GreenLeft Totally Explained

Everything about Groenlinks totally explained

}} GroenLinks (GL, English: GreenLeft) is a Dutch Green political party.
   GreenLeft was formed in 1989 as a merger of four leftwing political parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party. After disappointing results in the 1989 and 1994 the party fared particularly well during 1994 and 2002. The party's leader Paul Rosenmöller was seen as the unofficial leader of the opposition against the Cabinets Kok by the media, fellow politicians and academics, even though it was only the second largest party in the opposition. In late 2002 Femke Halsema took over the political leadership of the party. She emphasizes tolerance, freedom and emancipation as key values of the party.
   The GreenLeft describes itself as "green" "social", and "tolerant". It places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the left.
   The Evangelical People's Party was a relatively new party, founded in 1981, as a split off from the large Christian democratic Christian Democratic Appeal. Duing its period in parliament 1982-1986 it had trouble positioning itself between the small left paties (PSP, PPR and CPN), the PvdA and the CDA. In 1990 some opposition formed against the moderate, green course of the Green Left. Several former PSP-members united in the "Left Forum" in 1992 they'd leave the party to join former PSP-leader Van der Spek to found the PSP'92. Similarly former members of the CPN joined the League of Communists in the Netherlands to found the New Communist Party in the same year. In 1991 the congresses of the four founding parties (PSP, PPR, CPN and EVP) decided to officially abolish their parties.
   In 1992 party leader Ria Beckers left the Tweede Kamer because she wanted to spend more time on her private life. Peter Lankhorst replaced her as chair ad interim, but he announced that he wouldn't take part in the internal elections.

1994-2002

Before the election of 1994 the GreenLeft organized an internal election on the party's political leadership. Two duos entered Ina Brouwer (former CPN)/Mohammed Rabbae (independent) and Paul Rosenmöller (independent)/Leoni Sipkes (former PSP) and five singular candidates (including Wim de Boer (former chair of the PPR and member of the Eerste Kamer), Herman Meijer (former CPN; and future chair of the party) and Ineke van Gent (former PSP and future MP)).
   In the elections of 1998 the GreenLeft more than doubled its seats to eleven. The charisma of the charismatic "unofficial leader" Rosenmöller played an important role in this. The party began to speculate openly about joining government after the elections of 2002.
   The 1999 Kosovo War divided the party internally. The Tweede Kamer parliamentary party supported the NATO intervention, while the Eerste Kamer parliamentary party was against the intervention. Several former PSP members within the Tweede Kamer parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. A compromise was found: the GreenLeft would support the intervention as long as it limited itself to military targets. Prominent members of the founding parties including Marcus Bakker en Joop Vogt left the party over this issue.
   In 2001 the integrity of former MP Tara Singh Varma came into doubt: it was revealed that she'd lied about her illness and that she'd made promises to development organisations which she didn't fulfill. In 2000 she'd left parliament because as she claimed, she'd only a few months to live before she'd die of cancer. The TROS program "Opgelicht" (In English "Framed") revealed that she'd lied and the she didn't have cancer. Later she apologised on public television and claimed she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
   In the same year the parliamentary party supported the invasion of Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11 of the year. This invasion led to great upheaval within the party. Several former PSP members within the Tweede Kamer parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. Under pressure of internal opposition, led by former PSP members and the party's youth organization DWARS, the parliamentary party changed its position: the attacks should be cancelled. Before and after the elections serious threats were made against Rosenmöller, his wife and his children. These events caused considerable stress for Rosenmöller. The GreenLeft lost one seat in the election, although it had gained more votes than in the 1998 elections. Before the 2003 elections Rosenmöller left parliament, citing the on-going threats against his life and those of his family as the main reason. He was replaced as chair of the parliamentary party and top candidate by Femke Halsema. She was unable to keep ten seats and lost two. When she returned to parliament, Halsema started a discussion about the principles of her party. She emphasized individual freedom, tolerance, selfrealization and emancipation. In one interview she called her party "the last liberal party of the Netherlands" This led to considerable attention of media and other observers, which speculated about an ideological change. During the congress of February 2007 the party board was ordered to organize a party-wide discussion about the party's principles.
   During the European Elections congress of 2004 the candidacy committee proposed that the chair of the GreenLeft delegation, Joost Lagendijk, should become the party's top candidate in those elections. A group of members, led by member of the Eerste Kamer Leo Platvoet submitted a motion "We want to chose". They wanted a serious choice for such an important office. The party's board announced a new electoral procedure. During the congress Kathalijne Buitenweg, also MEP and candidate, announced her candidacy for the position of top candidate. She narrowly won the elections from Lagendijk. This came as a great surprise to all. Especially for Buitenweg who hadn't written an acceptance speech and read out Lagendijk's. In November 2005 the party board asked member of the Eerste Kamer Sam Pormes to give up his seat. Continuing rumors about his involvement with guerrilla-training in Yemen in the 1970s and the 1977 train hijacking by Moluccan youth and allegations of welfare fraud were harmful for the party, or at least so the party board claimed. When Pormes refused to step up, the party board threatened to remove him from the party ranks. Pormes fought this decision. The party council of March 2006 sided with Pormes. Party chair Herman Meijer felt forced to give up his position. He was succeeded by Henk Nijhof who was chose by the party council in May 2006. In November 2006 Pormes left the Eerste Kamer, he was replaced by Goos Minderman. In the 2006 Dutch municipal election the party stayed relatively stable losing only a few seats. After the elections the GreenLeft took part in 75 local executives, including Amsterdam where MP Marijke Vos became alderwoman. although Halsema herself claims that she doesn't want to force an ideological change. She claims that she places the GreenLeft in the "freedomloving tradition of the left", as the party's manifesto of principles did as well.
   Following Isaiah Berlin Halsema distinguishes between positive and negative freedom. Negative freedom is according to Halsema the freedom citizens from government influence; she applies this concept especially to the multicultural society and the rechtsstaat, where the government should protect the rights of citizens and not limit them. Positive freedom is the emancipation of citizens from poverty and discrimination. Halsema wants to apply this concept to welfare state and the environment where government should take more action. According to Halsema the GreenLeft is undogmatic party, that has anarchist tendencies. But, unlike the other opposition parties of the left, the party doesn't want to defend the current welfare state either which the party calls "powerless", because it merely offers the worst off a benefit, but not a perspective for work.

Year	TK	EK	EP	PS	Parl. Party Chair	Top candidate	Party Chair	Members
1989	6	3	2	32	Ria Beckers	Ria Beckers	Leo Platvoet	unknown
1990	6	3	2	32	Ria Beckers	no elections	Marijke Vos	15.900
1991	6	4	2	36	Ria Beckers	no elections	Marijke Vos	14.971
1992	6	4	2	36	Ria Beckers	no elections	Marijke Vos	13.548
1993	6	4	2	36	Peter Lankhorst	no elections	Marijke Vos	12.500
1994	5	4	1	36	Paul Rosenmöller	Ina Brouwer and Mohammed Rabbae	Marjan Lucas	12.500
1995	5	4	1	37	Paul Rosenmöller	no elections	Ab Harrewijn	12.000
1996	5	4	1	37	Paul Rosenmöller	no elections	Ab Harrewijn	11.700
1997	5	4	1	37	Paul Rosenmöller	no elections	Ab Harrewijn	11.873
1998	11	4	1	37	Paul Rosenmöller	Paul Rosenmöller	M. Brouwer	13.821
1999	11	8	4	77	Paul Rosenmöller	no elections	Miriam de Rijk	13.855
2000	11	8	4	77	Paul Rosenmöller	no elections	Miriam de Rijk	14.314
2001	11	8	4	77	Paul Rosenmöller	no elections	Miriam de Rijk	15.037
2002	10	8	4	77	Paul Rosenmöller	Paul Rosenmöller	Miriam de Rijk	18,469
2003	8	5	2	51	Femke Halsema	Femke Halsema	Herman Meijer	20,503
2004	8	5	2	51	Femke Halsema	no elections	Herman Meijer	20,709
2005	8	5	2	51	Femke Halsema	no elections	Herman Meijer	21,383
2006	8	5	2	51	Femke Halsema	Femke Halsema	Henk Nijhoff	23,490
2007	7	4	2	31¹	Femke Halsema	no elections	Henk Nijhoff	21,901

¹ 32 members of provincial parliaments were elected, but Cheryl Braam was soon no longer let into the North Holland parliamentary party after it became known that she'd lied over voting invalid in the First Chamber.

Members of the Lower House of Parliament

After the 2006 elections the party has seven representatives in the lower house of parliament:

Femke Halsema, chair of the parliamentary party. In parliament since 1998. Criminologist, who worked for the Scientific Institute of the social-democratic PvdA, before joining the GreenLeft in 1997.

Kees Vendrik, financial spokesperson, vice-chair. In parliament since 1998. Political economist, who worked for De Balie. He was a member of the PSP before 1991.

Wijnand Duyvendak, environmental spokesperson. In parliament since 2002. Has a background in social movements, was director of Milieudefensie.

Mariko Peters, foreign affairs spokesperson. In parliament since 2006. Lawyer, who has been deputy chef de post in Kabul.

Ineke van Gent, social affairs spokesperson. In parliament since 1998. She worked for the FNV. She was a member of the PSP before 1991.

Naïma Azough, justice spokesperson. In parliament since 2002 with a one year hiatus. Journalist.

Tofik Dibi, education and integration spokesperson. In parliament since 2006. He studied media studies and was involved in the anti-racism movement.

Members of the Upper House of Parliament

After the 2007 elections the party has four representatives in the upper house of parliament:

Tof Thissen, chair of the parliamentary party. He is MP since 2004. He is spokesperson on education, local government and the economy. In addition to his membership of the Eerste Kamer he's director of Divosa. He was an alderman in Roermond for the GreenLeft. Before 1991 he was member of the PSP.

Britta Böhler is spokesperson on defense, justice and the Environment. She is MP since 2007. In addition to her membership of the Eerste Kamer she's a human rights lawyer.

Tineke Strik is spokesperson on home affairs, foreign affairs and social affairs. She is MP since 2007. In addition to her membership of the Eerste Kamer she's a legal researcher. She was an alderwoman in Wageningen for the GreenLeft.

Jan Laurier is spokesperson finance, health and housing. He is MP since 2007. He was an alderman in Leiden for the GreenLeft. Before 1991 he was member of the CPN.

Members of the European Parliament

After the 2004 European Parliament elections the party has two representatives in the European Parliament:

Kathalijne Buitenweg is chair of the delegation. MEP since 1999. She is spokesperson on justice and the environment. Before entering the EP she was involved in the anti-racism movement. Previously she's been a member of the PvdA.

Joost Lagendijk is MEP since 1998. He was chair of the delegation between 1998 and 2004. He is spokesperson on foreign affairs and is chair of the delegation to Turkey. Before entering the EP he worked as a publisher. Before 1991 he was a member of the PSP. Together with Bart Staes from the Belgian party Groen!, they form one transnational delegation. GroenLinks MEPs are part of the Greens/EFA.

Municipal and Provincial Government

On the municipal level, the party provides 8 mayors (out of 414, as of December 2008), in smaller municipalities such as Bloemendaal, Diemen and Wormerland, these are also appointed by the Minister of the Interior. The GreenLeft didn't perform particularly well in the 2006 municipal elections, losing 14 of its 415 seats, making it the fourth largest party in the Netherlands on the municipal level. In the formation of municipal executives it was more successful and the number of municipal executives the GreenLeft was part of grew from around 70 to around 100.
It is part of the municipal executive of several larger cities notably Nijmegen, Utrecht, the Hague, Leiden, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, where former MP Marijke Vos is alderwoman. The GreenLeft has 70 members of burrough-level legislatives, 53 in Amsterdam and 17 in Rotterdam.
On the provincial level, the GreenLeft provides one Queen's Commissioner (out of 12) in North Holland. Queen's Commissioners appointed by the Minister of the Interior. The GreenLeft is part of the North Holland provincial executive. It holds 51 seats in provincial legislatives. In the following figure one can see the election results of the provincial election of 2007 per province. It shows the areas where the GreenLeft is strong, namely the urban areas like North Holland and Utrecht. The party is weaker in rural provinces like Friesland and Zeeland, but also strong in the rural Groningen, where the Communist Party of the Netherlands, one of the founding parties of the GreenLeft was very strong.

Province	Votes (%)	Seats	Provincial Executives
Groningen	7,6%	3	opposition
Friesland	3.9%	2	opposition
Drenthe	4.7%	2	opposition
Overijssel	4.3%	2	opposition
Flevoland	5.5%	2	opposition
Gelderland	5.9%	3	opposition
Utrecht	9.0%	4	opposition
Noord-Holland	9.7%	5	Albert Moens (prov. exec.) and Harry Borghouts (Queen's Comm.)
Zuid-Holland	5.9%	3	opposition
Zeeland	4.9%	2	Marten Wiersma (prov. exec.)
North-Brabant	4.1%	2	opposition
Limburg	4.2%	2	opposition

Electorate

The GreenLeft tends to do particularly well in larger cities that host a university, such as Amsterdam (where it scored 12,5%), Utrecht (12,2%) and Wageningen (11,8%), Nijmegen (10.4%) and Leiden (10.0%). More women vote for the GreenLeft, then men by a margin of 20%. The party is also overrepresented under homosexual voters. The party also polls well under migrant voters, especially those from Turkey and Morroco, where its support is twice as high as under the general population.
The voters of the GreenLeft have an eccentric position in their preferences for particular policies. Between 1989 and 2003 they were the most leftwing voters in the Netherlands, often a little more to the left than voters of the SP. These voters are in favour of smaller income differences, free choice for euthanasia, opening the borders for asylum seekers, the multicultural society and are firmly against building new nuclear plants. In 2006 comedian shared this position with MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg.. Comedienne, rapper, astronaut Wubbo Ockels en soccer player Khalid Boulahrouz, business man, Permanent campaign activities are intended to create and maintain a base level of sympathy and knowledge about the party program. The introduction of guerrilla gardening in the Netherlands in 2008 was heavily supported by GreenLeft, as part of the permanent campaign.

Organization

Organizational structure

The highest organ of the GreenLeft is the party congress, which is open to all members. The congress elects the party-board, it decides on the order of the candidates for national and European elections and it has a final say over the party program. The congress convenes at least once every year in spring or when needed. The party board consists out of fifteen members who are elected for a two year term. The chairperson of this board is the only paid position on the board, the others are unpaid. The chairperson together with four other boardmembers (the vice-chair, the treasurer, the secretary, the European secretary and the international secretary) handles the daily affairs and meet every two weeks while the other ten board members meet only once a month.
   For the months that the congress doesn't convene, a party council takes over its role. It consists out of 80 representatives of all the 250 municipal branches. The party board and the nationally elected representatives of the party are responsible to the party council. It has the right to fill vacancies in the board, make changes to the party constitution and takes care of the party's finances.
   There are several independent organizations which are linked to the GreenLeft: DWARS, the independent youth organization of the GreenLeft, De Linker Wang ("The Left Cheek"), platform for Religion and Politics, which is a progressive Christian platform, which was formed by former members of the Evangelical People's Party. and the Scientific Bureau GreenLeft, the independent political think tank which publishes "de Helling" (Dutch for "the Slope").
   The GreenLeft is also active on the European and the global stage. It is a founding member of the European Green Party and the Global Greens. Its MEPs sit in the European Greens–European Free Alliance group. The GreenLeft cooperates with seven other Dutch parties in the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, an institute which supports democratic development in developing countries.

Relationships to other parties

The GreenLeft was founded to become a mid-sized party to the left of the PvdA. In the 1994 elections however the Socialist Party (SP) also entered parliament. The GreenLeft now takes a center position in the Dutch left between the socialist SP, which is more to the left, and the social democratic PvdA, which is more to the centre. This position is exemplified by the call of Femke Halsema to form a left-wing coalition after the 2006 elections, knowing that such a coalition is only possible with GreenLeft. The electoral alliance between SP and GL in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 elections, and between the GreenLeft and PvdA in the 2004 European elections are examples of this position. In the 2007 First Chamber election it had an electoral alliance with the Party for the Animals. More and more however the GreenLeft is seen as the most leftwing and most progressive of the three parties.

Further Information

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