Initiative for Catalonia Greens ( ca, Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, ICV; ) was an eco-socialist

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 ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in

. IC later developed into a political party, and PSUC was dissolved. The youth of ICV was called ''Joves d'Esquerra Verda'' (Green Left Youth). It used to be called JambI, ''Joves amb Iniciativa'' (Youth with Initiative). In the elections to 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 ...

in 2004 ICV ran on the Izquierda Unida list. One MEP,

Raül Romeva Raül Romeva i Rueda (born 12 March 1971) is a politician from Spain and a former Member of the European Parliament with the , part of the European Greens. He sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Committee on Wom ...

, was elected from ICV which joined the Green Group. The ICV formed part of the past ruling tripartite coalition (along with the Socialist Party of Catalonia and the

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social-democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also in ...

, a left-wing Catalan Nationalist Party) in the

Generalitat of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; oc, label= Aranese, Generalitat de Catalonha; es, Generalidad de Cataluña), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia politically organizes its self-government. It is formed ...

. The coalition governed Catalonia from 2004-2010. ICV was given responsibility for the Ministry of the Environment in the share-out of power in the new government. Initiative for Catalonia Greens had an agreement of mutual association with Equo. It was dissolved in 2019. In July 2020 it was announced that the party would be re-founded as Green Left.

Ideology

Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds called itself an "ecosocialist" party and its members were therefore "ecosocialists". This ideology is summarized in the book ''The Ecosocialist Manifesto'', co-written by a number of left-wing green politicians. This ideology looks to renew the left and is firmly against communism as practised in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and against capitalism, as practised by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, but also against social democracy, which it considers as only a lesser evil that does not respond to the environmental and social challenges ahead. From an ecosocialist point of view, both communism and capitalism are two faces of the productivist "mode of production" (a Marxist term), which should be phased out if the ecological health of the planet is to survive. The manifesto also considers this ideology to be deeply feminist and in favour of the "freedom of the European peoples" (i.e. for self-determination for the Basque Country, Galicia or

). The party voted in favour of the Catalan parliament's declaration defining Catalonia as a "sovereign political and juridical entity" (''"subjecte polític i jurídic sobirà"'') in 2013.

Presidents

# Rafael Ribó i Massó (1987–2000) # Joan Saura (2000–present)

Electoral results

Spanish Parliament

Congress of Deputies

Catalan Parliament

European Parliament

References

External links

Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds web site (in Catalan)
{{Authority control 1987 establishments in Spain Catalan nationalism Ecosocialist parties European Green Party Global Greens member parties Green political parties in Spain Political parties established in 1987 Political parties in Catalonia Socialist parties in Catalonia