opposition Wouter Van Besien
2015 6 3 1 10 3 opposition Meyrem Almaci
2016 6 3 1 10 3 opposition Meyrem Almaci
2017 6 3 1 10 3 opposition Meyrem Almaci

Members of the European Parliament

After the

GreenLeft
he forms one transnational delegation.

Municipal government

Green! participates in several municipal governments. The party is especially strong in university cities like Leuven and Ghent.

Electorate

The six biggest Flemish political parties and their results for the House of Representatives (Kamer). From 1978 to 2014, in percentages for the complete 'Kingdom'.

The support of Green! has strongly fluctuated recently. It draws most of its support from Flemish voters who do not feel bound to the strong social organizations and

pillars
. The party is strongest in urban areas with concentrated student populations like Ghent and Leuven.

Green!'s support is distributed in the following way between the electoral districts in the 2014 general election:

Province Votes (%) 2011 Result (seats) 2011 Votes (%) 2014 Result (seats) 2014
Antwerp
7.7% 2 9.9% 2
Flemish Brabant 9.8% 1 8.7% 1
Limburg 4.8% 0 6.0% 0
East Flanders 7.4% 1 9.1% 2
West Flanders 6.3% 1 7.9% 1

Electoral results

Chamber of Representatives

Election Votes % Seats +/− Government
1977 2,435 0.0
0 / 212
Extra-parliamentary
1978 5,556 0.1
0 / 212
Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
1981 138,575 2.3
2 / 212
Increase 2 Opposition
1985 226,758 3.7
4 / 212
Increase 2 Opposition
1987 275,437 4.5
6 / 212
Increase 2 Opposition
1991 299,550 4.9
7 / 212
Increase 1 Opposition
1995
269,058 4.4
5 / 150
Decrease 2 Opposition
1999
434,449 7.0
9 / 150
Increase 4 Coalition
2003
162,205 2.5
0 / 150
Decrease 9 Extra-parliamentary
2007
265,828 4.0
4 / 150
Increase 4 Opposition
2010
285,989 4.4
5 / 150
Increase 1 Opposition
2014
358,947 5.3
6 / 150
Increase 1 Opposition
2019 413,836 6.1
8 / 150
Increase 2 External support (2020)
Coalition (2020–)

Senate

Election Votes % Seats +/−
1977 3,270 0.1
0 / 106
1978
0 / 106
1981 121,016 2.0
1 / 106
Increase 1
1985 229,206 3.8
2 / 106
Increase 1
1987 299,049 4.9
3 / 105
Increase 1
1991 314,360 5.1
5 / 70
Increase 2
1995 223,355 3.7
1 / 40
Decrease 4
1999 438,931 7.1
3 / 40
Increase 2
2003 161,024 2.5
0 / 40
Decrease 3
2007 241,151 3.6
1 / 40
Increase 1
2010 251,605 3.9
1 / 40
Steady 0

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/− Government
D.E.C. Overall
1989
4,821 1.1 (#12)
1 / 75
Opposition
1995 3,906 1.0 (#11)
0 / 75
Decrease 1 Opposition
1999[a] 13,223 21.8 (#4) 3.1 (#8)
0 / 75
Steady 0 Opposition
2004 6,132 9.8 (#5) 1.4 (#10)
1 / 89
Increase 1 Opposition
2009 5,806 11.2 (#5) 1.3 (#10)
2 / 89
Increase 1 Coalition
2014 9,551 17.9 (#5) 2.1 (#9)
3 / 89
Increase 1 Opposition
2019 14,425 20.6 (#1) 3.1 (#7)
4 / 89
Increase 1 Coalition

Flemish Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/− Government
1995 267,155 7.1 (#6)
7 / 124
Opposition
1999 451,361 11.6 (#5)
12 / 124
Increase 5 Coalition
2004 308,898 7.6 (#5)
6 / 124
Decrease 6 Opposition
2009 278,211 6.8 (#7)
7 / 124
Increase 1 Opposition
2014 365,779 8.7 (#5)
10 / 124
Increase 3 Opposition
2019 428,696 10.1 (#5)
14 / 124
Increase 4 Opposition

European Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/−
D.E.C. Overall
1979 77,986 2.3 (#5)
0 / 24
1984 246,712 7.1 (#5)
1 / 24
Increase 1
1989 446,539 12.2 (#4)
1 / 24
Steady 0
1994 396,198 10.7 (#5)
1 / 25
Steady 0
1999 464,042 12.0 (#6) 7.5
2 / 25
Increase 1
2004 320,874 8.0 (#5) 4.9
1 / 24
Decrease 1
2009 322,149 7.9 (#6) 4.9
1 / 22
Steady 0
2014 447,391 10.6 (#5) 6.7
1 / 21
Steady 0
2019 525,908 12.4 (#5) 7.8
1 / 21
Steady 0
  1. SP

Elected politicians

Current

Chamber of Representatives
Constituency Name Notes
Antwerp Province Antwerp Meyrem Almaci
Antwerp Province Antwerp Kristof Calvo
East Flanders East Flanders Stefaan Van Hecke
Flemish Brabant Leuven Eva Brems
West Flanders West Flanders Wouter De Vriendt
Senate
Type Name Notes
Directly elected Freya Piryns
Community Senator Mieke Vogels
European Parliament
Type Name Notes
Directly elected Bart Staes
Flemish Parliament
Type Name Notes
Antwerp Province Antwerp Imade Annouri
Antwerp Province Antwerp Wouter Van Besien
Antwerp Province Antwerp Ingrid Pira
Brussels-Capital Region
Elke Van den Brandt
East Flanders East Flanders Elisabeth Meuleman
East Flanders East Flanders Björn Rzoska
Limburg (Belgium) Limburg Johan Danen
Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant An Moerenhout
West Flanders West Flanders Bart Caron

Provincial councilors

  • 2012–2018:
  1. Antwerp Province Greet Bockx
  2. Antwerp Province Tom Caals
  3. Antwerp Province Koen Kerremans
  4. Antwerp Province Diederik Vandendriessche
  5. Antwerp Province Loes Van Cleemput
  6. Antwerp Province Karin Van Hoffelen
  7. East Flanders Yasmina Beldjoudi
  8. East Flanders Inge De Bal
  9. East Flanders Elisabet Dooms
  10. East Flanders Jan Fiers
  11. East Flanders Rik Franck
  12. East Flanders Riet Gillis
  13. Flemish Brabant Stephan Boogaerts
  14. Flemish Brabant Luc Debraekeleer
  15. Flemish Brabant Luc Robijns
  16. Flemish Brabant Tie Roefs
  17. Flemish Brabant Sarah Sneyers
  18. Flemish Brabant Bernadette Stassens
  19. Flemish Brabant Erik Torbeyns
  20. West Flanders Alex Colpaert
  21. West Flanders Herman Lodewyckx
  22. West Flanders Gerda Schotte
  23. West Flanders Maarten Tavernier

Past

Chamber of Representatives

  • 1987–1991 (6):
  1. Jozef Cuyvers
  2. Wilfried De Vlieghere
  3. Jos Geysels
  4. Hugo Van Dienderen
  5. Wilfried Van Durme
  6. Mieke Vogels
  • 1991–1995 (7):
  1. Magda Aelvoet (until 20 July 1994)Lodewijk Steenwegen
  2. Luc Barbé
  3. Wilfried De Vlieghere
  4. Vera Dua
  5. Jos Geysels
  6. Hugo Van Dienderen
  7. Mieke Vogels (until 11 January 1995)Peter Luyten
  • 1995–1999 (5):
  1. Frans Lozie
  2. Jef Tavernier
  3. Hugo Van Dienderen
  4. Lode Vanoost
  5. Joos Wauters
  • 1999–2003 (9):
  1. Eddy Boutmans (until 12 October 1999)Leen Laenens
  2. Anne-Mie Descheemaeker
  3. Kristien Grauwels
  4. Simonne Leen
  5. Fauzaya Talhaoui
  6. Jef Tavernier (until 28 August 2002)Liliane De Cock
  7. Peter Vanhoutte
  8. Lode Vanoost
  9. Joos Wauters
  • 2007–2010 (4):
  1. Antwerp Province Meyrem Almaci
  2. West Flanders Wouter De Vriendt
  3. Brussels Tinne Van der Straeten
  4. East Flanders Stefaan Van Hecke
  • 2010–2014 (5):
  1. Antwerp Province Meyrem Almaci
  2. Flemish Brabant Eva Brems
  3. Antwerp Province Kristof Calvo
  4. West Flanders Wouter De Vriendt
  5. East Flanders Stefaan Van Hecke

Brussels Parliament

  • 1989–1995 (1):
  1. Dolf Cauwelier
  • 1999–2004 (1):
  1. Adelheid Byttebier (until 6 June 2003; replaced Mieke Vogels as Flemish minister)Anne Van Asbroeck (SP.A)
  • 2004–2009 (1):
  1. Adelheid Byttebier
  • 2009–2014 (2):
  1. Bruno De Lille (became Brussels-Capital Region state secretary)Elke Van den Brandt
  2. Annemie Maes

European Parliament

  • 1984–1989 (1):
  1. Paul Staes
  • 1989–1994 (1):
  1. Paul Staes
  • 1994–1999 (1):
  1. Magda Aelvoet
  • 1999–2004 (2):
  1. Patsy Sörensen
  2. Bart Staes (left Spirit for Groen! in July 2002)
  3. Luckas Vander Taelen (until 2002)Jan Dhaene (left Groen! for SP.A in January 2004)
  • 2004–2009 (1):
  1. Bart Staes
  • 2009–2014 (1):
  1. Bart Staes

Flemish Parliament

  • 1995–1999 (7):
  1. East Flanders Vera Dua
  2. Antwerp Province Jos Geysels
  3. Antwerp Province Johan Malcorps
  4. Limburg (Belgium) Ludo Sannen
  5. East Flanders Jos Stassen
  6. Antwerp Province Ria Van Den Heuvel
  7. Flemish Brabant Cecile Verwimp
  • 1999–2004 (12):
  1. Flemish Brabant Magda Aelvoet (until 12 July 1999; became federal minister)Ann De Martelaer
  2. West Flanders Veerle Declercq
  3. Antwerp Province Jos Geysels
  4. Flemish Brabant Eloi Glorieux
  5. East Flanders Dirk Holemans
  6. Antwerp Province Johan Malcorps
  7. West Flanders Frans Ramon
  8. Limburg (Belgium) Ludo Sannen (until 26 May 2003; replaced Vera Dua as Flemish minister)Flor Ory (until 17 February 2004) → Ludo Sannen
  9. East Flanders Jos Stassen
  10. Antwerp Province Ria Van Den Heuvel
  11. Antwerp Province Jo Vermeulen
  12. East Flanders Vera Dua (became Flemish minister)Isabel Vertriest (until 26 May 2003) → Vera Dua
  • 2004–2009 (6):
  1. Antwerp Province Rudi Daems
  2. East Flanders Vera Dua
  3. Flemish Brabant Eloi Glorieux
  4. East Flanders Jos Stassen
  5. West Flanders Jef Tavernier
  6. Antwerp Province Mieke Vogels
  • 2009–2014 (7):
  1. West Flanders Bart Caron
  2. East Flanders Elisabeth Meuleman
  3. Antwerp Province Dirk Peeters
  4. Flemish Brabant Hermes Sanctorum
  5. Brussels Luckas Vander Taelen
  6. Antwerp Province Mieke Vogels
  7. East Flanders Filip Watteeuw (until 31 December 2012)

Provincial councilors

  • 1985–1991:
  1. Province of Brabant Johan Hamels
  • 2006–2012:
  1. Antwerp Province Rita Boden
  2. Antwerp Province Ethel Brits
  3. Antwerp Province Tom Caals
  4. Antwerp Province Diederik Vandendriessche

Organization

Organizational structure

The highest organ of Green is the

party president
who set out the political strategy, but a party secretary with far less power. In 2003 the party changed this situation.

In contrast to other parties, Green MPs face relatively strong regulation: the party does not allow multiple offices per person, while it is traditional for Belgian MPs to be both mayor of municipality and federal MP for instance; furthermore MPs are not allowed to run for more than two terms; to ensure

party list
has to be female; finally a high percentage of the income of MPs is taxed by the party.

By Belgian standards Green has relatively few members, ranging from 2,000 to 6,500. This is only about 1% of the Green voters. Generally Belgian parties have about 10% of their voter base as members.

The party's youth organization,

Young Green
(earlier Young Agalev), grew out of local groups of young Groen members, active since the late eighties and early nineties. These local groups started coordinated action in 1996. In 1998 Jong Groen was officially founded.

International organisations

Green is a member of the

European Federation of Green Parties
.

Relationships to social organisations

Green is ideologically and historically linked to the environmental movement Agalev, which was founded by the Jesuit

pillar
of social organizations around it as other parties have.

Relationships to other parties

The party has relatively good relations with the

cartel. It was asked to join them in 2003, but it refused. Furthermore, the party has maintained good relations with its Walloon sister party, Ecolo
, with whom they form one group in the federal chamber of representatives.

International comparison

Internationally, Groen is comparable to the larger European Green parties, especially the German

Alliance '90/The Greens
, which has also been in government, although more successfully.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Open VLD heeft de meeste leden en steekt CD&V voorbij". deredactie.be. 30 October 2014.
  2. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Flanders/Belgium". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  3. ^ "Politieke fracties". Benelux Parliament (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  4. .
  5. ^ "Meyrem Almaci stopt als voorzitter van Groen: "Het is nu aan andere mensen, dat zal Groen deugd doen"" [Meyrem Almaci quits as president of Groen: "Up to other people now, which will benefit Groen"]. vrtnws. 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  6. ^ "Groen heeft nieuw voorzittersduo: Jeremie Vaneeckhout en Nadia Naji halen het in de eerste stemronde" [Groen has new presidential duo: Jeremie Vaneeckhout and Nadia Naji win already in first round of elections]. vrtnws. 2022-06-11. Retrieved 2022-06-11.

External links

Media related to Groen (party) at Wikimedia Commons