GroenLinks GroenLinks | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | GL |
| Leader | Jesse Klaver (list) |
| Chair | Katinka Eikelenboom[1] |
| Leader in theSenate | Paul Rosenmöller (GL–PvdA) |
| Leader in theHouse of Representatives | Jesse Klaver (GL–PvdA) |
| Leader in theEuropean Parliament | Bas Eickhout |
| Founded | 24 November 1990 (1990-11-24) (as a party) |
| Merger of | Rainbow:PSP,CPN,PPR andEVP[2] |
| Headquarters | Partijbureau GroenLinks Sint Jacobsstraat 12,Utrecht |
| Think tank | Bureau de Helling |
| Youth wing | DWARS |
| Membership(January 2025) |  46,508[3] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left[7] toleft-wing[8][5] |
| National affiliation | GroenLinks–PvdA |
| Regional affiliation | Socialists, Greens and Democrats |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| European Parliament group | Greens–European Free Alliance |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| Colours | Green Red |
| Senate | 6 / 75 |
| Provincial councils | 49 / 570 |
| European Parliament | 4 / 31 |
| King's Commissioners | 0 / 12 |
| Benelux Parliament | 2 / 21 |
| Website | |
| groenlinks.nl | |
GroenLinks (Dutch pronunciation:[ɣrunˈlɪŋks],lit. 'GreenLeft';GL) is agreen[4]political party in theNetherlands.
It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of fourleft-wing parties: theCommunist Party of the Netherlands, thePacifist Socialist Party, thePolitical Party of Radicals and theEvangelical People's Party, which shared left-wing and progressive ideals and had previously co-operated in theRainbow coalition for the1989 European Parliament election. After disappointing results in the1989 and1994 general election, the nascent party fared particularly well in the1998 and2002 elections under the leadership ofPaul Rosenmöller, who came to be seen as the unofficialLeader of the Opposition against thefirst Kok cabinet, apurple government. The party's number of seats fell from 10 to 4 seats in the2012 election, before increasing to 14 in2017 and falling back to 8 in2021.
After the 2021 general election, the party intensified cooperation with theLabour Party (PvdA) in an alliance calledGroenLinks–PvdA. The two parties participated in the2023 general election with a joint candidate list, and currently have a joint parliamentary group of 20 seats.
Despite the fact that the two are members of separate European political groups, Groenlinks as a member ofGreens–European Free Alliance and PvdA as a member of theParty of European Socialists, the parties campaigned together as GroenLinks-PvdA for the2024 European Parliament election.
GroenLinks describes itself as "green", "social" and "tolerant".[9] The party's voters are concentrated in larger cities, particularly inuniversity towns.
GroenLinks was founded in 1989 as a merger of four parties that were to theleft of theLabour Party (PvdA), asocial-democratic party which has traditionally been the largestcentre-left party in the Netherlands. The founding parties were the (formerly-communist)Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN), thePacifist Socialist Party (PSP), which originated in thepeace movement, thegreen-influencedPolitical Party of Radicals (PPR), originally a progressive Christian party, and theprogressive ChristianEvangelical People's Party.[10] These four parties were frequently classified as "small left"; to indicate their marginal existence. In the1972 general election, these parties won sixteen seats (out of 150); in the1977 general election, they only won six. From that moment on, members and voters began to argue for close cooperation.[11]
From the 1980s onwards, the four parties started to cooperate in municipal and provincial elections. As fewer seats are available in these representations, a higher percentage of votes is required to gain a seat. In the1984 European election, the PPR, CPN and PSP formed theGreen Progressive Accord that entered as one into theEuropean elections. They gained one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party-members of the four parties also encountered each other ingrassroots extraparliamentary protest againstnuclear energy andnuclear weapons. More than 80% of the members of the PSP, CPN and PPR attended at least one of the twomass protests against the placement of nuclear weapons, which took place in 1981 and 1983.[12]
TheEvangelical People's Party was a relatively new party, founded in 1981, as a splinter group from theChristian Democratic Appeal, the largest party of the Dutchcentre-right. During its period in parliament, 1982–1986, it had trouble positioning itself between the small left parties (PSP, PPR and CPN), the PvdA and the CDA.[12]
The increasingly close cooperation between PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP, and the ideological change that accompanied it was not without internal dissent within the parties. The ideological change that CPN made fromofficial communism to 'reformism' led to a split in the CPN; and the subsequent founding of theLeague of Communists in the Netherlands in 1982. In 1983, a group of "deep" Greens split from the PPR to foundThe Greens. The CPN and the PPR wanted to form anelectoral alliance with the PSP for the 1986 elections. This led to a crisis within the PSP, in whichchair of the parliamentary party (Fractievoorzitter)Fred van der Spek, who opposed cooperation, was replaced byAndrée van Es, who favoured cooperation. Van der Spek left the PSP to found his ownParty for Socialism and Disarmament. The 1986 PSPcongress, however, rejected the electoral alliance.
In the1986 general election, all four parties lost seats. The CPN and the EVP disappeared from parliament. The PPR was left with two and the PSP with one seat. While the parties were preparing to enter in the 1990 elections separately, the pressure to cooperate increased. In 1989, the PPR, CPN and PSP entered the1989 European Parliament election with a single list, called theRainbow.Joost Lagendijk andLeo Platvoet, both PSP party board members, initiated an internal referendum in which the members of the PSP declared to support leftwing cooperation (70% in favour; 64% of all members voting). Their initiative for left-wing cooperation was supported by an open letter from influential members oftrade unions (such asPaul Rosenmöller andKarin Adelmund), ofenvironmental movements (e.g.,Jacqueline Cramer) and fromarts (such asRudi van Dantzig). This letter called for the formation of a singleprogressive party to the left of theLabour Party. Lagendijk and Platvoet had been taking part in informal meetings between prominent PSP, PPR and CPN-members, who favoured cooperation. Other participants were PPR chairmanBram van Ojik and former CPN leaderIna Brouwer. These talks were called "F.C. Sittardia" or Cliché bv.[12]
In the spring of 1989, the PSP party board initiated formal talks between the CPN, the PSP and the PPR about a common list for the upcoming general elections. It soon became clear that the CPN wanted to maintain an independent communist identity and not merge into a new left-wing formation. This was reason for the PPR leaving the talks. Negotiations about cooperation were reopened after the fall of thesecond Lubbers cabinet and the announcement that elections would be held in the autumn of that year. This time the EVP was included in the discussion. The PPR was represented for a short while by an informal delegation led by former chairWim de Boer, because the party board did not want to be seen re-entering the negotiations it had left only a short while earlier. In the summer of 1989, theparty congresses of all four parties accepted to enter the elections with a shared programme and list of candidates. Additionally, the association GroenLinks (Dutch:Vereniging GroenLinks; VGL) was set up to allow sympathisers, not member of any of the four parties to join. Meanwhile, theEuropean elections of 1989 were held, in which the same group of parties had entered as a single list under the name "Rainbow". In practice, the merger of the parties had now happened and the party GroenLinks was officially founded on 24 November 1990.[11][12]
In the1989 elections, the PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP entered in the elections with one single list called Groen Links. In the Netherlands, parties usually participate in the elections with one list for the whole country. The candidates on top of the list get the priority for the distribution of seats won. The GroenLinks list of candidates was organised in such a way that all the parties were represented and new figures could enter. The PPR, which had been the largest party in 1986 got the top candidate (thelead candidate,Ria Beckers) and the number five; the PSP got the numbers two and six, the CPN the number three and the EVP number eleven. The first independent candidate wasPaul Rosenmöller, trade unionist from Rotterdam, on the fourth place. In the elections, the party doubled its seats in comparison to 1986 (from three to six), but the expectations had been much higher.[12] In the 1990 municipal elections, the party fared much better, strengthening the resolve to cooperate.[11]
In the period 1989–1991, the merger developed further. A board was organised for the party-in-foundation and also a 'GroenLinks Council', which was supposed to control the board and the parliamentary party and stimulate the process of merger. In this council, all five groups – CPN, PPR, PSP, EVP and the Vereniging Groen Links – had seats on ratio of the number of their members. Originally, the three youth organisations, the CPN-linkedGeneral Dutch Youth League, the PSP-linkedPacifist Socialist Young Working Groups and the PPR-linked Political Party of Radical Youth refused to merge, but under pressure of the government (who controlled their subsidies) they did merge to formDWARS.[13] In 1990, some opposition formed against the moderate, green course of GroenLinks. Several former PSP members united in the "Left Forum" in 1992 – they would leave the party to join former PSP-leader Van der Spek to found thePSP'92. Similarly, former members of the CPN joined theLeague of Communists in the Netherlands to found theNew 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.[12]
GroenLinks had considerable problems formulating its own ideology. In 1990, the attempt to write the first manifesto of principles failed because of the difference betweensocialists andcommunists on the one side and the moreliberal former PPR members on the other side.[13] The second manifesto of principles – which was not allowed to be called that – was adopted after a lengthy debate and many amendments in 1991.[13]
Although the party was internally divided, the GroenLinks parliamentary party was the only party in the Dutch parliament which opposed theGulf War.[13] A debate within the party about the role military intervention led to a more-nuanced standpoint than thepacifism of some of its predecessors: GroenLinks would supportpeacekeeping missions as long as they were mandated by theUnited Nations.[13]
In the fall of 1990, MEP Verbeek announced that he would not, as he had promised, leave the European Parliament after two-and-a-half years to make room for a new candidate.[13] He would continue as an independent and remain in parliament until 1994. In the1994 European elections, he would run unsuccessfully as top candidate ofThe Greens.[14]
In 1992, party leaderRia Beckers left theHouse of Representatives because she wanted more private time. Peter Lankhorst replaced her as chair ad interim, but he announced that he would not take part in the internal elections.[15]
Before thegeneral election of 1994, GroenLinks organised an internal election on the party's political leadership. Two duos entered:Ina Brouwer (former CPN) combined withMohammed Rabbae (independent), whilePaul Rosenmöller (independent) formed a combination withLeoni Sipkes (former PSP); there were also five individual candidates, includingWim de Boer (former chair of the PPR and member of theSenate),Herman Meijer (former CPN, future chair of the party) andIneke van Gent (former PSP and future MP).[15]
Some candidates ran in duos because they wanted to combine family life with politics. Brouwer, Rosenmöller and Sipkes already were MPs for GroenLinks, whilst Rabbae was new – he had been chair of the Dutch Centre for Foreigners. In the first round, the duos ended up ahead of the others, but neither had anabsolute majority. A second round was needed, in which Brouwer and Rabbae won with 51%.[15] Brouwer became the first candidate and Rabbae second, the second duo Rosenmöller and Sipkes occupied the following place followed byMarijke Vos, former chair of the party. The idea of a duallead candidacy did not communicate well to the voters. GroenLinks lost one seat, leaving only five. Yet in the same election, the centre-left Labour Party also lost a lot of seats.[14]
After the disappointing elections, Brouwer left parliament. She was replaced as party leader byPaul Rosenmöller and her seat was taken byTara Singh Varma.[14] The charismatic Rosenmöller became the "unofficial leader" of the opposition against thefirst Kok cabinet because the largest opposition party, theChristian Democratic Appeal, was unable to adapt well to its new role as opposition party.[11][16] Rosenmöller set out a new strategy: GroenLinks should offer alternatives instead of only rejecting the proposals made by the government.[17][18]
In the1998 general election, GroenLinks more than doubled its seats to eleven. The charisma of "unofficial leader" Rosenmöller played an important role in this.[18] Many new faces entered parliament, includingFemke Halsema, a political talent who had left the Labour Party for GroenLinks in 1997.[19] The party began to speculate openly about joining government after the elections of 2002.[20][21]
The 1999Kosovo War divided the party internally. The parliamentary party in the House of Representatives supported theNATO intervention, while the Senate parliamentary party was against the intervention. Several former PSP members within the House of Representatives parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. A compromise was found: GroenLinks would support the intervention as long as it limited itself to military targets. Prominent members of the founding parties includingMarcus Bakker andJoop Vogt left the party over this issue.[22]
In February 2001,Roel van Duijn and a few former members ofThe Greens joined GroenLinks.[23]
In 2001, the integrity of former MP Tara Singh Varma came into doubt: it was revealed that she had lied about her illness and that she had made promises todevelopment organisations which she did not fulfill. In 2000, she had left parliament because as she claimed, she had only a few months to live before she would die of cancer. TheTROS program "Opgelicht" (In English "Framed") revealed that she had lied and that she did not have cancer.[23] Later, she apologised on public television and claimed she suffered frompost-traumatic stress disorder.[24]
In the same year, the parliamentary party supported theinvasion of Afghanistan after theterrorist attacks of September 11. This invasion led to great upheaval within the party. Several former PSP members within the House of Representatives parliamentary party began to openly speak out their doubts about the intervention. Under pressure of internal opposition, led by former PSP members and the party's youth organisationDWARS, the parliamentary party changed its position: the attacks should be cancelled.[23]
The2002 general election was characterised by changes in the political climate. Theright-wing populist political commentatorPim Fortuyn entered into politics. He had an anti-establishment message, combined with a call for restrictions onimmigration. Although his critique was oriented at thesecond Kok cabinet, Rosenmöller was one of the few politicians who could muster some resistance against his message. Days before the election,Fortuyn was assassinated. Ab Harrewijn, GroenLinks MP and candidate also died.[25] Before and after the elections serious threats were made against Rosenmöller, his wife and his children. These events caused considerable stress for Rosenmöller.[26] GroenLinks lost one seat in the election, although it had gained more votes than in the 1998 elections. Before the2003 general election Rosenmöller left parliament, citing the ongoing threats against his life and those of his family as the main reason. He was replaced as chair of the parliamentary party and top candidate byFemke Halsema. She was unable to keep ten seats and lost two.[25]
In 2003, GroenLinks almost unanimously turned against theIraq War. It took part in theprotests against the war, for instance by organising itsparty congress in Amsterdam at the day of the large demonstration, with an interval allowing its members to join the protest.[25]
At the end of 2003, Halsema temporarily left parliament to give birth to hertwins. During her absenceMarijke Vos took her place as chair of the parliamentary party.[27] When she returned to parliament, Halsema started a discussion about theprinciples of her party. She emphasised individual freedom,tolerance, self-realisation andemancipation. In one interview she called her party "the last liberal party of the Netherlands"[28] This led to considerable attention of media and other observers, which speculated about an ideological change.[27] In 2005 the party's scientific bureau published the book "Vrijheid als Ideaal" ("Freedom as Ideal") in which prominent opinion-makers explored the new political space and the position of the left within that space.[29] During the congress of February 2007 the party board was ordered to organise a party-wide discussion about the party's principles.[30]
During the European Elections congress of 2004, the candidacy committee proposed that the chair of the GroenLinks delegation,Joost Lagendijk, should become the party'slead candidate in those elections. A group of members, led by Senator Leo Platvoet submitted a motion "We want to choose". They wanted a serious choice for such an important office. The party's board announced a new electoral procedure. During the congressKathalijne Buitenweg, an MEP and candidate, announced wish to be considered for the position of top candidate. She narrowly won the elections from Lagendijk. This came as a great surprise to all. Especially for Buitenweg who had not written an acceptance speech and read out Lagendijk's.[27]
In May 2005, MPFarah Karimi wrote a book in which discussed in detail how she had taken part in theIranian Revolution, because this information was already known by the party board this did not lead to any upheaval.[31] In November 2005, the party board asked Senator Sam Pormes to give up his seat. Continuing rumours about his involvement with guerrilla-training inYemen in the 1970s and the 1977 train hijacking byMoluccan youth and allegations ofwelfare fraud were harmful for the party, or at least so the party board claimed.
When Pormes refused to step down, the party board threatened to expel him. Pormes fought this decision. The party council of March 2006 sided with Pormes. Party chair Herman Meijer felt forced to resign. He was succeeded by Henk Nijhof who was chosen by the party council in May 2006. In November 2006 Pormes left the Senate, he was replaced byGoos Minderman.[32]
In the2006 Dutch municipal election, the party stayed relatively stable, losing only a few seats. After the elections GroenLinks took part in 75 local executives, includingAmsterdam where MPMarijke Vos became an alderwoman.[32]
In preparation of the2006 general election the party held a congress in October. It elected Halsema, again the only candidate, as the party's top candidate. MEPKathalijne Buitenweg and comedian Vincent Bijlo werelast candidates. In the 2006 elections the party lost one seat.[32]
In the subsequentcabinet formation, an initial exploratory round among theChristian Democratic Appeal (CDA),Labour Party (PvdA) andSocialist Party (SP) failed, Halsema announced that GroenLinks would not be involved in further discussion at that point in time, as the party lost, was too small, and had less in common with CDA than the SP had.[32] Following this decision an internal debate about the political course and the leadership of Halsema re-erupted. The debate does not just concern the series of lost elections and the decision not to participate in the formation talks, but also the elitist image of the party, the newliberal course, initiated by Halsema, and the lack of party democracy. Since the last weeks of January 2007 several prominent party members have voiced their doubts including former leaderIna Brouwer, SenatorLeo Platvoet and MEPJoost Lagendijk.[30] In reaction to this the party board has set up a commission led by former MP and chair of the PPRBram van Ojik. They looked into the lost series of elections. In the summer of 2007 another committee was formed to organise a larger debate about the course of the party's principles, organisation and strategy. Van Ojik also led this committee. The committee implemented a motion already adopted by the party's congress in 2006 to re-evaluate the party's principle in light of the party's course started by Halsema in 2004.[32] Over the course of 2007 and 2008 the committee organised an internal debate about the party's principles, organisation and strategy. In November 2008 this led to the adoption of a new manifesto of principles.
In August 2008, GroenLinks parliamentarianWijnand Duyvendak published a book in which he admitted to a burglary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in order to steal plans for nuclear power plants. This led to his resignation on 14 August, after media reported that the burglary also led to threats againstcivil servants.[33][34] He was replaced byJolande Sap.[35]
In 2008, MEPsJoost Lagendijk andKathalijne Buitenweg announced that they would not seek a new term in the European Parliament. The party had to elect a newlead candidate for the2009 European elections. There were five candidates for this position:Amsterdamcity councillorJudith Sargentini, former MEPAlexander de Roo, senatorTineke Strik, environmental researcherBas Eickhout andNiels van den Berge assistant of MEP Buitenweg. In an internal referendum Sargentini was elected. Theparty congress put Eickhout on a second position on the list.
On 18 April 2010, the party congress composed the list of candidates for the2010 general election. Two sitting MPsIneke van Gent andFemke Halsema were granted dispensation to stand for a fourth term. Halsema was re-elected as party leader. Van Gent was put as fifth on the party list. All of the first five candidates were sitting MPs and four were women. Their other high newcomers were former Greenpeace directorLiesbeth van Tongeren and chairman ofCNV youthJesse Klaver. The party won 10 seats in the election and participated in the formation talks of a Green/Purple government. Halsema resigned as party leader when these talks failed and was succeeded byJolande Sap.[36]
In the2012 general election, GroenLinks lost six seats and was left with four out of 150 seats. Following the disappointing result, Sap was forced to resign as party leader and was succeeded byBram van Ojik, who in turn handed his position toJesse Klaver in 2015. Under Klaver's leadership, GroenLinks gradually rose in polls before climbing to an all-time high of 14 seats in the2017 general election. The party enteredcoalition talks with thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy, theChristian Democratic Appeal andDemocrats 66, but the talks failed after Klaver demanded more refugees to be accepted.[37]
GroenLinks lost the2021 general election, and combined with theLabour Party during thesubsequent government formation. There have been discussions about a merger with that party; they participated in the2023 Dutch Senate election as one.[38] GroenLinks and the Labour Party announced in 2023 that they would also participate as one,GroenLinks–PvdA, in thegeneral election of 2023, as members of both parties voted in favour of an alliance.[39] WithFrans Timmermans as lead candidate, GroenLinks–PvdA eventually won 25 seats in the elections, gaining 8 seats and becoming the largestopposition party to theSchoof cabinet. On 12 June 2025, members of GroenLinks voted in favour of another joint list for thegeneral election of 2025, as well as a merger with the Labour Party into a new party in 2026.[40]
The party combines green and left-wing ideals.[16] The core ideals of GroenLinks are codified in the party's programme of principles (calledPartij voor de Toekomst, "Party for the Future").[41] The party places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the left. Its principles include:
The party's principles reflect the ideological convergence between the four founding parties which came from different ideological traditions: thePolitical Party of Radicals and theEvangelical People's Party, from aprogressive Christian tradition; and thePacifist Socialist Party and theCommunist Party of the Netherlands from thesocialist andcommunist traditions. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, the parties had come to embraceenvironmentalism andfeminism; they all favoured democratisation of society and had opposed the creation of newnuclear plants and the placement of newnuclear weapons in the Netherlands.[11]
Halsema, the former political leader of the party, has started a debate about the ideological course of GroenLinks. She emphasised the freedom-loving tradition of the left and chose freedom as a key value. Her course is calledleft-liberal by herself and observers,[42] although Halsema herself claims that she does not want to force an ideological change.
FollowingIsaiah Berlin, Halsema distinguishes betweenpositive andnegative freedom.[43] According to Halsema, negative freedom is the freedom of citizens from government influence; she applies this concept especially to themulticultural society and therechtsstaat, where the government should protect the rights of citizens and not limit them. Positive freedom is theemancipation of citizens from poverty and discrimination. Halsema wants to apply this concept towelfare state and the environment where government should take more action. According to Halsema, GroenLinks is anundogmatic party.[43]
Theelection manifesto for the2010 elections was adopted in April of that year. It was titledKlaar voor de Toekomst ("Prepared for the Future"). The manifesto emphasises international cooperation, welfare state reform, environmental policy and social tolerance.[44]
GroenLinks considers itself a "social reform party", which aims to reform the government finances and increase the position of "outsiders" on the labour market, such as migrant youth, single parents, workers with short term-contracts and people with disabilities. It disagrees with the parties on the right which, in the eyes of GroenLinks, were only oriented towards cutting costs and did not offer the worst-off a chance for work, emancipation and participation.[45] But, unlike the other opposition parties of the left, the party does not want to defend the current welfare state – which the party calls "powerless", because it merely offers the worst-off a benefit rather than prospects for work.[45] The party wants to reform the Dutchwelfare state so it will benefit "outsiders" – those who have been excluded from the welfare state until now.
To increase employment, the GroenLinks proposes a participation contract, where unemployment recipients sign an agreement with their local council to become involved in volunteer work, schooling, or work experience projects – for which they get paid minimum wage.[46] The unemployment benefit should be increased and limited to one year. In this period, people would have to look for a job or education. If at the end of the year one should not succeed in finding a job, the government will offer one a job for theminimum wage. In order to create more employment, they want to implement thegreen tax shift which will lower taxes on lower paid labour. This would be compensated by higher taxes on pollution. In order to increase prospects for the underprivileged, it wants to invest in education, especially thevmbo (middle-level vocational education). In order to ensure that migrants have a better chance for jobs, it wants to deal firmly with discrimination, especially on thelabour market. The party wants to decrease income differences by makingchild benefits.[44] The party favours reform of governmentpensions: after 45 years of employment, one should get the right to a pension. If one starts working young, one is able to stop working earlier than if one starts working when one is older. Receiving unemployment or disability benefits is counted as work, as is caring for children or family members. The system of mortgage interest deductions should be abolished over a forty-year period.
International cooperation is an important theme for the party. This includesdevelopment cooperation with underdeveloped countries. GroenLinks wants to increase spending ondevelopment aid to 0.8% of thegross national product. It wants to open the European markets to goods from Third World countries, under conditions offair trade. In order to ensure free and fair trade, it wants to increase and democratise international economic organisations such as theInternational Monetary Fund and theWorld Bank. The party also favours greater international control over financial markets. GroenLinks favoursEuropean integration, but is critical about the current policies of theEuropean Commission. It favoured theEuropean Constitution, but after it was voted down in the2005 referendum, GroenLinks advocated a new treaty which emphasiseddemocracy andsubsidiarity. The party is critical about thewar on terror. It wants to strengthen thepeacekeeping powers of theUnited Nations and reform theDutch armed forces into a peace force, with the functions ofNATO to be taken over by the European Union and the United Nations.
GroenLinks wants to solve environmental problems, especiallyclimate change, by stimulating durable alternatives. The party wants to use taxes andemissions trading to stimulatealternative energy as an alternative to bothfossil fuel andnuclear plants. It wants to close all nuclear plants in the Netherlands and impose a tax on the use of coal in energy production, in order to discourage the building of new coal-based power plants. Moreover, it wants to stimulateenergy saving. It wants to invest in cleanpublic transport, as an alternative to private transport. Investments inpublic transport can be financed by not expandinghighways and imposingtolls on the use of roads (calledrekeningrijden). The party wants to stimulateorganic farming through taxes as an alternative toindustrial agriculture. Moreover, GroenLinks wants to codifyanimal rights in theConstitution.[44]
GroenLinks values individual freedom and therule of law. The party wants to legalisesoft drugs. It wants to protect civil rights on the Internet by extending constitutional protection for free communication to email and other modern technologies. It also favours a reform ofcopyright to allow non-commercial reproduction and the use ofopen-source software in the public sector. In the long term, it seeks to abolish themonarchy and create arepublic. It also favours a reduction of the size of the government bureaucracy, for instance by decreasing the number ofDutch ministries and abolishing theSenate. Finally, GroenLinks favours liberalimmigration andasylum policies. It wants to empower victims ofhuman trafficking by giving them a residence permit and it wants to abolish the income requirements for marriage migration.[44]
In the party's 2021 election programme, it stated that it wants to introduce abasic income for all Dutch citizens within eight years.[47]
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Ria Beckers | List | 362,304 | 4.1 | 6 / 150 | 3 | Opposition |
| 1994 | Ina Brouwer | List | 311,399 | 3.5 | 5 / 150 |  1 | Opposition |
| 1998 | Paul Rosenmöller | List | 625,968 | 7.3 | 11 / 150 | 6 | Opposition |
| 2002 | List | 660,692 | 7.0 | 10 / 150 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 2003 | Femke Halsema | List | 495,802 | 5.1 | 8 / 150 | 2 | Opposition |
| 2006 | List | 453,054 | 4.6 | 7 / 150 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 2010 | List | 628,096 | 6.7 | 10 / 150 | 3 | Opposition | |
| 2012 | Jolande Sap | List | 219,896 | 2.3 | 4 / 150 | 6 | Opposition |
| 2017 | Jesse Klaver | List | 959,600 | 9.1 | 14 / 150 | 10 | Opposition |
| 2021 | List | 537,584 | 5.2 | 8 / 150 | 6 | Opposition |
| Election | Votes | Weight | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 4 / 75 | 1 | |||
| 1995 | 4 / 75 |  | |||
| 1999 | 8 / 75 | 4 | |||
| 2003 | 10,866 | 6.7 | 5 / 75 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 9,074 | 5.6 | 4 / 75 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 10,757 | 6.5 | 5 / 75 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 30 | 9,520 | 5.6 | 4 / 75 | 1 |
| 2019 | 65 | 19,363 | 11.2 | 8 / 75 | 4 |
| 2023 | 55 | 17,313 | 9.7 | 7 / 75 | 1 |
| Election | List | Vote | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | List | 154,362 | 3.74 | 1 / 31 | New | G |
| 1999 | List | 419,869 | 11.85 | 4 / 31 | 3 | Greens-EFA |
| 2004 | List | 352,201 | 7.39 | 2 / 27 | 2 | |
| 2009 | List | 404,020 | 8.87 | 3 / 25 | 1 | |
3 / 26 | 0 | |||||
| 2014 | List | 329,906 | 6.98 | 2 / 26 | 1 | |
| 2019 | List | 599,283 | 10.90 | 3 / 26 | 1 | |
3 / 29 | 0 |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | Change | Involved in Executives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 36 / 758 | ||||
| 1995 | 34 / 758 | 2 | |||
| 1999 | 50 / 764 | ||||
| 2003 | 37 / 564 | 1 / 12 | |||
| 2007 | 33 / 564 | 4 | 2 / 12 | ||
| 2011 | 6.30 | 34 / 566 | 1 | 2 / 12 | |
| 2015 | 324,572 | 5.35 | 30 / 570 | 4 | 2 / 12 |
| 2019 | 783,006 | 10.76 | 61 / 570 | 31 | 8 / 12 |
| 2023[a] | 694,678 | 8.96 | 51 / 533 | 10 | 5 / 11 |
According to a survey done in 2006 more women vote for GroenLinks than men by a margin of 20%.[48] The party also disproportionately appeals togay voters. The party also polls well among migrant voters, especially those fromTurkey andMorocco, where its support is twice as high as in the general population.[49][50]
GroenLinks voters have an eccentric position in their preferences for particular policies. Between 1989 and 2003 they were the most leftwing voters in the Netherlands, often a little more to the left than voters of theSP.[51] These voters are in favor of the redistribution of wealth, free choice foreuthanasia, opening the borders forasylum seekers, themulticultural society and are firmly against building newnuclear plants.[51]
GroenLinks has the second-largest proportion ofvegan/vegetarian voters of any political party in the Netherlands, with 8.4% or 16.9% of GroenLinks voters in saying in 2 surveys in 2021 that they did not eat meat. The party with the highest proportion of vegan/vegetarian voters in both surveys was theParty for the Animals, for which the share laid at 17.3% or 27.9%.[52][53][54]
The logo of GroenLinks is the name of the party with the word "Green" written inred and the word "Left" written in green since 1994. Additional colours used in the logo are white, yellow and blue. An earlier logo, used between 1989 and 1994, and which can be seen on the posterabove showed a variation of apeace sign projected on a green triangle on which "PPR PSP CPN EVP" was written and next to it GroenLinks in green and pink.
From 2007 onwards, GroenLinks has adopted the idea of a "permanent campaign", which implies that campaign activities are held even when there is no immediate connection to an election.[55] Permanent campaign activities are intended to create and maintain a base level of sympathy and knowledge about the party platform.
The name "GroenLinks" (until 1992 "Groen Links" with a space between Groen and Links) is a compromise between the PPR and the CPN and the PSP. The PPR wanted the word "Green" in the name of the party, the PSP and the CPN the word "Left". It also emphasises the core ideals of the party, environmental sustainability and social justice.[12]
In 1984, the common list of the PPR, PSP and CPN for the1984 European elections was calledGreen Progressive Accord – at that time the PPR did not want to accept the word "left" in the name of the political combination. The parties had entered in the1989 European elections as theRainbow (Regenboog), in reference to theRainbow Group in the European Parliament between 1984 and 1989.[11]
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The highest organ of GroenLinks is theparty 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 platform. The congress convenes at least once every year in spring or when needed.
The party board consists of fifteen members who are elected for a two-year term. Thechairperson of this board is the only paid position on the board, the others are unpaid. The chairperson together with four other board members (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.[56]
For the months that the congress does not convene, a party council takes over its role. It consists out of 80 representatives of all the 250 municipal branches. The party board and the nationally elected representatives of the party are responsible to the party council. It has the right to fill vacancies in the board, make changes to the party constitution and takes care of the party's finances.[56] Politicians are required to donate 10% of their gross income to the party, making GroenLinks one of the top recipients of donations among Dutch political parties.[57]
There are several independent organisations which are linked to GroenLinks:
GroenLinks is also active on the European and the global stage. It is a founding member of theEuropean Green Party and theGlobal Greens. Its MEPs sit inThe Greens–European Free Alliance group. GroenLinks cooperates with seven other Dutch parties in theNetherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, an institute which supports democratic development in developing countries.[62]
GroenLinks was founded as a mid-sized party to the left of theLabour Party (PvdA). In the 1994 elections, theSocialist Party (SP) also entered parliament. GroenLinks now takes a central position in the Dutch left between the socialist SP, which is more to the left, and the social-democratic PvdA, which is more to the centre.[63] This position is exemplified by the call of Femke Halsema to form a left-wing coalition after the 2006 elections, knowing that such a coalition is only possible with GroenLinks. Theelectoral alliance between SP and GL in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 elections,[64] and between GroenLinks and PvdA in the 2004 European elections are examples of this position.[65] In the2007 First Chamber election, it had an electoral alliance with theParty for the Animals.[66] More and more, however, GroenLinks is seen as the most culturally progressive of the three parties.[67][68] Since 2023 GroenLinks has significantly intensified cooperation with PvdA, generally entering elections with a shared electoral list,[69] including in European Parliament elections after which elected politicians joined separate groups.[70] Both parties are internally discussing a possible complete merger.[71]
GroenLinks does not run an independent list for thewater board elections. Instead, likeD66 andVolt Netherlands, it recommends that its voters supportWater Natuurlijk, an independent,green-oriented political party focused solely on water board elections.[72]
GroenLinks wants to introduce a basic income for all Dutch citizens within the next eight years.
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