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51-647: Founded in 1990, the party was a member of the European Green Party from 2003 until its expulsion in 2019. It is positioned in the centre-right of the political spectrum and supports socially conservative and green policies. The party is notable for producing the world's first green head of government when Indulis Emsis briefly served as Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004 and the first green head of state when Raimonds Vējonis served as President of Latvia from 2015 to 2019. In April 1989, representatives from Green movements in multiple Baltic countries sent

102-591: A just and sustainable economy, strengthening inclusive democracies, safeguarding diversity, and ensuring social justice. Green politics in Europe emerged from several grassroots political movements, including the peace movements, the ecology movement and movements for women's rights. The anti-nuclear movement in Germany first had political expression as Vereinigung Die Grünen , which formed in March 1979, and established itself as

153-760: A letter to the Paris Green Congress citing the USSR as the reason for ecological ruin in the region. One of the representatives was Arvīds Ulme , a member of the Latvian Environmental Protection Club, who would go on to form the Latvian Green Party alongside Indulis Emsis the following year. The party was registered on 13 January 1990, becoming the first official political party in Latvia four months before it officially declared its independence from

204-764: A particularly populist leader. The party was a member of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR), allying with amongst others, the British Conservative Party , Polish Law and Justice , and the Czech Civic Democratic Party . They sat with the AECR's group, the European Conservatives and Reformists , in the European Parliament . Until 2009, TB/LNNK was a member of

255-683: A party for the European Parliament in January 1980. Similarly, activists in Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament would eventually form the Ecology Party . However, it also brought in ecological movements, which had become active across Western European nations in the 1970s. Environmental groups became especially political after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which strengthened groups such as

306-405: The 1998 election , ethnic Latvians were fifteen times as likely to vote for the party as ethnic Russians. The 1998 referendum on citizenship sponsored by TB/LNNK was supported by a majority of Latvians, but defeated overall by opposition from ethnic Russians. The party was supported mostly by the middle class , with wealthier voters tending to vote either for TB/LNNK or Latvian Way . Before

357-481: The 2004 European Parliament election . In the 2009 European election , the party lost most of its support, falling from nearly 30% to 7.5%, resulting in the loss of 3 of its 4 European seats. The party attempted to join the centre-right Unity electoral alliance in 2010, but was rejected. Instead it joined with the more nationalist All for Latvia! (VL) in the National Alliance ( Nacionālā Apvienība ). In

408-611: The 2006 parliamentary election , the party won four seats as part of the ZZS. The party remained part of the centre-right coalition government along with the People’s Party, Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way , and For Fatherland and Freedom . Party chairman and former prime minister Indulis Emsis became Speaker of the Saeima from November 2006 until September 2007, when he resigned amid a criminal corruption investigation. In 2015, Raimonds Vējonis

459-539: The 2010 election , the Alliance won eight seats, with VL winning six of them and TB/LNNK reduced to two. In July 2011, both components of the National Alliance agreed to intensify their links and to re-organize the National Alliance as a unitary party under the same name. On TB/LNNK's 17th and last delegate conference, 84 of 90 party representatives agreed with the merger, 3 opposed and 3 abstained. Constitutionally,

510-818: The Alliance for Europe of the Nations and sat with the UEN group. In 2009, British foreign secretary David Miliband criticized Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles ' decision to secure an alliance with TB/LNNK in the ECR group "despite the fact that its members attend commemorations for the Waffen-SS". In a response, William Hague demanded an apology be made to TB/LNNK and the Latvian government from Miliband, describing his remarks as recycling "false Soviet propaganda " and noting that "the majority of parties forming Latvia’s current Government including

561-511: The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance high-level panel meeting in 2005, Jean-Yves Camus , a French political scientist, described the party as "on the borderline between conservative right and far-right" and "an ultra-nationalist party comparable in some respects to the far right". A major cleavage in Latvian politics is between ethnic Latvians , from whom TB/LNNK received almost all of its votes, and ethnic Russians . In

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612-817: The European Parliament which is formed by elected Green party members along with the European Free Alliance , European Pirate Party and Volt Europa . The European Greens' partners include its youth wing the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG), the Green European Foundation (GEF) and the Global Greens family. Green parties are in government in seven countries in Europe: Austria ( The Greens ), Belgium ( Groen and Ecolo ), Bulgaria ( Green Movement ), Germany ( Alliance 90/The Greens ),

663-619: The European Union before Latvian accession. In March 2003, it changed to supporting membership, fearing that voting no would cause the country to lose support for economic reforms and security policy. The party campaigned in favour of accession in the November 2003 referendum . The party was a strong advocate for the Latvian language . For example, it introduced a law mandating the public sector to ignore communication in any other language. At

714-669: The Italian Green Party . In the Netherlands, feminists dominated GroenLinks party. Elements of all these national parties would go on to form the European Green Party. Representatives from these and other parties sat in the European Parliament after the 1984 European Parliament election . The following 11 members of this grouping, which was briefly known as the Rainbow Group , came from parties which went on to be part of

765-531: The National Alliance . The party was founded from smaller groups in 1993 as For Fatherland and Freedom (TB), with a focus on promoting the Latvian language and putting a cap on naturalisation of Latvian Non-citizens . It won six Saeima seats in its first year , and 14 in 1995 , when it entered the governing centre-right coalition. It merged with the moderate Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK) in 1997, and moved its emphasis to economic liberalisation . TB/LNNK's then-leader, Guntars Krasts ,

816-593: The Remembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires a public holiday , and its members to celebrate the Latvian Legion , part of the Waffen-SS . The party was an advocate of the free market . The party's position shifted over time from interventionism to liberalisation . Originally, the party based its Statism on the heavy interventionism of the inter-war republic. Of TB/LNNK's predecessors, For Fatherland and Freedom

867-551: The Republic of Ireland ( Green Party ), Latvia ( The Progressives ) and Poland , ( Zieloni / Civic Coalition ) Spain ( Catalunya en Comú / Sumar ). The European Greens have committed themselves to the basic tenets of Green politics as seen across Western Europe, namely environmental responsibility , climate action, individual freedom , inclusive democracy , diversity , social justice , gender equality , global sustainable development and non-violence . The European Greens

918-758: The Soviet Union . The Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia elected in 1990 contained seven Green delegates. After the Constitution of Latvia was restored, following the collapse of the Soviet Union , the election of the 5th Saeima (1993-1995) returned one Green deputy, Anna Seile , on the list of the Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK). In the 6th Saeima (1995-1998), there were four members: Indulis Emsis , Guntis Eniņš , Jānis Kalviņš and Jānis Rāzna . From 1993 until 1998 ,

969-655: The EGP are the Council and the Committee. [REDACTED] Mar Garcia (from January 2015) The EGP hosts a collection of networks that have specific special interest focus, including: The table below shows the results of the Greens in each election to the European Parliament, in terms of seats and votes. It also shows how many European Commissioners the European Greens have, and who led

1020-513: The EPP, opened the door to collaboration with the far right. The European Green Party is a European political party , constituted out of political parties from European countries. Parties can also become associate members. Members of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament not belonging to a member party can be admitted as a special member with speaking rights but no vote. The governing bodies of

1071-494: The European Greens is working towards a just and sustainable transition towards societies "respectful of human rights and built upon the values of environmental responsibility, freedom, justice, diversity and non-violence". The charter's guiding principles provide a framework for the political actions taken by member parties. The priorities outlined in the charter include protecting human health and wellbeing, maintaining biological diversity, combatting global warming, transitioning to

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1122-646: The European Greens: The European Green Party itself was officially founded at the 4th Congress of the European Federation of Green Parties on 20–22 February 2004 in Rome. At the convention, 32 Green parties from across Europe joined this new pan-European party. As such, the European Greens became a trans-national party, and the very first European political party. In the 2004 European Parliament election , member parties won 35 Seats and

1173-501: The Greens were part of the governing coalition with Indulis Emsis as Minister of State for Environmental Protection. The LZP contested the 1995 general election in an electoral list with the LNNK, but lost its parliamentary representation in the 1998 general election , which it contested in alliance with the Workers' Party and Christian Democratic Union . For the 2002 parliamentary election ,

1224-630: The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament secured 43 in total. In the 2009 European Parliament election , even though the European Parliament was reduced in size, the European Greens' member parties won 46 seats, the best result of the Green Parties in 30 years. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament secured 55 seats in total. In the 2014 European Parliament election , the Green candidates were José Bové and Ska Keller . These elections marked

1275-521: The Latvian Green Party include: As of 2011, chairpersons are Viesturs Silenieks and Raimonds Vējonis. 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–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary group in

1326-806: The Prime Minister’s party, have attended the commemoration of Latvians who fought in the Second World War". The Israeli historian and Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff , head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center 's office in Jerusalem , criticized the party's "obsession with paying public homage to the Latvian-SS Legion in contradiction to all historical logic and sensitivity to Nazi crimes" in a column for The Guardian on 28 September 2009, while University of Vilnius professor Dovid Katz , writing that

1377-555: The TB merged with the LNNK to form 'For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK', also known as the 'Conservative Union'. In 1998, the proposal was defeated in a referendum , by a relatively small margin (45% of voters supporting the change and 52% rejecting it). At the end of the 1990s and the early 2000s, the party shifted its focus to economic issues. "For Fatherland and Freedom" was a part of coalition governments from December 1995 to February 2004. From 1997 to 1998, its representative, Guntars Krasts ,

1428-596: The alliance on 11 June 2022; they were later joined by the Liepāja Party . In May 2022, LZP formed a political alliance for the 2022 Saeima elections together with the Latvian Association of Regions , the Liepāja Party and an upcoming political NGO led by Liepāja construction contractor Uldis Pīlēns , the United List . Three co-chairpersons share the leadership position at any one time. Former chairpersons of

1479-575: The audience that a collaboration with the ECR "depends very much on how the composition of the Parliament is, and who is in what group." Numerous analyses in European quality media consider this as a win for the Greens and the turning point of the 2024 election campaign. The European Greens criticised heavily that von der Leyen, as incumbent president of the European Commission and lead candidate for

1530-512: The breakdown of the four-party government, Indulis Emsis was appointed to form a new government and became the first head of government of a country anywhere in the world from a Green party . His minority government was forced to resign in December of the same year. A new coalition government led by the People’s Party took office, in which the party was again represented as part of the ZZS. For

1581-455: The campaign was 'Change Europe, vote Green'. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament obtained 50 seats in total. The candidates for the 2019 European Parliament election were Ska Keller and Bas Eickhout , who campaigned for climate protection, a social Europe, more democracy and stronger rule of law. That year, the Greens made the strongest ever showing across Europe, in part due to rising public awareness about climate change and

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1632-507: The centre of today's political agenda". Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout were elected by the European Greens to be lead candidates for the 2024 European Parliament election. The campaign ran under the slogan "Choose Courage". They were elected by more than 300 delegates at an Extended Congress in Lyon, France in February 2024. The campaign is focused on a Green and Social Deal, and the fight against

1683-572: The first time there were primaries including Spitzenkandidaten at the European elections, which allows Europeans to not only vote for who should represent them in the European Parliament, but also help to decide who should lead the European Commission. In May they presented a common programme including the Green New Deal at the launch of the European Greens' campaign which called for "a new direction of economic policy aimed at reducing our carbon footprint and improving our quality of life". The slogan of

1734-479: The four major parties in the Saeima, and leap-frogging the LNNK (which suffered a split from the secession of the populist right under Joachim Siegerist ) as the main right-wing party. The party fell just short of a majority, with leader Māris Grīnblats 's right-wing coalition securing the support of 49 out of 100 deputies for the premiership . Instead, a broad centre-right coalition was formed with TB controlling four ministries under PM Andris Šķēle . In 1997,

1785-679: The impact of youth movements for climate. The strongest surge was in Germany as Alliance 90/The Greens replaced the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany as the second-strongest party. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament obtained 74 seats in total. The Greens' results signified a new balance of power as the European People's Party (EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) lost their majority. By 2023, The Economist analysed that "the policies espoused by environmentalists sit squarely at

1836-663: The inscription on the Freedom Monument , and its focus was on undoing the effects of the Soviet occupation, especially promoting the Latvian language and tightening citizenship laws. The party took part in the 1993 election to the Saeima , and won six seats. A party with a similar background, the Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK), won fifteen seats. TB was the leading force behind two referendum proposals (in 1994 and 1998 ) to make Latvian citizenship laws stricter. In 1994,

1887-440: The nationalist All for Latvia! party. In July 2011, both parties merged into a unitary party, bearing the name National Alliance . The roots of the party were in the 'Third Awakening' of the Latvian independence movement in the late 1980s. It identified with the part of the movement, which insisted on a full restoration of independence for Latvia and legal continuity with the Republic of Latvia that existed until 1940, when it

1938-472: The parliamentary group. It also lists how the Green parliamentary group and supra-national organisations was named and what European parliamentary group they joined. For Fatherland and Freedom For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK ( Latvian : Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK , abbreviated to TB/LNNK ) was a free-market , national conservative political party in Latvia . In 2011, it dissolved and merged into

1989-465: The parties merged in 1997, both TB and the LNNK received the most support from university graduates. Riga was traditionally the party's strongest area, with 40% of its voters in 1995 coming from the capital city. However, Riga's politics are shifting from an ethno-linguistic cleavage to a socio-economic one, leading to a softening of this disparity in the 2001 municipal election. Unlike most parties in Latvia, TB/LNNK never based its support on having

2040-583: The party formed the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) with the Latvian Farmers' Union . Three members of the Green party were elected: Indulis Emsis , Arvīds Ulme and Leopolds Ozoliņš . The ZZS joined a four-party center-right coalition government and was represented with three ministers, one of them from the Green party, Minister for the Environment Raimonds Vējonis . In February 2004, after

2091-473: The party have often supported nationalist and socially conservative views, leading to its expulsion from the European Green Party on 10 November 2019. By 2022, however, ZZS was embroiled in internal turmoil, with the Green Party announcing that it sees no way of further cooperation in the framework of ZZS with For Latvia and Ventspils , still led by oligarch Aivars Lembergs . Ultimately, it voted to leave

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2142-548: The party treated the post-1991 Republic of Latvia not as a successor to the inter-war republic, but as a continuation, and considered all acts of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic illegitimate. The party opposed the naturalisation of the large population of Soviet-era migrants ( Latvian : nepilsoņi ) that live in Latvia. The party's stance towards the Soviet era lead Guntars Krasts 's government to make

2193-403: The proposition did not gather the necessary number of voter signatures. Before the 1995 election , TB signed a prospective coalition agreement, the centre-right 'National Bloc', with the LNNK and the Latvian Farmers' Union , and presented a more rounded programme, based on the LNNK's, although still concentrating on national identity issues. The party jumped to fourteen seats, becoming one of

2244-471: The rise of the far right in Europe. At the 2024 Maastricht Debate , organised by Politico and the University of Maastricht , European Green top candidate Bas Eickhout asked directly to Ursula von der Leyen , top candidate of the European People's Party , what her position was towards the far right in Europe, European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy . Von der Leyen told

2295-470: Was Prime Minister from 1997 to 1998. It remained in government until 2004, and again from 2006. Initially from the nationalist right , the party become more moderate after the 1997 merger. It also shifted from supporting economic interventionism to the free market. A predominantly ethnic Latvian party, the party's support base was university-educated, middle class , and concentrated in Riga . The party

2346-485: Was elected President of Latvia with the support of 55 out of 100 members of the Saeima, becoming the first ever head of state in Europe from a green party. On 7 May 2019, despite support from his party and coalition, Vējonis announced he would not seek re-election and he was succeeded by longtime judge of the European Court of Justice Egils Levits , who Vējonis had defeated in the 2015 election. Leading politicians of

2397-410: Was soft Eurosceptic , and was a member of the anti- federalist Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists . Its only MEP , party leader Roberts Zīle , sat with the ECR group in the European Parliament . It has caused some controversy with its participation in the Remembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires processions. For the 2010 parliamentary election , it formed an alliance with

2448-526: Was annexed by the Soviet Union . It was closely affiliated with the Citizens' Congress through which an alternative government was created that claimed lineage from the interwar government. Within this structure, parties developed which continued after the restoration of independence in 1991. Two of these parties, the ' 18th November Union ' and ' Fatherland ', merged in 1993 to form the centre-right 'For Fatherland and Freedom' ( Latvian : Tēvzemei un Brīvībai or TB ). The new party took its name from

2499-437: Was more sceptical of the free market, while the LNNK supported full privatisation , within the context of a welfare state and protectionism . After the merger, the party adopted free market economics as one of its main emphases, advocating a swift transition to a market economy. The party held an anti- federal Europe , soft Eurosceptic position. It was the only centre-right party to have flirted with opposing membership of

2550-446: Was the prime minister . From February 2004 until November 2006, the party was in opposition. Although it only gained 8 seats in the 2006 election , the party was invited to become part of the ruling coalition, and it agreed to join. "For Fatherland and Freedom" campaigned as a strong supporter of Latvia's national interests and opponent of a federal Europe . "For Fatherland and Freedom" won 29% of votes and 4 of Latvia's 9 seats in

2601-439: Was the first party to form out of various national movements to become a European entity, committed to the integration of Europe. The party aims to amplify the views of member parties by having common policy positions, mutual election manifestos, and cohesive European election campaigns. The European Greens also has networks which brings Green politicians together, such as the Local Councillors Network. According to its charter,

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