Green League
Green League | |
|---|---|
| Finnish name | Vihreä liitto |
| Swedish name | Gröna förbundet |
| Leader | Ville Niinistö |
| Founded | 28 February 1987 |
| Headquarters | Fredrikinkatu 33 A, 2nd floor FI-00120 HELSINKI |
| Membership (2011) | 7,000[1] |
| Ideology | Green politics Green liberalism Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre-left[2] |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| European Parliament group | The Greens–European Free Alliance |
| Colours | Green |
| Parliament | 10 / 200
|
| European Parliament | 2 / 13
|
| Municipalities | 370 / 10,412
|
| Website | |
| http://www.vihreat.fi/ | |
| Part of a series on |
| Green politics |
|---|
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The Green League (Finnish: Vihreä liitto, Vihr.; Swedish: Gröna Förbundet) is a centrist green liberal political party in Finland. It has ten seats in the Finnish Parliament and two in the European Parliament. The current chairperson is Ville Niinistö.
Founded in 1987, the party absorbed a number of green organisations, including four MPs elected in 1987. The party won ten seats in the 1991 election. Despite falling to nine seats in 1995, Pekka Haavisto, joined Paavo Lipponen's grand coalition first cabinet, making the Green League the first Green party in a national cabinet. The party remained in government until 2002, when it left in opposition to nuclear power. In 2007, the party peaked at 15 seats, and joined the centre-right government. At the 2011 election, the party fell to ten seats.
The party sits in the centre of the political spectrum, criticising both socialism and the free market. The party is a member of the Global Greens and the European Green Party, while its two MEPs sit with The Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament. Originally split on whether Finland should join the European Union, the Green League is now pro-European and was the first Finnish party to support a federal Europe.[3]
History
The party was founded February 28, 1987, and registered as a political party the next year. Political activity had begun already in the early 1980s, when environmental activists, feminists and other active groups began to campaign on Green issues in Finland. In 1995 it was the first European Green party to be part of a state-level Cabinet.
The party was founded as a popular movement, and thus retains the descriptor liitto, "league". Initially, there was much resistance within the movement against the founding of a political party, motivated by Robert Michels' iron law of oligarchy, which claims that movements inevitably degenerate into oligarchies when they create a formal organization.[4] The party still especially stresses openness and democratic decision-making. The liitto was later dropped from the Finnish and Swedish names in advertisements; the official name remains.
The first two parliamentary representatives were elected even before the registration, in the elections of 1983. These were the first independent representatives in the Finnish parliament. In 1987 the number of seats rose to four, and in 1991 to ten.
About half of Green were against joining the European Union in 1994. Later, polls showed that most Greens were anti-Eurozone.[5] The party heads declined to fight against euro adoption.
In the 1995 election the Green League received a total of nine seats (out of 200), joined the coalition-cabinet led by the Social Democrats, and Pekka Haavisto became the minister of Environment and Development Aid, thus becoming the first green minister in Europe. The Green League received 7.3% of the vote, and gained two additional seats in 1999, raising the total to 11. The Greens continued in the next coalition-cabinet, but resigned in protest on May 26, 2002, after the cabinet's decision to allow the construction of a new nuclear plant was accepted in the parliament. In 2003 the Green League received 8.0% of the vote, giving a total of 14 seats. They increased their seats to 15 in 2007 elections when they received 8.5%.
As of the 2009 elections, two of the thirteen Finnish representatives in the European Parliament are Green: Satu Hassi and Heidi Hautala.
At the local level, Greens are an important factor in the largest cities of Finland. In the local election of 2000 the Greens had 7.7% of the vote. In Helsinki (the capital) the Greens became the 2nd largest party with 23.5% of the vote. In several other cities the Greens achieved the position of the 3rd largest party. Its weak spot is the rural countryside, particularly municipalities experiencing strong outward migration.
The Green League is one of four parties forming the Finnish Government since April 2007. Its ministers are Anni Sinnemäki (Labour) and Tuija Brax (Justice).
The Federation of Green Youth and Students is the Green League's youth organisation.
Ideology and policies
Vihreät is no longer a protest party, nor an alternative movement. Some Green candidates in the elections reject classification as "left" or "right". Economic opinions of the members range between left and right.[4] However, on average members of party place their party between the Left Alliance and Social Democrats.[6]
In the party program, the Green League has criticized both the market economy and socialism.[citation needed] In the chamber of the Parliament and assembly rooms of local councils, Green League representatives sit between the Centre Party and the Social Democrats.
The party's latest policy platform on immigration has called for immigrants to study Finland's official languages, Finnish or Swedish, or lose social welfare benefits. Green Party chair and Labour Minister Anni Sinnemäki states it is an immigrant's duty to learn the language of their new home country.[7]
Elections results
Parliament elections
0 % 0–2 % 2–4 % 4–6 % 6–8 % 8–10 % 10–12 % 12–14 % 14– %
| Year | MPs | Votes | Share of votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 2 | 43 754 | 1,47% |
| 1987 | 4 | 115 988 | 4,03% |
| 1991 | 10 | 185 894 | 6,82% |
| 1995 | 9 | 181 198 | 6,52% |
| 1999 | 11 | 194 846 | 7,27% |
| 2003 | 14 | 223 846 | 8,01% |
| 2007 | 15 | 234 429 | 8,46% |
| 2011 | 10 | 213 172 | 7,25% |
Local council elections
| Year | Councillors | Votes | Share of votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 101 | 76 441 | 2,8% |
| 1988 | 94 | 61 581 | 2,34% |
| 1992 | 343 | 184 787 | 6,9% |
| 1996 | 292 | 149 334 | 6,3% |
| 2000 | 338 | 171 707 | 7,7% |
| 2004 | 313 | 175 933 | 7,4% |
| 2008 | 370 | 228 277 | 8,9% |
European parliament elections
| Year | MEPs | Votes | Share of votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1 | 170 670 | 7,6% |
| 1999 | 2 | 166 786 | 13,4% |
| 2004 | 1 | 172 844 | 10,4% |
| 2009 | 2 | 206 439 | 12,4% |
Presidential elections
Parliamentarian and then former MEP Heidi Hautala was a candidate in the presidential elections in 2000 and 2006, taking approximately a 3,5% share of votes in the first round. Pekka Haavisto was the candidate in the 2012 election. Haavisto got a 18,8% share of votes in the first round, and lost to Sauli Niinistö in the second round held on 5 February.
Politicians
List of party chairs
- Kalle Könkkölä (1987)
- Heidi Hautala (1987–1991)
- Pekka Sauri (1991–1993)
- Pekka Haavisto (1993–1995)
- Tuija Brax (1995–1997)
- Satu Hassi (1997–2001)
- Osmo Soininvaara (2001–2005)
- Tarja Cronberg (2005–2009)
- Anni Sinnemäki (2009–2011)
- Ville Niinistö (2011-)
Current members of parliament
The following 10 Green politicians were elected to the Finnish Parliament in the April 2011 parliamentary election.
Current members of the European parliament
Since 2009 the Green league is represented with 2 MEPs in the European parliament:
- Satu Hassi
- Tarja Cronberg (replacing Heidi Hautala in 2011)
See also
References
- ^ http://www.hs.fi/politiikka/artikkeli/Vihreiden+j%C3%A4senm%C3%A4%C3%A4r%C3%A4+kasvanut+r%C3%A4j%C3%A4hdysm%C3%A4isesti/1135267497920
- ^ Lane, Jan-Erik (2008). "The Nordic Countries". In Colomer, Josep Maria (ed.). Comparative European politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 260. ISBN 9780415437554.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Raunio, Tapio; Tiilikainen, Teija (2003). Finland in the European Union. London: Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 9780714653754.
- ^ a b Rauli Mickelsson. Suomen puolueet - Historia, muutos ja nykypäivä. Vastapaino 2007, 429 pages.
- ^ "4.2 Suomi Euroopan Unionissa".
- ^ Elo, Kimmo – Rapeli, Lauri (2008): Suomalaisten politiikkatietämys. Oikeusministeriön julkaisuja 2008:6.
- ^ "Greens to Immigrants: Learn Finnish or Lose Benefits". YLE. 11.10.2010. Retrieved 11.10.2010.
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