Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Greens – The Green Alternative (, ) 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 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area'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
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of the
Schallenberg government The Schallenberg government () was sworn in as the 34th Government of Austria on 11 October 2021. When Sebastian Kurz announced his resignation on 9 October 2021, the Austrian People's Party proposed to continue the coalition with The Greens – ...
, the
Second Kurz government The Second Kurz government ( or ''Kurz II'' for short) was the 33rd Government of Austria. Led by Sebastian Kurz as chancellor and Werner Kogler as vice-chancellor, it was sworn in by President Alexander Van der Bellen on 7 January 2020. It wa ...
, and the
Nehammer government The Nehammer government () was sworn in as the 35th Government of Austria on 6 December 2021. It was headed by Chancellor of Austria, Chancellor Karl Nehammer. On 5 January 2025, after the end of negotiations with the SPÖ and NEOS, Nehammer res ...
. It won 8.2% of votes cast in the
2024 Austrian legislative election General election, Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2024 to elect the 28th National Council (Austria), National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The election saw the far-right Freedom Party o ...
. The current
President of Austria The president of Austria () is the head of state of the Austria, Republic of Austria. The office of the president was established in 1920 by the Constituent National Assembly (Austria), Constituent National Assembly of the First Austrian Repu ...
,
Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...
, is from the Green Party. The party was founded in 1986 under the name "Green Alternative" (''Grüne Alternative''), following the merger of the more conservative Green party ''Vereinte Grüne Österreichs'' (United Greens of Austria VGÖ, founded 1982) and the more progressive party ''Alternative Liste Österreichs'' (Alternative List Austria, ALÖ, founded 1982). Since 1993, the party has carried the official name ''Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative (Grüne)'', but refers to itself in English as "Austrian Greens". There are still differences between the former members of the old Alternative and VGÖ factions within the party, reflected in the differing approaches of the national and state parties. Apart from
ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...
issues such as
environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...
, the Greens are
Pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...
and campaign for the rights of
minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...
and advocate a socio-ecological (''ökosozial'')
tax reform Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxati ...
. Their basic values according to their charter in 2001 are: "
direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
,
nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
,
ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
,
solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
,
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and
self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
". The party is a member of the
European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–Eur ...
and
Global Greens The Global Greens (GG) is an international network of political parties and movements which work to implement the Global Greens Charter. It consists of various national green political parties, partner networks, and other organizations associat ...
.


History

In 1978 the Austrian
Green movement Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It ...
began with the successful campaign to prevent the opening of the
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...
plant in
Zwentendorf Zwentendorf an der Donau is a small market municipality in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is located at , in the Tulln Basin on the southern bank of the Danube. The place attained public attention as the site of the only Austrian nuclear ...
(which had been favoured by
Bruno Kreisky Bruno Kreisky (; 22 January 1911 – 29 July 1990) was an Austrian social democratic politician who served as foreign minister from 1959 to 1966 and as chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72, he was the oldest chancellor after World War II. Kr ...
's government), the Green Party was born in 1984 during the sit-in protests which prevented the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
power plant at Hainburg from being built.


Federal level

In the 1986 parliamentary elections the Green Party started off with 4.82% of all votes cast and entered parliament with eight National Council mandates. In the early elections to National Council in
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, the Green Party nationwide received 9.47% of votes, and won 17 mandates to the National Council. At that time, it was the highest number of votes garnered by any European Green party. When the Greens took their seats in parliament for the first time, they chose to appear somewhat unconventional. They initially refused to adapt their behaviour to that of the other parties; an example of this is their refusal to elect a chairperson (''Klubobmann/Klubobfrau'') and designated a puppet made out of straw instead. Delegates would appear in parliament dressed in casual wear such as jeans and trainers. Worldwide attention was drawn when the Green delegate Andreas Wabl hoisted a
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
flag on the speakers podium in the Austrian parliament, protesting against then Federal President
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations#List of secretaries-general, secretary-general of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 a ...
. After the national election in
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, the Greens entered into preliminary negotiations about a possible coalition government with the conservative ÖVP. During negotiations, party leadership was accused of internally black-mailing skeptical members. Negotiations between the two parties were subsequently called off, after the results with the ÖVP were not sufficient. The Green youth organisation ''Grünalternative Jugend'' (Green Alternative Youth or GAJ) briefly occupied the rooms of the Green parliamentary club in the Austrian parliament building in protest. In 2003 three Green federal counsellors formed their own club in the Upper House
Federal Council Federal Council may refer to: Governmental bodies * Federal Council of Australasia, a forerunner to the current Commonwealth of Australia * Federal Council of Austria, the upper house of the Austrian federal parliament * Federal Council of German ...
(''Bundesrat'') of Parliament. After the 2006 elections the Greens gained four seats and ended up with 21 seats and became the third largest party in Parliament, however did not have enough mandates to form a coalition government with either the
Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...
(ÖVP) or
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...
(SPÖ) and became the largest opposition party, while the SPÖ and ÖVP formed a
grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...
government. The party suffered from internal struggles in 2017, losing its Youth wing (which split away and formed an ephemeral
joint list The Joint List (, ''al-Qa'imah al-Mushtarakah'', , ''HaReshima HaMeshutefet'') was a political alliance of four of the Arab-Israeli, Arab-majority political parties in Israel: Hadash, Balad (political party), Balad, the United Arab List and Ta' ...
with the
Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest Communist party, communist parties. The KP ...
) and later experiencing a split of
Peter Pilz Peter Pilz (born 22 January 1954) is an Austrian politician ( JETZT). From 1986 to 2017, he was a member of the Austrian Green Party. Political career Born in Kapfenberg, Styria, Pilz was a member of the Austrian Parliament (''Nationalrat'') be ...
's faction, forming the
Peter Pilz List JETZT – Pilz List (, "jetzt" meaning "now"), founded in 2017 as the Peter Pilz List (''Liste Peter Pilz''), was a green and left-wing populist political party in Austria. It was founded by Peter Pilz, a former member of The Greens – The Gree ...
. The 2017 legislative election saw a collapse for the party, scoring only 3.8% and losing its representation in the Nationalrat for the first time since 1986. Following the results, party spokesman Ingrid Felipe resigned from her post and was replaced by
Werner Kogler Werner Kogler (; born 20 November 1961) is an Austrian politician of the Green Party who served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 2020 to 2024 and as minister for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the governments of chancellors Seba ...
. The party saw a revival in the
2019 European election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states tha ...
, in which they scored 14.1% and elected 2 MEPs. The election saw the collapse of JETZ. The party eventually later this year, experienced a strong recovery and performed better well leading up to the 2019 snap legislative election, the Greens returned to the National Council () with their best ever result in a legislative election, scoring 13.9% and electing 26 MPs, an upswing of 10.2% from 2017. In the
2024 Austrian legislative election General election, Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2024 to elect the 28th National Council (Austria), National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The election saw the far-right Freedom Party o ...
, the party lost 10 seats and fell to 8.2%. The party was not included in the initial coalition negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS.


Chairpersons since 1986

The chart below shows a timeline of the Green chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria. The left green bar shows all the chairpersons (''Bundessprecher'', abbreviated as "Chair.") of the Green party, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ), black (ÖVP), and light grey (Independent) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (''Bundesregierung'', abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for the
cabinets A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...
. ImageSize = width:450 height:500 PlotArea = width:400 height:440 left:50 bottom:50 Legend = columns:3 left:50 top:25 columnwidth:65 DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1986 till:2021 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1986 # there is no automatic collision detection, # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap Colors= id:Grüne value:green legend:Grüne id:SPÖ value:red legend:SPÖ id:ÖVP value:gray(0.25) legend:ÖVP id:Ind value:gray(0.75) legend:Independent Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar Define $dy = -4 # adjust height PlotData= width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S shift:($dx,$dy) bar:Chair. color:Grüne from:1986 till:1988 text:
Freda Meissner-Blau Freda Meissner-Blau (11 March 1927 – 22 December 2015) was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party. Early li ...
from:1988 till:1992 text:
Johannes Voggenhuber Johannes Voggenhuber (born 5 June 1950) is an Austrian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Austrian Green Party, which is part of the European Greens. He was vice president of the Parliament's Constitutional A ...
from:1992 till:1994 text:
Peter Pilz Peter Pilz (born 22 January 1954) is an Austrian politician ( JETZT). From 1986 to 2017, he was a member of the Austrian Green Party. Political career Born in Kapfenberg, Styria, Pilz was a member of the Austrian Parliament (''Nationalrat'') be ...
from:1994 till:1995 text:
Madeleine Petrovic Madeleine Petrovic (; born 25 June 1956) is an Austrian politician. From 1994 to 1996 she was federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party. Biography Early life She attended Austrian gymnasium (school), gymnasium which she finished 1974, and ...
from:1995 till:1997 text: Christoph Chorherr from:1997 till:2008 text:
Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...
from:2008 till:2016 text:
Eva Glawischnig Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek ( Glawischnig; born 28 February 1969) is an Austrian politician of the Austrian Green Party, and its federal spokeswoman from 2008 until 2017. She was the plaintiff in the landmark case ''Eva Glawishnig-Piesczek v. Faceb ...
from:2015 till:2017 text: Ingrid Felipe from:2017 till:end text:
Werner Kogler Werner Kogler (; born 20 November 1961) is an Austrian politician of the Green Party who served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 2020 to 2024 and as minister for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the governments of chancellors Seba ...
bar:Govern. color:SPÖ from:1986 till:1987 text: Vranitzky I from:1987 till:1990 text:Vranitzky II from:1990 till:1994 text:Vranitzky III from:1994 till:1996 text:Vranitzky IV from:1996 till:1997 text:Vranitzky V from:1997 till:2000 text: Klima from:2007 till:2008 text: Gusenbauer from:2008 till:2013 text: Faymann I from:2013 till:2016 text:Faymann II from:2016 till:2017 text:
Kern Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienkir ...
color:ÖVP from:2000 till:2003 text: Schüssel I from:2003 till:2007 text:Schüssel II from:2017 till:2019 text: Kurz I from:2020 till:end text: Kurz II color:Ind from:2019 till:2020 text: Bierlein


Federal state level

The Green party also entered the parliaments or assemblies (''
Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...
'') of Austrian federal states and communal governments. Following is an analysis of the party on the
federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...
(''Länder'') level:


Burgenland

The
Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...
Greens were able to take their seats in the federal state parliament (Landtag) for the first time in 2000. The party received 5.49% of the tally, which meant two mandates. In the federal state elections in 2005 these two seats were reaffirmed with 5.21% received of all votes cast.


Carinthia

In the southernmost federal state
Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...
, different Green parties ran state elections: the '' KEL/AL'' in 1984, '' Anderes Kärnten'' in 1989 and 1994, and '' Demokratie 99'' in 1999. These parties were, however, never able to enter the federal state assembly, since the Carinthian voting system requires a party to win a direct mandate in one of the four regional election districts, which effectively means a 10%-
threshold Threshold may refer to: Science Biology * Threshold (reference value) * Absolute threshold * Absolute threshold of hearing * Action potential * Aerobic threshold * Anaerobic threshold * Dark adaptation threshold * Epidemic threshold * Flicke ...
in order to enter.
Only in 2004 were the Carinthian Greens finally able to take their seats in the federal state assembly, where they are represented by
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
artist Rolf Holub and Barbara Lesjak. On a regional level, for example in the federal state capital Klagenfurt, the Carinthian Greens have already played a political role for a longer time. In the Klagenfurt
city council 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, borough counc ...
, the Greens are represented by Andrea Wulz, Matthias Koechl,
Angelika Hoedl Angelika may refer to: * Angelika (given name) * Angelika Film Center, theater chain See also * Pieris angelika, butterfly * Angelica (disambiguation) ''Angelica'' is a genus of herbs, especially the cultivated species ''Angelica archangelica ...
and Reinhold Gasper. Since the local election in 2003, the Klagenfurt Greens were able to take one of nine seats in the proportional city-government, Andrea Wulz is the town councillor for issues relating to women, family matters and social
housing project Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
s.


Lower Austria

In 1998 the
Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...
n Greens were represented with two delegates in the federal state assembly. In the federal state elections in 2003 the Greens received 7.22% and thus won four mandates, which enabled them to form a parliamentary group - called ''club'' in Austrian politics - in the assembly. With
Madeleine Petrovic Madeleine Petrovic (; born 25 June 1956) is an Austrian politician. From 1994 to 1996 she was federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party. Biography Early life She attended Austrian gymnasium (school), gymnasium which she finished 1974, and ...
, the Lower Austrian Greens have a former federal spokeswoman and one of the most outspoken animal activists of Austria as their leader (''Klubobfrau''). In 2005 the Lower Austrian Greens managed to win and take their seats in 100 municipal assemblies and as of 2005 had four vice-mayors. Their managing director in Lower Austria is Thomas Huber.


Salzburg

After the federal state elections in 1989 the
Salzburg State Salzburg (, ; , also known as ''Salzburgerland''; ) is an Austria, Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state. In German it is called a , a German-to-English dictionary translates that to ''federal state'' and the European Commission calls ...
Greens had two mandates in the Salzburg federal state assembly, in 1994 three and in 1999 again two. Under the leadership of
Cyriak Schwaighofer Cyriak Harris, known mononymously as Cyriak (), his B3ta username Mutated Monty, and Mouldy in the Doom community, is an English freelance animator, artist, composer, and author from Brighton. He is known for his surreal and bizarre short web ...
the Greens performed under their expectations in the 2004 federal state elections and could not achieve the desired club status of at least three mandates. As voter-current analyses showed, the small increases in votes were largely due to former voters of the
Liberal Forum The Liberal Forum (, LiF) was a centrist, liberal political party in Austria. The party was active from February 1993 to January 2014, when the party merged into NEOS – The New Austria. A member of the Liberal International and the Allianc ...
(LiF), which did not run in the Salzburg elections. In March 2009 they were down from 8% to 7.3%, keeping their two seats in Salzburg State's parliament. The Bürgerliste (Citizen List) is the common platform of the Greens in Salzburg municipality. Like many other autonomous municipal groups it carries its own name.


Styria

The
Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
n Greens have three delegates sitting in the federal state assembly, federal state spokesperson Lambert Schönleitner, Sandra Krautwaschl, and Lara Köck. There are two independent Greens parties: on the one hand the federal state party, on the other hand there is the ''Die Grünen - Alternative Liste Graz'' party for the federal state capital
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
. In the Graz city-council the Greens are represented by Sigi Binder, Lisa Rücker, Hermann Candussi and Christina Jahn. Styria has the largest Austrian Green youth organization in Austria, called ''Grüne Jugend Steiermark'' (Green Youth Styria). Beside the Green Youth Styria there also exists Austria's first Green students' organization, the ''ECO Students''.


Tyrol

In
Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
the Greens (official name: ''Die Grünen – die Grüne Alternative Tirol'') were able to win seats and placed in 1994 Eva Lichtenberger as Austria's first Green state
councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
in a local government, responsible for environmental affairs. The 2003 Tyrolean ''
Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...
'' (state assembly) elections were the best ever for the Austrian Greens, winning 15.59% of all votes cast. In the capital city of
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...
the Greens reached approximately 27% of the vote. The Tyrolean election result also meant that the Greens could for the first time in history nominate a member to the Upper House of Parliament. Since 2003 the Green delegate to the
Federal Council Federal Council may refer to: Governmental bodies * Federal Council of Australasia, a forerunner to the current Commonwealth of Australia * Federal Council of Austria, the upper house of the Austrian federal parliament * Federal Council of German ...
(''Bundesrat'') of Parliament is
Eva Konrad Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), in the ''Devil May Cry'' video game series * ...
, former chairlady of the Austrian National Union of Students (''Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft'') of the
University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...
. The communal elections of 2004 brought a doubling of the mandates for the Tyrolean Greens. City elections in
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...
in 2006 were a success for the Greens and they gained 8 of the 40 seats in the parliament of
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...
. In the elections to the European parliament the Tyrolean Greens obtained 17.32%, their best result until then. Eva Lichtenberger subsequently changed her position to become a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
(MEP). The results in Innsbruck were particularly good: there the Green party received 28.28%, which made it the strongest party, even before the Christian-democratic ÖVP and the social-democratic SPÖ. The Greens were able to score on a number of issues that they have been fighting for years. Besides the social topics above all the problems of transit traffic over the
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
was important. The Tyrolean Greens have experts on traffic issues with MEP Eva Lichtenberger, the national speaker and club chairperson
Georg Willi Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg, an Internet meme See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: ...
and the speaker of group of regional of Innsbruck Gerhard Fritz. The issue of transit traffic through the Tyrol is of great importance, because the state is troubled by the massive transit traffic between Germany and Italy over the
Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass ( , shortly ; ) is a mountain pass over the Alps which forms the Austria-Italy border, border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Alps, major passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowes ...
. Since the Tyrol sits right in between Germany and Italy, the bulk of the commercial traffic passes through there. This heavy-duty traffic has devastating effects on the fragile alpine environment and decreases the quality of life for the inhabitants. Since the entry to the European Union, Austria had to give up any quota limitations on how much international traffic coming from EU-countries is allowed to pass through its territory. The Tyrolean Greens accused the federal government of not having pushed for a better deal with the European Union concerning transit-traffic and in effect abandoning the concerns of the citizens. They also heavily criticised the government's failure to negotiate a follow-up of the 1994 transit-treaty signed with the EU. Apart from the Greens, various anti-transit
civic movement The Civic Movement (, OH) was a liberal political party based in the Czech Republic, which existed from 1991 to 1995. The party was established after the break-up of Civic Forum by the liberal wing of Civic Forum, while the conservative wing establ ...
s have formed to protest against the environmental damages caused by the traffic. Sitting in the National Council is
Kurt Grünewald Kurt is a male given name in Germanic languages, Germanic languages. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad (name), Konrad/Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. Like ...
, a Tyrolean member of parliament, as well as the former leader of the Greens
Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...
, who has Tyrolean roots (he spent a part of his youth there and went to high school in Innsbruck). The results of the Tyrolean ''Landtag'' elections: 2003 delegates: Sepp Brugger, Maria Scheiber,
Uschi Schwarzl Ursula is a feminine given name in several languages. The name is derived from a diminutive of the Latin ''ursa'', which means "bear". In the Anglosphere, English-speaking world, the name was most common in the 16th century, but has since bec ...
, Elisabeth Wiesmüller und Georg Willi (club chairman);
1999 delegates:
Maria Scheiber Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...
,
Elisabeth Wiesmüller Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ( ...
, Georg Willi (club chairman);
1994 delegates: Bernhard Ernst, Franz Klug, Max Schneider und Georg Willi (club chairman 'Klubobmann'';
1989 delegates: Eva Lichtenberger, Jutta Seethaler,
Franz Klug Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...
.


Upper Austria

In 1997 the
Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...
n Greens successfully entered the Upper Austrian ''Landtag'' (state assembly) for the first time. After the state elections in 2003 (state elections in Upper Austria are held every six years, not five like in the other states), the Greens were able to win even more seats. The campaign was already aimed at gaining ministerial seats in the state government. Since the conservative Christian-democratic ÖVP was the strongest party, this would have meant for the Greens to enter into a coalition government with them (the so-called "''Schwarz-Grün''" lack-Greencoalition, named after the party-colours). This new political constellation was quite controversial amongst party members on both sides. In the Green party, the leader Rudi Anschober was able to convince party members and after some dealing became state councillor for environmental affairs. The Greens of the state capital of
Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
under the leadership of city councillor Jürgen Himmelbauer were most against this black-green project. On the national level, the Upper Austrian Greens were able to nominate and send to the parliamentary Upper House
Federal Council Federal Council may refer to: Governmental bodies * Federal Council of Australasia, a forerunner to the current Commonwealth of Australia * Federal Council of Austria, the upper house of the Austrian federal parliament * Federal Council of German ...
(''Bundesrat'') councillor Ruperta Lichtenecker.


Vorarlberg

The
Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...
Greens were the first to ever win mandates in an Austrian state assembly election. Already in 1984 they were able to win 13% of the votes in the Vorarlberg state assembly elections, which for that time was an absolute sensation. The charismatic alpine farmer Kaspanaze Simma from
Bregenzerwald The Bregenzerwald (, ) is one of the main regions in the state of Vorarlberg (Austria). It overlaps, but is not coterminous with, the Bregenz Forest Mountains, which belong to a range of the Northern Limestone Alps, specifically the northern flys ...
was the leading candidate, it was mainly due to his efforts why the party was so instantly successful. Because of their strength, the Greens were allowed to form their own parliamentary fraction (''Klub''), which caused some logistical problems as the newly constructed ''Landtag'' building in 1981 only provided space for the traditional three parties (ÖVP, SPÖ, FPÖ), not four. Since the traditional
organic farming Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...
sector is important in the western Austrian regions, the Greens were able to gain support. In the following years the Greens were able to consolidate their position by gaining seats on the communal and municipal level. Occasionally they lost their official club status in the state assembly, when they fared poorly from 1999 to 2004. In 2006 the speaker of the Vorarlberg Greens was
Johannes Rauch Johannes Rauch (; born 24 April 1959) is an Austrian politician (Green Party) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection in the government of chancellor Karl Nehammer since 8 March 2022. Bef ...
. The results of the Vorarlberg ''Landtag'' elections: 1 Combined result of ALÖ and VGÖ


Vienna

The
Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...
Greens started nominating candidates in the Vienna ''Gemeinderat'' (municipal council or state assembly) in 1983 and were able to enter in 1991. Over the years they have been able to continually gather support. A lot of support has been coming from former
Liberal Forum The Liberal Forum (, LiF) was a centrist, liberal political party in Austria. The party was active from February 1993 to January 2014, when the party merged into NEOS – The New Austria. A member of the Liberal International and the Allianc ...
voters, after the liberals failed to enter any legislature. The traditional strongholds in Vienna for the Greens are the districts of
Neubau Neubau (; ; "New Build") is the seventh district of Vienna (). It is located near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Neubau is a heavily populated urban area, with a major shopping area and ...
(2005: 43.26%),
Josefstadt Josefstadt (; ; "Joseph-Town") is the eighth district of Vienna (). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and resi ...
(32.26%),
Alsergrund Alsergrund (; ) is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. As a central district, the area is densely populated. Accor ...
(29.43%),
Mariahilf Mariahilf (; ; "Mary's help") is the 6th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850. Mariahilf is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings. Wien.gv.a ...
(28.97%) and
Wieden Wieden (; ) is the 4th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (). It is near the centre of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but its borders were changed later. Wieden is a small region near the city centre. Wien.gv.at webpage (s ...
(25.14%). In the 2001 ''Gemeinderat'' elections, the Greens were able to win the majority of a district for the first time. In the district of
Neubau Neubau (; ; "New Build") is the seventh district of Vienna (). It is located near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Neubau is a heavily populated urban area, with a major shopping area and ...
they won 32.55% and were able to nominate the ''Bezirksvorsteher'' (mayor of the district). The results of 2001 also allowed the Viennese Greens to nominate
Stefan Schennach Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...
as federal councilor to the Upper House of Parliament ('' Bundesrat''). But despite the strong gains, the Greens were not able to enter into a coalition government with the SPÖ, since the social-democrats were able to win an absolute majority. The
2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...
were the best for the Viennese Greens so far. From the total tally, they received 22%, which put them ahead of the Christian-democratic ÖVP and placed them on second position behind the SPÖ (37.7%). In Neubau the Greens received 41%. They were also able to win first place in the districts of Wieden, Mariahilf, Josefstadt and Alsergrund. In the 2005 ''Gemeinderat'' elections, the Greens were able to win votes, but missed their target of becoming the second most powerful party and ended up on fourth place, right behind the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ). Because of the different weighing by districts, the Greens received 14 mandates, one more than the FPÖ. They were also able to place another city-councillor. In the districts, the party was able to consolidate their holding on Neubau, as well as win the majority of votes in Josefstadt. With that, the Greens were able to nominate a second Green district-mayor. The second place was won in the districts of
Leopoldstadt Leopoldstadt (; ; "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal district of Vienna () in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th district), forms a large island surrou ...
,
Margareten Margareten (; ) is the fifth district of Vienna (). It is near the old town of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later.Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus (; ) is the 15th municipal Districts of Vienna, District of Vienna, Austria (). It is in central Vienna, west of Innere Stadt. It borders Neubau and Mariahilf in the east, Meidling and Hietzing in the south, Penzing (Vienna) ...
and
Alsergrund Alsergrund (; ) is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. As a central district, the area is densely populated. Accor ...
. The Green delegates to the Viennese ''Gemeinderat'' or ''Landtag'' as of 2006 were:
Maria Vassilakou Maria Vassilakou (; born 23 February 1969) is a Greek-born Austrian politician. She served as leader of the Viennese Green Party from 2004 to 2010 and Deputy Mayor and Deputy Governor of Vienna from 2010 to 2019, as well as Executive Councillor ...
(club-chairlady 'Klubobfrau'', Waltraut Antonov,
Heidi Cammerlander Heidemarie "Heidi" Cammerlander (born 26 September 1942) is an Austrian social worker and politician who served in the Municipal Council and Landtag of Vienna from 2005 until 2010, representing Leopoldstadt. A member of The Greens, she advocated ...
, Christoph Chorherr,
Sabine Gretner The Sabines (, , , ;  ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided into t ...
, Susanne Jerusalem, Alev Korun, Rüdiger Maresch,
Martin Margulies Martin Z. Margulies is a real-estate developer and collector of contemporary art and photography. Margulies Collection For many years, Margulies maintained a publicly accessible sculpture garden on Grove Isle, a small, private island with condomi ...
,
Sigrid Pilz Sigrid is a Scandinavian given name for women from Old Norse ''Sigríðr'', composed of the elements ''sigr'' "victory" and ''fríðr'' "beautiful". Common short forms include Siri, Sigga, Sig, and Sigi. An Estonian and Finnish variant is Siir ...
, Ingrid Puller, Marie Ringler,
Marco Schreuder Marco may refer to: People Given name * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor Surname * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Jindřich Marco (1921–2000), Czechoslovak photographer and numismat ...
, Claudia Sommer-Smolik. The two city-councillors are David Ellensohn and
Monika Vana Monika Vana (born 14 September 1969) is an Austrian politician of The Greens-The Green Alternative, part of Parliamentary Group the European Green Party. She is currently a Member of the European Parliament. In parliament, Vana serves on the C ...
. The 2010 results meant that the SPÖ was unable to hold the majority of seats in the Vienna city council and therefore had to rule together with the Greens performing for the first time as coalition partner. The current vice-governor/vice-mayor of Vienna as of 26 June 2019 is
Birgit Hebein Birgit Hebein (born 13 January 1967) is a former Austrian politician of The Greens. She served as Deputy Mayor of Vienna and City Councillor for Urban Development, Transport, Climate Protection, Energy Planning, and Citizen Participation from 2019 ...
. The results of the Viennese ''Gemeinderat'' elections: 1 ran as Alternative Liste Wien (ALW)


Organisation

In 2004 the Greens had about 3,000 members nationwide, although at present there are no uniform regulations for membership. Apart from the members, the Greens rely on a large number of volunteers. The party used to function on the principles of
grassroots democracy Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes that shift as much decision-making authority as practical to the organization's lowest geographic or social level of organization. Grassroots A grassroots movement i ...
(''Basisdemokratie'') and
rotation principle Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...
(''Rotationsprinzip''), but this was stopped in the course of the time. The last basic-democratic element is the '' Urabstimmung'', which is a vote on any issue that can be initiated with the petition of at least 100 members. As of 2003 however, no such vote has taken place. The highest body is the ''Federal Congress'' (Bundeskongress), which convenes at least once a year. All federal state organisations send delegates, also the immigrants-organisation is allowed to send delegates as "the tenth Austrian state". The Federal Congress decides the electoral lists for the National Council elections and elections to the
European parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...
. The congress also elects the federal spokesperson (''BundesprecherIn''). The congress also decides the party program and sets the party guidelines. In the last few years, the ''federal executive'' (Bundesvorstand) has developed into the actual decision-making centre. It meets at least once a week, mostly on Tuesdays, and determines the guidelines of daily politics. The federal executive also decides on party finances. The ''extended federal executive'' (Erweiterter Bundesvorstand) consists of a smaller number of delegates from each state and meets at least once a month. It takes care of the implementation of the party-guidelines, which were set by the party congress. It also chooses the representatives of the party spokesperson. The highest office in the party is that of the ''federal spokesperson'' (Bundessprecher). The party's federal spokesman is
Werner Kogler Werner Kogler (; born 20 November 1961) is an Austrian politician of the Green Party who served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 2020 to 2024 and as minister for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the governments of chancellors Seba ...
. The federal state organisations (''Landesorganisationen'') are organised similarly: There are federal state meetings, which sometimes convene as a members meeting or a delegates meeting. Similar to the federal executive, there are federal state executives (''Landesvorstände''). The party charter also allows for each federal state group to hold a vote on basic issues as well that affect the whole party. Independently in the National Council there also exists a Green National Council Club (faction), which can independently specify its guidelines. In recent years however an increasing fusion of the work between party and its club was noticeable. Michaela Sburny, successor of
Franz Raft Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...
since June 2004 as the Greens' federal chairperson, was allowed to keep her National Council mandate. This means she is allowed to hold two offices at the same time, something that was frowned upon by the Greens previously. There are different Green or Greenish organisations within the party and associated with it. These include: * The ''Grünen Andersrum'' is the
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
-,
lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
and
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
organisation, which is organised differently from state to state, and exists in all states except Vorarlberg and Burgenland. In Vienna, the ''Grünen Andersrum'' are a part of the party itself. * The ''
Grünen SeniorInnen The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and Her ...
'' (DGS) is the organisation for
senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...
s. It was founded on March 9, 2001, in Vienna. The DGS fights for a policy more friendly to senior citizens and their right to lead an active, fulfilling and self-determined life. * The ''
Initiative Grüne MigrantInnen Popular initiative is a political process by which a referendum can be triggered by a petition of voters. Initiative or The Initiative may also refer to: Fiction * '' Avengers: The Initiative'', a comic book series from Marvel Comics * '' Civil ...
'' (IGM) is the Green group for
immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
s in Austria. Their demands are a facilitation of
integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
into life in Austria, equal rights and
equal opportunities Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. For example, the intent of equa ...
, fight against
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and other issues concerning migrants. * The '' Grüne und Alternative Studierende'' (GRAS) is a separate party which candidates in the elections for the Austrian National Union of Students (''Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft'' – ÖH). There they are the biggest faction, together with the
Socialist Students of Austria The Socialist Students of Austria (, VSStÖ) is a socialist and social democratic student organization at Austrian universities. History The preliminary organization of the VSStÖ was formed in 1893 in Vienna. In the beginning, it was more a st ...
(''Verband Sozialistischer StudentInnen Österreichs'' – VSStÖ) they form the executive committee of the Austrian National Union for Students. * The '' Grünalternative Jugend'' (GAJ) is the youth organisation of the Green party. The GAJ existed since the 1990s. It is a member of the
Federation of Young European Greens The Federation of Young European Greens, often referred to as FYEG ( ), is an umbrella organisation that gathers young green movements and organisations across Europe with 40,000 members. FYEG's aim is to defend climate and social justice on the ...
(FYEG). The GAJ sees itself rather as extreme left. The organisation is subdivided into smaller groups for each state. * The '' Grüne Frauenorganisation'' is the organisation for women. As of 2005, it does not exist yet in every state. * ''ECO Students'' is a Green student's organisation, which currently only exists in
Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
. * The ''Grüne Wirtschaft'' is the Green economic organisation and runs in the elections for the Economic Parliament of the
Austrian Federal Economic Chamber The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (German language, de: ''Wirtschaftskammer Österreich'' or WKO) functions as the federal parent organization for the nine States of Austria, State Chambers and 110 trade associations for different industries w ...
(''Wirtschaftskammer Österreich'' – WKÖ). * The '' Alternative und Unabhängige GewerkschafterInnen'' (AUGE/UG) is the Green
labour union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
. It runs in the elections for the labour parliament of the Austrian Labour Chamber (''Arbeiterkammer'' – AK). The education and training of new Green politicians is done by the '' Grüne Bildungswerkstatt'', which is an independent
voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to a ...
. The ''Grüne Bildungswerkstatt'' is financed by the republic, as regulated by Austrian law for the equal treatment of all parliamentary parties.


Electoral results


National Council


President

In the
2016 Austrian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Austria on 24 April 2016, with a second round run-off on 22 May 2016. However, the results of the second round were annulled and a re-vote took place on 4 December 2016.Klatzer, Jürgen, Daniela Wahl and Peter ...
,
Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...
won the election with 50.35% of the votes and defeated
Norbert Hofer Norbert Gerwald Hofer (; born 2 March 1971) is an Austrian politician who was the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) from June 2019 to June 2021. He previously served as minister of transport, innovation, and technology from 2017 to ...
the
Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...
politician who received 49.65% of the vote. Van der Bellen became the first president from the Greens. On 1 July, the Constitutional Court overturned the result of the election and ordered a re-run because of irregularities during the counting process. On 4 December 2016 Van der Bellen won the re-run of the second round with 53.79% of the votes to Hofer's 46.21%.


European Parliament


State Parliaments


Results timeline


Prominent members

Among the most notable founding members and mentors are or were Professor
Alexander Tollmann Dr. Alexander Tollmann (27 June 1928 – 8 August 2007) was an Austrian professor of geology. He was born in Vienna. He had been professor at the Geologischen Institut of the University of Vienna since 1969. He was a political activist working to ...
, the painter
Friedensreich Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...
, actor
Herbert Fux Herbert Fux (25 March 1927 – 13 March 2007) was an Austrian film actor and politician. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1960 and 2007. Life Fux was born in Hallein, at the age of five he moved with his family to the city of Salzburg ...
, the mayor of
Steyregg Steyregg is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. History The first settlements in the Steyregg area were established during the Neolithic period, as evidenced by archaeological excavations. A ...
Josef Buchner Josef Buchner (born 2 March 1942 in Hagenberg im Mühlkreis) is an Austrian politician with The Greens – The Green Alternative. He was the mayor of Steyregg Steyregg is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in the Austrian state ...
(the first Green mayor in Austria – in 1987 excluded from the Green parliamentary club),
Freda Meissner-Blau Freda Meissner-Blau (11 March 1927 – 22 December 2015) was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party. Early li ...
and Günther Nenning, with
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate
Konrad Lorenz Konrad Zacharias Lorenz (Austrian ; 7 November 1903 – 27 February 1989) was an Austrian zoology, zoologist, ethology, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von ...
supporting the 1984 protests at Hainburg. Today, Green politicians include (in alphabetical order) * Rudolf Anschober (State councillor of Upper Austria) * Thomas Blimlinger (Mayor of the Viennese district Neubau) *
Dieter Brosz Dieter or dieter may refer to: * A person committed to dieting People Dieter is a German given name, a short form of Dietrich, from ''theod+ric'' "people ruler", see Theodoric. Rarely, it is a German form of the given name Theodore. Given ...
(former MP (former member of the lower house National Council), spokesman for education) * Christoph Chorherr (Member of the state assembly of Vienna) * Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek (former MP, former federal spokeswoman) *
Werner Kogler Werner Kogler (; born 20 November 1961) is an Austrian politician of the Green Party who served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 2020 to 2024 and as minister for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the governments of chancellors Seba ...
(federal spokesperson) * Ulrike Lunacek (former MEP, former spokeswoman for foreign policy) *
Karl Oellinger Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...
(former MP, deputy federal speaker) *
Madeleine Petrovic Madeleine Petrovic (; born 25 June 1956) is an Austrian politician. From 1994 to 1996 she was federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party. Biography Early life She attended Austrian gymnasium (school), gymnasium which she finished 1974, and ...
(Club chairperson of the Lower Austrian Greens) *
Johannes Rauch Johannes Rauch (; born 24 April 1959) is an Austrian politician (Green Party) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection in the government of chancellor Karl Nehammer since 8 March 2022. Bef ...
, (Club chairperson and state speaker for Vorarlberg) * Marie Ringler, (former Member of the Viennese state assembly, spokeswoman for culture and technology) * Michaela Sburny (former MP, Spokeswoman for the economy, former Federal Executive Manager of the party) *
Terezija Stoisits Terezija Stoisits (; born 14 November 1958 in Stinatz, Austria) is an Austrian politician of the The Greens – The Green Alternative, Green Party. She served as an Ombudsman, ombudswoman of the Republic of Austria 2007–2013. Before that she wa ...
(
Ombudswoman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...
, former MP and spokeswoman for minorities) * Ingrid Lechner Sonnek (Club chairperson of the Styrian Greens) *
Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander "Sascha" Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944), also referred to by the abbreviation VdB, is an Austrian politician serving as the president of Austria since 2017. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University ...
(former Federal Speaker, club chairman in the National Council), President of Austria *
Maria Vassilakou Maria Vassilakou (; born 23 February 1969) is a Greek-born Austrian politician. She served as leader of the Viennese Green Party from 2004 to 2010 and Deputy Mayor and Deputy Governor of Vienna from 2010 to 2019, as well as Executive Councillor ...
(Club chairperson of the Viennese Greens, Vice Mayor) *
Georg Willi Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg, an Internet meme See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: ...
(Club chairperson and state speaker for the Tyrol)


Members of the European Parliament

* Thomas Waitz ( MEP since 2020) * Lena Schilling (MEP since 2024) * Mercedes Echerer (MEP from 1999 to 2004) * Eva Lichtenberger (MEP since 2004, member of the Austrian national convention) *
Johannes Voggenhuber Johannes Voggenhuber (born 5 June 1950) is an Austrian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Austrian Green Party, which is part of the European Greens. He was vice president of the Parliament's Constitutional A ...
(MEP from 1995 to 2009, Member of the European Convention, member of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly procla ...
) * Ulrike Lunacek (2009–2017)


See also

*
Green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
*
Green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy.#Wal10, Wall 2010. p. 12-13. ...
*
List of environmental organizations An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...
*
Anti-nuclear movement in Austria Construction of the first Austrian nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf on the Danube, about 30 kilometres upstream from the capital, Vienna, began in 1972. Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was designed as a boiling water reactor with a capacity of 7 ...


Notes


References


External links

* *
Austrian Greens in the European Parliament


Country Studies - Austria {{DEFAULTSORT:Greens, The (Austria) Political parties established in 1993 1993 establishments in Austria European Green Party Global Greens member parties Green parties in Austria Feminist parties Parties represented in the European Parliament Pro-European political parties in Austria