The Green League, ( , Vihr; ; ; ; ) shortened to the Greens, (; ) 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 in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

of the political spectrum. It is a

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

party and it supports

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 ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

and

green liberalism Green liberalism, or liberal environmentalism, is liberalism that includes green politics in its ideology. Green liberals are usually liberal on social issues and "green" on economic issues. The term "green liberalism" was coined by political ph ...

. Originally split on whether Finland should join 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 that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the Green League adopted a

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 ...

stance. It was the first Finnish party in favor of the

federalisation of the European Union There is ongoing discussion about the extent to which the European Union (EU) has already turned from a confederation (a union of sovereign states) into a federation (a single federal state with a central government, consisting of a numbe ...

. The Green League is among the midsized political parties in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The Greens hold thirteen of the 200 seats in the

Finnish Parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The P ...

and two of Finland's 15 European Parliament seats. The party is a member of the

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 ...

and 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 ...

; its

MEPs A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been 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 Steel Comm ...

sit in the

Greens–European Free Alliance The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) is a political group of the European Parliament composed primarily of Green politics, green political parties. The group consists of European Green Party (EGP), part of the European Free Allianc ...

group in 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 ...

. Founded in 1987, the party absorbed a number of

organizations and their members, electing its first MPs in the

1987 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 15 and 16 March 1987. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606 The results saw a rightwards shift in Finnish politics, although it was uncertain how far, becaus ...

. The party won ten seats in the 1991 election. Despite small losses in the 1995 election,

Pekka Haavisto Pekka Olavi Haavisto (; born 23 March 1958) is a Finnish politician of the Green League who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2023. Haavisto returned to the Finnish Parliament in the Finnish parliamentary election of M ...

joined

Paavo Lipponen Paavo Tapio Lipponen (; born 23 April 1941) is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was prime minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as speaker of ...

's first cabinet, which was composed of a "rainbow" coalition. This made the Green League the first

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 ...

to form a national cabinet. The party remained in government until 2002 when it resigned in opposition to

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 ...

. The party slowly rose in popularity between 1995 and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, winning a total of 15 seats, and joined the centre-led Vanhanen II cabinet. In the 2011 election, the party suffered significant losses, dropping to ten seats, but remained in government. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the party recovered its losses, returning to 15 seats. In the 2019 election, the party achieved by far its best-ever result, winning 20 seats and 11.5% of the vote. They became the fifth-largest party in parliament and the third-most-big member of the Rinne cabinet. After the 2017 municipal elections, the Green League was the fourth-largest party with 534 seats. They gained 211 more seats since the 2012 Finnish municipal elections. Since June 2023, the party's leader and chairperson has been Sofia Virta. From 2015 to 2019, the party was in opposition. It provided harsh criticism regarding the policies of the conservative

Sipilä cabinet The cabinet of Juha Sipilä was the 74th government of Finland, from 2015 to 2019. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2015 and formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 29 May 2015. From June 2017, the cabinet con ...

on financial support for economically well-off companies,

Fortum Fortum Oyj is a Finland, Finnish Government of Finland, state-owned energy company located in Espoo, Finland. It mainly focuses on the Nordic countries, Nordic region. Fortum operates power plants, including co-generation plants, and generate ...

's purchase of

Uniper Uniper SE is a German multinational energy company based in Düsseldorf, Germany, which has been a state-owned enterprise since late 2022. It is one of the biggest energy companies by revenue in Europe. The name of the company is a portmanteau o ...

, and the expedited process of

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

-changing surveillance laws.

History

Founding

The Green League was founded on 28 February 1987 and was registered as a political party the next year. Political activity had begun already in the early 1980s, when

environmental activists The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

feminist 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 ...

s, disillusioned young politicians from the marginalized Liberal People's Party and other active groups began to campaign on green issues in Finland. In 1995, it was the first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an green party to be part of a state-level cabinet. The party was founded as a popular movement, which explains its name's descriptor, ''liitto'', "league". Initially, there was much resistance within the movement against founding a political party, motivated by

Robert Michels Robert Michels (; 9 January 1876 – 3 May 1936) was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites. He belonged to the Italian school of elitism. He is best kno ...

' iron law of oligarchy, which claims that movements inevitably degenerate into

oligarchies Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or thr ...

when they create a formal organization.Rauli Mickelsson. Suomen puolueet - Historia, muutos ja nykypäivä. Vastapaino 2007, 429 pages. The party still stresses openness and democratic decision-making, even if the Finnish word, "''liitto''", has been dropped from the party's website and advertisements, the word still remains in its official and registered name.

Early activities (1983–1994)

The first two parliamentary representatives were elected even before the registration, in the 1983 parliamentary election. These were the first independent representatives in the Finnish Parliament. In

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

the number of seats rose to four, and in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

to a total of ten. About half of the party's members were against Finland joining the

in 1994. Later, polls showed that most Greens were anti-

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

. The party heads declined to fight against euro-adoption.

As part of the Lipponen Cabinets (1995–2003)

In the 1995 election, the Green League received a total of nine seats out of 200. The party joined the coalition cabinet led by the

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 ...

, and

became the

Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of a ...

, thus becoming the first green minister in Europe. The Green League received 7.3% of the vote, and gained two additional seats in the 1999 election, raising the total to 11. The Greens continued in the next coalition cabinet, but resigned in protest on 26 May 2002, after the cabinet's decision to allow the construction of a new nuclear plant was accepted by the parliament.

Growth to mainstream appeal (2003–present)

In 2003, the Green League received 8.0% of the vote, receiving a total of 14 seats. They increased their seats to 15 in the 2007 election while receiving 8.5% of the vote. In the 2011 election, the party lost five seats. In the 2009 European Parliament elections, the Greens gained two of the thirteen Finnish seats in the

, which were occupied by Satu Hassi and

Heidi Hautala Heidi Anneli Hautala (born 14 November 1955) is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Green League, part of the European Green Party. She is currently a Member of the European P ...

. At the municipal level, the Greens are an important force in the politics of the main cities of Finland. In the municipal election of 2008 the Greens received 8.9% of the vote; the vote share was considerably higher in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, where the Greens became the second-largest party with 23.2% of the vote. In several other cities, the Greens achieved the position of the third-largest party. The Greens are weaker in rural area and especially in municipalities that experience high levels of outward migration. By the 2017 Green League party congress, Niinistö had served three full two-year terms as the chairman and stepped down according to the rules of the party. In the following

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...

, there were six candidates running for party chairman, of whom MP Touko Aalto won the election. Soon after Aalto's election, the popularity of the Green League surged in the polls and raised briefly as the second most popular party in the country. However, in September 2017 the poll numbers turned into a downward slope, which continued until autumn 2018. After taking a month of sick leave due to exhaustion in September 2018, Aalto soon announced that he was resigning from his post, citing depression and fatigue. In November 2018, the Green League decided to choose a temporary chairman to lead the party into the 2019 parliamentary elections and until the next party convention. In the leadership election, former chairman Pekka Haavisto was once again elected as chairman. In June 2019, Haavisto stepped down as the chairman of the party. Maria Ohisalo was the only candidate in the leadership election and was thus elected as chairman in the city of

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

. In the 2023 parliamentary election, Ohisalo was re-elected with 6,937 votes. However, as the Greens suffered an election defeat, Ohisalo announced that she would not seek another term as chairman. In June 2023, she was replaced by Sofia Virta.

Ideology and policies

The Green League is no longer a

protest party A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms a ...

, nor an alternative movement. Some Green candidates reject classifying the party as either left-wing or right-wing. Economic opinions of the members range between left and right. However, members of the party on average place their party left of the

and right of the Left Alliance. The party is one of the strongest proponents for

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. The party is also distinct in its opposition against universal male conscription and wants to opt for a gender-neutral, selective version. The eventual goal of the Greens is voluntary military service. In 2015, the party included

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

(UBI) as a proposal in their platform. In February 2019, the party announced that it wanted to introduce a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

300 universal basic income in the 2019 to 2023 parliamentary term, before transitioning to a

600 tax-free UBI during the following 2023 to 2027 parliamentary term. In the spring of 2018, the party proposed lowering the voting age to 15. The party stated in December 2018 that it supports investing €10 billion in Finland's railway infrastructure and improving rail connections in the country, including building high-speed rail connections. In September 2021, the party voted to pass an internal motion supporting the legalisation and regulation of cannabis in Finland. It thus became the first party in Finland's Parliament to publicly state support for cannabis being legalised in the country.

Election results

Parliamentary elections

ImageSize = width:400 height:240 PlotArea = width:300 height:160 left:30 bottom:30 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:15 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 Colors= id:SB value:rgb(0.380,0.749,0.102) legend:Sea_Battles PlotData= bar:% color:SB width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1983 from:start till:1.47 text:1.5 bar:1987 from:start till:4.03 text:4.0 bar:1991 from:start till:6.82 text:6.8 bar:1995 from:start till:6.52 text:6.5 bar:1999 from:start till:7.27 text:7.3 bar:2003 from:start till:8.01 text:8.0 bar:2007 from:start till:8.46 text:8.5 bar:2011 from:start till:7.25 text:7.3 bar:2015 from:start till:8.53 text:8.5 bar:2019 from:start till:11.5 text:11.5 bar:2023 from:start till:7.04 text:7.0

Municipal elections

ImageSize = width:400 height:240 PlotArea = width:300 height:160 left:50 bottom:60 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:15 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 PlotData= bar:% color:green width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1984 from:start till:2.8 text:2.8 bar:1988 from:start till:2.3 text:2.3 bar:1992 from:start till:6.9 text:6.9 bar:1996 from:start till:6.3 text:6.3 bar:2000 from:start till:7.7 text:7.7 bar:2004 from:start till:7.4 text:7.4 bar:2008 from:start till:8.9 text:8.9 bar:2012 from:start till:8.5 text:8.5 bar:2017 from:start till:12.5 text:12.5 bar:2021 from:start till:10.6 text:10.6

European Parliament elections

ImageSize = width:400 height:240 PlotArea = width:300 height:160 left:50 bottom:60 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:20 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 PlotData= bar:% color:green width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1996 from:start till:7.6 text:7.6 bar:1999 from:start till:13.4 text:13.4 bar:2004 from:start till:10.4 text:10.4 bar:2009 from:start till:12.4 text:12.4 bar:2014 from:start till:9.3 text:9.3 bar:2019 from:start till:16.0 text:16.0 bar:2024 from:start till:11.3 text:11.3

Presidential elections

Parliamentarian and former MEP

was a candidate in the presidential elections in 2000 and 2006, taking approximately a 3.5% share of votes in the first round in each.

was the first Green candidate in the 2012 election to enter the second round. Haavisto got an 18.8% share of votes in the first round, and lost to centre-right

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (, born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Mini ...

in the second round held on 5 February.

Politicians

List of party chairpersons

File:Kalle Könkkölä.jpg,

Kalle Könkkölä Kalle Könkkölä Kalle Kustaa Topias Könkkölä (16 January 1950 – 11 September 2018) was a Finnish politician and human rights activist. He was one of the two first Green members of the Finnish Parliament, from 1983 to 1987, even before ...

(1987) File:Heidi Hautala - April 2017.jpg,

(1987–1991) File:Pekka_Sauri.jpg, Pekka Sauri
(1991–1993) File:Haavisto 2023.jpg,

(1993–1995, 2018–2019) File:Tuijabrax.jpg,

Tuija Brax Tuija Kaarina Brax (née ''Karvonen''; born 6 January 1965 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and former Minister of Justice. She is a Member of Finnish Parliament, representing the Green League. She was first elected to the Parliament in 1995. ...

(1995–1997) File:Satu_Hassi,_Finland-MIP-Europaparlament-by-Leila-Paul-1.jpg, Satu Hassi
(1997–2001) File:Osmo_Soininvaara.jpg,

Osmo Soininvaara Osmo Heikki Kristian Soininvaara (born 2 September 1951 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and writer, former party leader and cabinet member. Personal life Soininvaara has a licentiate degree in statistics. Before his political career he ...

(2001–2005) File:Tarja_Cronberg_Finnish_MEP_2014.jpg, Tarja Cronberg
(2005–2009) File:Anni Sinnemäki Kolmen Sepän Aukiolla.JPG, Anni Sinnemäki
(2009–2011) File:1718294424823 20240613 NIINISTO Ville FI 006.jpg, Ville Niinistö
(2011–2017) File:Aktiivimallin vastainen mielenilmaus Senaatintorilla (cropped).jpg, Touko Aalto
(2017–2018) File:1718281619233 20240612 OHISALO Maria FI 009.jpg, Maria Ohisalo
(2019–2023) File:Kansanedustaja Sofia Virta 2023 (cropped).jpg, Sofia Virta
(2023–present)

Members of parliament from 2019–2023

The following 20 Greens politicians were elected to the

in the 2019 parliamentary election. 16 out of 20 members are first-timers. 17 of the members are women. File: Foreign Secretary Cleverly met with Pekka Haavisto to congratulate Finland's membership of NATO (cropped).jpg,

(

Minister for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

) File:Maria Ohisalo in 2022 (cropped).jpg, Maria Ohisalo
(

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

)
(New) File:Krista Mikkonen (cropped).jpg,

Krista Mikkonen Krista Johanna Mikkonen (born 15 November 1972 in Hamina, Finland) is a Finnish politician of the Green League, a member of parliament, and Finland's Minister of the Interior (Finland), Minister of the Interior. She lives in Joensuu but spent her ...

( Minister of the Environment and Climate Change) File:Mari Holopainen.jpg, Mari Holopainen
(New) File:Emma Kari 2022.png, Emma Kari File:Pirkka-Pekka Petelius.jpg,

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius Pirkka-Pekka Petelius (born 31 May 1953) is a Finnish actor, director, producer, screenwriter and politician. He has also released six records as a singer. He is a member of the Green League and was elected to the Finnish parliament in the 2019 ...

(New) File:Inka Hopsu.jpg, Inka Hopsu
(New) File:Alanko-kahiluoto.jpg, Outi Alanko-Kahiluoto File:Iiris Suomela 2020.jpg, Iiris Suomela
(New) File:Satu Hassi, Finland-MIP-Europaparlament-by-Leila-Paul-1.jpg, Satu Hassi File:Atte Harjanne at the Greens Party Congress in Seinäjoki, 2023.jpg, Atte Harjanne
(New) File:Noora koponen kuva.jpg, Noora Koponen
(New) File:Saara Hyrkkö 2019.jpg, Saara Hyrkkö
(New) File:Bella Forsgren Feb 2020 (cropped).jpg, Bella Forsgrén
(New) File:Kansanedustaja Sofia Virta 2023 (cropped).jpg, Sofia Virta
(New) File:Tiina Elo at the Greens Party Congress in Seinäjoki, 2023.jpg,

Tiina Elo Tiina Susanna Elo (born 21 January 1971 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician currently serving in the Parliament of Finland for the Green League at the Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regi ...

(New) File:No image available.svg, Jenni Pitko
(New) File:Heli Järvinen.jpg, Heli Järvinen File:Hanna Holopainen at the Greens Party Congress in Seinäjoki, 2023.jpg, Hanna Holopainen
(New) File:Mirka Soinikoski 2019.jpg, Mirka Soinikoski
(New)

Current members of the European Parliament

Since 2024, the Green League has been represented by two MEPs in the

. File:Ville Niinist Sanomatalo Mediatorilla 2015 11.jpg, Ville Niinistö File:Maria Ohisalo in 2022 (cropped).jpg, Maria Ohisalo

References

External links

Official site

Website in English
{{Authority control Green League 1987 establishments in Finland Centre-left parties in Europe Environmentalism in Finland European Green Party Global Greens member parties Green liberalism Green parties in Europe Liberal parties in Finland Parties represented in the European Parliament Political parties established in 1987 Political parties supporting universal basic income Pro-European political parties in Finland Registered political parties in Finland