GroenLinks (, ) is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party, which shared left-wing and progressive ideals and earlier co-operated in Regenboog-coalition for the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was the third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other m ...

. After disappointing results in the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and 1994 general elections, the nascent party fared particularly well in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and 2002 elections. The party's leader at that time,

Paul Rosenmöller Paul Rosenmöller (born 11 May 1956) is a Dutch television presenter, politician, and former trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks ('GreenLeft') and was party leader from 1994. S ...

, was seen as the unofficial

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

against the

First Kok cabinet First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, a purple government. The party's number of seats fell from 10 to 4 seats in the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, before increasing to 14 in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and falling to 8 in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. The party failed to enter the cabinet in

and 2021-2022. A merger with the Labour Party is currently under discussion. GroenLinks describes itself as "

", "

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

" and "

tolerant Toleration is the allowing, permitting, or acceptance of an action, idea, object, or person which one dislikes or disagrees with. Political scientist Andrew R. Murphy explains that "We can improve our understanding by defining "toleration" as a ...

". The party holds 8 seats in the House of Representatives, 8 in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and 3 in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. The current

Leader of GroenLinks The Leader of GreenLeft is the most senior politician within GreenLeft ( nl, GroenLinks, GL) in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Jesse Klaver, who succeeded Bram van Ojik in 2015.chair of the House parliamentary group is Jesse Klaver. The party has over 100 local councillors and it participates in the government of sixteen of the twenty largest municipalities. The party's voters are concentrated in larger cities, especially those with a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. The party has 33,478 members which are organised in over 250 municipal branches. The

party congress The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membe ...

is open to all members. GroenLinks is a member of the Global Greens and the European Green Party.

History

Before 1989: predecessors

GroenLinks was founded in 1989 as a merger of four parties that were to the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

of the Labour Party (PvdA), a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

party which has traditionally been the largest

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

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 A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

, the

-influenced Political Party of Radicals (PPR), originally a progressive Christian party, and the

progressive Christian Progressive Christianity represents a post-modern theological approach, and is not necessarily synonymous with progressive politics. It developed out of the liberal Christianity of the modern era, which was rooted in the Enlightenment's think ...

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 only won 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 the 1984 European election, the PPR, CPN and PSP formed the

Green Progressive Accord The Green Progressive Accord (Dutch: ''Groen Progressief Akkoord'') was an alliance of Dutch political parties: Political Party of Radicals (PPR), Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP), Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) and Green Party of the ...

that entered as one into the

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

. They gained one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party-members of the four parties also encountered each other in

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

extraparliamentary protest against

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity * Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy ...

and

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

. More than 80% of the members of the PSP, CPN and PPR attended at least one of the two mass protests against the placement of nuclear weapons, which took place in 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 Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

. 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 Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

' led to a split in the CPN; and the subsequent founding of the

League of Communists in the Netherlands The League of Communists in the Netherlands ( nl, Verbond van Communisten in Nederland, VCN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. History The VCN was the result of a split in 1984 in the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN), who disagre ...

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 An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...

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 Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...

, who opposed cooperation, was replaced by

Andrée van Es Andrée Christine van Es (born 26 January 1953 in The Hague) is a Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician. She is currently chairwoman of the Dutch national UNESCO committee. She was previously wethouder (alderman) in the executive of the ...

, who favoured cooperation. Van der Spek left the PSP to found his own Party for Socialism and Disarmament. The 1986 PSP

congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

, 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 increased. In 1989, the PPR, CPN and PSP entered the

with a single list, called the Rainbow.

Joost Lagendijk Joost Lagendijk (; born 8 June 1957 in Roosendaal, Netherlands) is a Dutch politician who was a columnist with the Turkish dailies Zaman and Today's Zaman until these newspapers were closed by the Turkish government. From 2009 till 2012 he was ...

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 A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s (such as

and Karin Adelmund), of

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...

s (e.g.,

Jacqueline Cramer Jacqueline Marian Cramer (born 10 April 1951) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and biologist. Cramer was Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet for the PvdA. Previou ...

) and from arts (such as Rudi van Dantzig). This letter called for the formation of a single

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

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 Abraham "Bram" van Ojik (born 22 September 1954) is Dutch politician and diplomat of the GreenLeft (GL) party and activist. Since 23 March 2017 he has been a member of the House of Representatives. He previously served in the House from 1993 to ...

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 that 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 The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

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 Wim is a masculine given name or a shortened form of Willem and other names and may refer to: * Wim Anderiesen (1903–1944), Dutch footballer * Wim Aantjes (1923–2015), Dutch politician * Wim Arras (born 1964), Belgian cyclist * Wim Blockmans ...

, 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

es of all four parties accepted to enter the elections with a shared programme and list of candidates. Additionally, the association GroenLinks (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 the 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 GroenLinks was officially founded on 24 November 1990.

1989–1994: completion of the merge and first term in parliament

In the

1989 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * ...

, the PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP entered in the elections with one single list called Groen Links. In the Netherlands, parties usually participate in the elections with one list for the whole country. The candidates on top of the list get the priority for the distribution of seats won. The GroenLinks 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 (the '' lijsttrekker'',

Ria Beckers A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they ca ...

) and the number five; the PSP got the numbers two and six, the CPN the number three and the EVP number eleven. The first independent candidate was

, trade unionist from Rotterdam, on the fourth place. 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, strengthening the resolve to cooperate. In the period 1989–1991, the merger developed further. A board was organised for the party-in-foundation and also a 'GroenLinks Council', which was supposed to control the board and the parliamentary party and stimulate the process of merger. In this council, all five groups – CPN, PPR, PSP, EVP and the Vereniging Groen Links – had seats on ratio of the number of their members. Originally, the three youth organisations, the CPN-linked General Dutch Youth League, the PSP-linked

Pacifist Socialist Young Working Groups The Pacifist Socialist Party ( nl, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, PSP) was a democratic socialist Dutch socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft. Party history ...

and the PPR-linked Political Party of Radical Youth refused to merge, but under pressure of the government (who controlled their subsidies) they did merge to form

DWARS DWARS, GroenLinkse Jongeren is the independent youth wing of GreenLeft, a Dutch green political party. Ideals and policies Both the ''manifest for a better world'', the organisation's program of principles and ''2025 - DWARS' proposals for the f ...

. In 1990, some opposition formed against the moderate, green course of GroenLinks. 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

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. GroenLinks had considerable problems formulating its own ideology. In 1990, the attempt to write the first manifesto of principles failed because of the difference between

socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

and communists on the one side and the more

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

former PPR members on the other side. The second manifesto of principles – which was not allowed to be called that – was adopted after a lengthy debate and many amendments in 1991. Although the party was internally divided, the GroenLinks parliamentary party was the only party in the Dutch parliament which opposed the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. A debate within the party about the role military intervention led to a more-nuanced standpoint than the

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

of some of its predecessors: GroenLinks would support

peace-keeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

missions as long as they were mandated by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. In the fall of 1990, MEP Verbeek announced that he would not, 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

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: opposition during the purple cabinets

Before the general election of 1994, GroenLinks organised an internal election on the party's political leadership. Two duos entered: Ina Brouwer (former CPN) combined with

Mohammed Rabbae Mohamed Rabbae (8 March 1941 – 17 May 2022) was a Moroccan-born Dutch politician and activist. Life Born in Berrechid, in the French protectorate in Morocco, then controlled by Vichy France, Rabbae fled in 1966 as a student from Morocco to ...

(independent), while

(independent) formed a combination with Leoni Sipkes (former PSP); there were also five individual candidates, including

(former chair of the PPR and member of the

Herman Meijer Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minne ...

(former CPN, future chair of the party) and

Ineke van Gent Wilhelmina "Ineke" van Gent (born 21 June 1957) is a Dutch politician serving as Mayor of Schiermonnikoog since 2017. A member of GroenLinks, she was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2012. She focused on matters of emplo ...

(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 GroenLinks, 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 supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

. A second round was needed, in 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 Maria Bernadina (Marijke) Vos (born 4 May 1957 in Leidschendam) is a Dutch politician. Career 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 ...

, former chair of the party. The idea of a dual top candidacy did not communicate well to the voters. GroenLinks lost one seat, leaving only five. Yet in the same election, the centre-left Labour Party also lost a lot of seats. After the disappointing elections, Brouwer left parliament. She was replaced as party leader by

and her seat was taken by Tara Singh Varma. The charismatic Rosenmöller became the "unofficial leader" of the opposition against the

first Kok cabinet First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

because the largest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Appeal, was unable to adapt well to its new role as opposition party. Rosenmöller set out a new strategy: GroenLinks should offer alternatives instead of only rejecting the proposals made by the government. Lagendijk, Joost and

Tom van der Lee Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

"Doorbraak van de eeuwige belofte. Hoe GroenLinks vier jaar herkenbare oppositie omzette in verkiezingswinst", in Kramer, P., T. van der Maas and L. Ornstein (eds.) (1998). ''Stemmen in Stromenland. De verkiezingen van 1098 nader bekeken'' Den Haag: SDU In the 1998 general election, GroenLinks more than doubled its seats to eleven. The charisma of "unofficial leader" Rosenmöller played an important role in this. Many new faces entered parliament, including

Femke Halsema Femke Halsema (; born 25 April 1966) is a Dutch politician and filmmaker. On 27 June 2018, she was appointed Mayor of Amsterdam and began serving a six-year term on 12 July 2018. She is the first woman to hold the position on a non-interim basi ...

, a political talent who had left the Labour Party for GroenLinks in 1997. The party began to speculate openly about joining government after the elections of 2002. The 1999

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

divided the party internally. The parliamentary party in the House of Representatives supported the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

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: GroenLinks would support the intervention as long as it limited itself to military targets. Prominent members of the founding parties including

Marcus Bakker Marcus Bakker (20 June 1923 – 24 December 2009) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) now merged into the GroenLinks (GL) party and journalist. Biography Early life Bakker was the son of an accountant w ...

and Joop Vogt left the party over this issue. In February 2001,

Roel van Duijn Roeland Hugo Gerrit (Roel) van Duijn (born 20 January 1943) 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 later wardcouncillor ...

and a few former members of The Greens joined GroenLinks. 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 or TROS may refer to: * 18281 Tros, an asteroid * Transformer read-only storage, a type of read-only memory * TROS, a Dutch broadcasting union, originally an acronym for Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting * Tros (mythology), a figure in Greek ...

program "Opgelicht" (In English "Framed") revealed that she had lied and that she did not have cancer. Later, she apologised on public television and claimed she suffered from

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

. In the same year, the parliamentary party supported the

invasion of Afghanistan In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operations ...

after the terrorist attacks of September 11. 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

, the parliamentary party changed its position: the attacks should be cancelled.

2002–present

The 2002 general election was characterised by changes in the political climate. The

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

political commentator Pim Fortuyn entered into politics. He had an anti-establishment message, combined with a call for restrictions on

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

. Although his critique was oriented at the

second Kok cabinet The second Kok cabinet, also called the second Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002. The cabinet was a continuation of the previous first Kok cabinet and was formed by the social-d ...

, Rosenmöller was one of the few politicians who could muster some resistance against his message. Days before the election, Fortuyn was assassinated. Ab Harrewijn, GroenLinks 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. GroenLinks 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

. She was unable to keep ten seats and lost two. In 2003, GroenLinks almost unanimously turned against the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. It took part in the protests against the war, for instance by organising its

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

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 emphasised individual freedom,

tolerance Tolerance or toleration is the state of tolerating, or putting up with, conditionally. Economics, business, and politics * Toleration Party, a historic political party active in Connecticut * Tolerant Systems, the former name of Veritas Software ...

, 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. Snels, B. (ed.) (2007). ''Vrijheid als Ideaal.'' Nijmegen: SUN. During the congress of February 2007 the party board was ordered to organise 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 GroenLinks delegation,

, 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 Dr. Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg (born 27 March 1970) is a Dutch politician for the GreenLeft who served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2017 and 2021. Between 1999 and 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament, and s ...

, 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 Farahnaz "Farah" Karimi ( fa, فرح کريمی; born 15 November 1960 in Hassanabad Yasukand, garuss) is an Iranian-Netherlands, Dutch Politics of the Netherlands, politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), Hous ...

wrote a book in which discussed in detail how she had taken part in the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, 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 (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

in the 1970s and the 1977 train hijacking by Moluccan youth and allegations of

welfare fraud Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

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 chosen by the party council in May 2006. In November 2006 Pormes left the Senate, he was replaced by

Goos Minderman The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) is a global system for sustained observations of the ocean comprising the oceanographic component of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). GOOS is administrated by the Intergovernmental Ocea ...

. In the

2006 Dutch municipal election The Dutch municipal elections of 2006 were held on 7 March 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 ...

, the party stayed relatively stable, losing only a few seats. After the elections GroenLinks took part in 75 local executives, including

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

where MP

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

and comedian Vincent Bijlo were last candidates. In the 2006 elections the party lost one seat. In the subsequent

cabinet formation Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, an initial exploratory round among the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Labour Party (PvdA) and

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(SP) failed, Halsema announced that GroenLinks 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

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

. In reaction to this the party board has set up a commission led by former MP and chair of the PPR

. They looked into the lost series of elections. In the summer of 2007 another committee was formed to organise a larger debate about the course of the party's principles, organisation 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 in 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, GroenLinks parliamentarian

Wijnand Duyvendak Anton Johan Wijnand (Wijnand) Duijvendak (born 30 November 1957) is a Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician. He is a former member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, House of Representatives for GreenLeft. Biography Du ...

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 14 August, after media reported that the burglary also led to threats against

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He was replaced by

Jolande Sap Johanna Catharina Maria "Jolande" Sap (born 22 May 1963) is a former Dutch politician and former educator and civil servant. A member of GroenLinks (GL), she replaced Wijnand Duyvendak as a member of the House of Representatives on 3 September 2 ...

.Kees Vendrik wordt woordvoerder Milieu, Klimaat & Globalisering
op GroenLinks.nl In 2008, MEPs

and

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:

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

Judith Sargentini Judith Sargentini (born 13 March 1974) is a former Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). She is a member of the GreenLeft ( nl, GroenLinks) party, which is part of The Greens–European Free Alliance, and the European Gre ...

, former MEP

Alexander de Roo Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, senator

Tineke Strik Martina Hermina Antonia (Tineke) Strik (born 28 September 1961 in Alphen, Gelderland) is a Dutch politician. From 2007 to 2019 she was a member of the Senate for GreenLeft. Since 2019 she is a member of the European Parliament for the Greens. B ...

, environmental researcher Bas Eickhout and

Niels van den Berge Cornelis Niels van den Berge (born 28 December 1984 in Bad Honnef) is a Dutch politician. As a member of GreenLeft (GroenLinks) he was a temporary MP from 12 January to 11 March 2011, replacing Mariko Peters, who was on maternity leave. He focuse ...

assistant of MEP Buitenweg. In an internal referendum Sargentini was elected. The

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

and

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. Their 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. Halsema resigned as party leader when these talks failed and was succeeded by

. In the 2012 general election, GroenLinks lost six seats and was left with four out of 150 seats. Following the disappointing result, Sap was forced to resign as party leader and was succeeded by

, who in turn handed his position to Jesse Klaver in 2015. Under Klaver's leadership, GroenLinks gradually rose in polls before climbing to an all-time high of 14 seats in the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

. The party entered

coalition talks A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

with the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

, the Christian Democratic Appeal and

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

, but the talks failed after Klaver demanded more refugees to be accepted. GroenLinks lost the 2021 general election, and unsuccesfully combined with the Labour Party during the subsequent government formation. There have been discussions about a merger with that party; they will participate in the

2023 Dutch Senate election An election to the Dutch Senate was held on 30 May 2023. The 75 members of the Senate were elected by members of the provincial councils and electoral colleges elected two months earlier in provincial and electoral college elections. The four ...

as one.

Name and logo

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 "

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

" in the name of the party, the PSP and the CPN the word "

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

". 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 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...

was called

– 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 between 1984 and 1989. GroenLinks logo (1989–1994).svg, Logo from 1989 to 1994 GroenLinks logo (1994–present).svg, Current logo GroenLinks logo (variant).png, Variant logo

Ideology and issues

Ideology

The party combines green and left-wing ideals. The core ideals of GroenLinks 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

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s and a respectful treatment of animals. * A fair distribution of natural resources between all citizens of the world and all generations. * A 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 rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. 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

tradition; and the Pacifist Socialist Party and the Communist Party of the Netherlands from the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

traditions. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, the parties had come to embrace

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

; 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 GroenLinks. She emphasised the freedom-loving tradition of the left and chose freedom as a key value. Her course is called

left-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

by herself and observers, although Halsema herself claims that she does not want to force an ideological change. Following

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, Halsema distinguishes between positive and

negative freedom Negative liberty is freedom from interference by other people. Negative liberty is primarily concerned with freedom from external restraint and contrasts with positive liberty (the possession of the power and resources to fulfill one's own pote ...

. According to Halsema, negative freedom is the freedom of citizens from government influence; she applies this concept especially to the

multicultural society The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

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 A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

and the environment where government should take more action. According to Halsema, GroenLinks is an undogmatic party.

Proposals

The

election manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

for the 2010 elections 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. GroenLinks considers itself a "

social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

party", which aims to reform the government finances and increase the position of "outsiders" on the labour market, such as migrant youth, single parents, workers with short term-contracts and people with disabilities. It disagrees with the parties on the right which, in the eyes of GroenLinks, 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 – which the party calls "powerless", because it merely offers the worst-off a benefit rather than prospects for work. The party wants to reform the Dutch

so it will benefit "outsiders" – those who have been excluded from the welfare state until now. To increase employment, the GroenLinks proposes a participation contract, where unemployment recipients sign an agreement with their local council to become involved in volunteer work, schooling, or work experience projects – for which they get paid minimum wage. 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 A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

. In order to create more employment, they want to implement the

green tax shift An environmental tax, ecotax (short for ecological taxation), or green tax is a tax levied on activities which are considered to be harmful to the environment and is intended to promote environmentally friendly activities via economic incentives. ...

which will lower taxes on lower paid labour. This would be compensated by higher taxes on pollution. In order to increase prospects for the underprivileged, it wants to invest in education, especially the

vmbo Pre-vocational secondary education (, abbr. VMBO) 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 ...

(middle-level vocational education). 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 wants to decrease income differences by making

child benefit Child benefit or children's allowance is a social security payment which is distributed to the parents or guardians of children, teenagers and in some cases, young adults. A number of countries operate different versions of the program. In most co ...

s. The party favours reform of government

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

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 is 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 Development aid is a type of foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. Closely-related concepts include: developm ...

with underdeveloped countries. GroenLinks wants to increase spending on development aid to 0.8% of the

gross national product The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...

. It wants to open the European markets to goods from Third World countries, under conditions of

fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...

. In order to ensure free and fair trade, it wants to increase and democratise international economic organisations such as the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. The party also favours greater international control over financial markets. GroenLinks favours

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

, but is critical about the current policies of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. It favoured the

European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

, but after it was voted down in the 2005 referendum, GroenLinks advocated a new treaty which emphasised

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

and

subsidiarity Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines subsidi ...

. The party is critical about the

war against terrorism The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

. It wants to strengthen the

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

powers of the

and reform the Dutch armed forces into a peace force, with the functions of

to be taken over by the European Union and the United Nations. GroenLinks wants to solve environmental problems, especially

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, by stimulating durable alternatives. The party wants to use taxes and

emissions trading Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...

to stimulate

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...

as an alternative to both

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...

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 Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

. It wants to invest in clean

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

, as an alternative to private transport. Investments in

can be financed by not expanding

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

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 Industrial agriculture is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of crops and animals and animal products like eggs or milk. The methods of industrial agriculture include innovation in agricultural machinery and far ...

. Moreover, GroenLinks wants to codify

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

in the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. GroenLinks values individual freedom and the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

. The party wants to legalise

soft drugs Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

. 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 A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

to allow non-commercial reproduction and the use of

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...

in the public sector. In the long term, it seeks to abolish the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

and create a

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

. It also favours a reduction of the size of the government bureaucracy, for instance by decreasing the number of

Dutch ministries The most influential part of the executive of the Government of the Netherlands The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a decentralised unitar ...

and abolishing the

. Finally, GroenLinks favours liberal

and asylum policies. It wants to empower victims of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

by giving them a residence permit and it wants to abolish the income requirements for marriage migration.

Electoral results

House of Representatives

Senate

European Parliament

Provincial

Municipalities

On the municipal level, the party provides 9 mayors (out of 351). At the

2022 Dutch municipal elections The Dutch municipal elections of 2022 were held on 16 March in 333 municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determined the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years. Background In the previous municipal electio ...

GroenLinks won 522 seats, the most the party had ever won.

Representation

Members of the House of Representatives

Following the

2021 elections Many elections occurred in 2021. The National Democratic Institute maintains calendar of elections around the world * 2021 United Nations Security Council election * 2021 national electoral calendar * 2021 local electoral calendar Africa * 2021 ...

, the party now has eight seats in the House of Representatives: # Jesse Klaver, current Parliamentary group leader #

Corinne Ellemeet Jkvr. Corinne Elisabeth de Jonge van Ellemeet (born 26 April 1976) is a Dutch politician. In the parliamentary elections of 2017, she was elected to the House of Representatives for GreenLeft. Previously, she was a temporary member of the Hous ...

Lisa Westerveld Elisabeth Marij (Lisa) Westerveld (born 16 November 1981) is a Dutch politician serving as a member of GroenLinks in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands since 2017. Between 2014 and 2017 she was a member of the municipality council of ...

Kauthar Bouchallikht Kauthar Bouchallikht (born 16 May 1994) is a Dutch politician, climate activist and publicist. She served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2021 and 2023 on behalf of the green political party GroenLinks. Bouchallikht was the fir ...

# Suzanne Kröger # Senna Maatoug #

Laura Bromet Laura Bromet (born 17 January 1970) is a Dutch politician of GroenLinks and a member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives since 2018. Bromet studied Dutch language and literature and also cultural studies at ...

Members of the Senate

Following the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in coun ...

the party has eight representatives in the

: * Margreet de Boer * Ruard Ganzevoort * Roel van Gurp *

, deputy leader. * Saskia Kluit *

, parliamentary leader. * Gala Veldhoen * Kees Vendrik

Members of the European Parliament

Current members of the

since the European Parliamentary election of 2019: 3 Seats: # Bas Eickhout (top candidate) #

# Kim van Sparrentak

Electorate

According to a survey done in 2006 more women vote for GroenLinks than men by a margin of 20%. The party also disproportionately appeals to gay voters. The party also polls well among migrant voters, especially those from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, where its support is twice as high as in the general population. GroenLinks 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 Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

, opening the borders for asylum seekers, the

and are firmly against building new nuclear plants. GroenLinks has the second-largest proportion of

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

voters of any political party in the Netherlands, with 8.4% or 16.9% of GroenLinks voters in saying in 2 surveys in 2021 that they did not eat meat. The party with the highest proportion of vegan/vegetarian voters in both surveys was the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. Since 2019, the PvdD's political lead ...

, for which the share laid at 17.3% or 27.9%.

Style and campaign

The logo of GroenLinks is the name of the party with the word "

" written in

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

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 A number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a ''Dove'' lithograph by ...

projected on a green triangle on which "PPR PSP CPN EVP" was written and next to it GroenLinks in green and pink. Many well-known Dutch people have supported GroenLinks election campaigns. In 1989, choreographer Rudi van Dantzig and writer Astrid Roemer were last candidates.Lucardie, P., I Noomen en G. Voerman, (1990) "Kroniek 1989. Overzicht van de partijpolitieke gebeurtenissen van het jaar 2001" in ''Jaarboek 1989'' Groningen: Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen In 2006, comedian shared this position with

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

. Comedian , rapper

Raymzter Raymond Christiaan Rensen a.k.a. Raymzter (born 1979 in Almere) 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 early in life after listening to a Public Enemy ...

, astronaut

Wubbo Ockels Wubbo Johannes Ockels (28 March 1946 – 18 May 2014) was a Dutch physicist and astronaut with the European Space Agency who, in 1985, became the first Dutch citizen in space when he flew on STS-61-A as a payload specialist. He later becam ...

en soccer player

Khalid Boulahrouz Khalid Boulahrouz (born 28 December 1981) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. His nickname is "The Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" the opposition. He was noted for his tackling and versatility at the back. ...

, business man , journalist

Anil Ramdas Anil Ramdas (Paramaribo, 16 February 1958 – Loenen aan de Vecht, 16 February 2012) was a Dutch-Surinamese columnist, correspondent, essayist, journalist, and TV and radio host. He was generally considered the V.S.Naipaul specialist of The Nethe ...

, actrice

Kim van Kooten Kim van Kooten (born 26 January 1974 in Purmerend, North Holland) 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 City, in wh ...

, commediene , comedian

Herman Finkers Hermenegildus Felix Victor Maria "Herman" Finkers (; born December 9, 1954) is a Dutch comedian, 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 ...

, artist Herman van Veen, soccer player-columnist Jan Mulder and writer

Geert Mak Geert Ludzer Mak (born 4 December 1946 in Vlaardingen) is a Dutch journalist and non-fiction writer. Honors For his book ''In Europe: Travels through the Twentieth Century'' he received the Leipziger Buchpreis zur Europäische Verständigung (20 ...

have also committed their name to (part of) the 2006 or 2007 GroenLinks election campaign. In 2004, singer Ellen ten Damme, poet

Rutger Kopland Rutger Kopland (born Rudi van den Hoofdakker) (4 August 1934, Goor – 11 July 2012, Glimmen) was a Dutch poet who gained great popularity for his "accessible, thoughtful style, his mild irony, his sentimentality" and whose collections sold over 2 ...

and presenter

Martijn Krabbé Martijn Joop Krabbé (born 26 March 1968) is a Dutch radio and television presenter. Career Krabbé started his career in Dutch media as a 19-year-old in the Dutch TV programme "Popformule". Later, he hosted several Dutch television programmes, ...

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 is the act of gardening – raising food, plants, or flowers – on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned sites, areas that are not being cared for, or private property. It enco ...

in the Netherlands in 2008 was heavily supported by GroenLinks, as part of the permanent campaign. Pand van GroenLinks in Utrecht

Organisation

Organisational structure

The highest organ of GroenLinks is the

, 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 The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

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. GroenLinks 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. GroenLinks has 250 branches in nearly all Municipalities of the Netherlands, Dutch municipalities and each province of the Netherlands, province. There are multiple municipalities in

and Rotterdam, where every deelgemeente, 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 GroenLinks 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 GroenLinks: *

, the independent youth organisation of GroenLinks * De Linker Wang ("The Left Cheek"), platform for Religion and Politics, which is a

platform, which was formed by former members of the Evangelical People's Party.Lucardie, P., I Noomen en G. Voerman, (1992) "Kroniek 2001. Overzicht van de partijpolitieke gebeurtenissen van het jaar 1991" in ''Jaarboek 1991'' Groningen: Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen * Scientific Bureau GroenLinks, the independent political think tank which publishes "De Helling" (Dutch for "the Slope"). * PinkLeft, an LGBT organisation for GroenLinks members. GroenLinks 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 Greens–European Free Alliance group. GroenLinks cooperates with seven other Dutch parties in the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, an institute which supports democratic development in developing countries.

Relationships to other parties

GroenLinks was founded as a mid-sized party to the left of the Labour Party (PvdA). In the 1994 elections, the

(SP) also entered parliament. GroenLinks 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 GroenLinks. The Lijstverbinding, electoral alliance between SP and GL in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 elections, and between GroenLinks and PvdA in the 2004 European elections are examples of this position. In the 2007 Dutch Senate election, 2007 First Chamber election, it had an electoral alliance with the

. More and more, however, GroenLinks is seen as the most culturally progressive of the three parties.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Netherlands, Politics GroenLinks, Political parties in the Netherlands 1989 establishments in the Netherlands Political parties established in 1989 Green parties in Europe Organisations based in Utrecht (city)