Groen (political party)

Groen (lit. 'Green', ), founded as Agalev, is a green Flemish political party in Belgium. The main pillars of the party are social justice, human rights, and ecologism. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo; the two parties maintain close relations with each other.

Political views
Groen is a progressive Flemish party that, as the name itself suggests, considers environmental and climate policy very important. The party wants to combine this with attention to social justice, equal opportunities, human rights and quality of life. In other words, the party wants to protect the planet, but wants to do so by paying attention to the weakest in society. The party therefore wants good and affordable health care and to tackle poverty. In order to afford these initiatives, the party expect the richest people and the biggest polluters in society to contribute more.

Agalev
In 1979, the green party was founded by name of "Agalev", an acronym of "Anders Gaan Leven" ("Towards Different Living"). During the eighties, the party was known for being against nuclear weapons, and for being pro-Europe.

In 1992 Agalev was asked to support a constitutional change called the Sint-Michiels agreement, which would make Belgium a federation. This change required a two-third majority, so the majority needed to convince some parties of the opposition to proceed. Both Agalev and Ecolo agreed, in exchange for a tax on bottles, the first ecotax in Belgium. However, after the constitutional change was voted in, the ecotax was cancelled and replaced by a watered-down concept.

In the elections of 1999, Agalev scored 7% federally and 11% regionally (in Flanders). The Dioxin affair, a scandal surrounding dioxine in for-consumption chickens just before the elections, played an important role in the Greens' performance. The Greens joined the first Verhofstadt government as part of the "purple-green" federal coalition from 12 July 1999 until 18 May 2003. Representing Agalev in this federal government, Magda Aelvoet was Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Public Health and the Environment. She tabled legislation on gay marriage, making Belgium the second country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. Within the same legislature, Magda Aelvoet left her position due to her opposition of a Belgian arms delivery to Nepal, and was succeeded by fellow party member Jef Tavernier.

Also following the elections of 1999, the party joined the Flemish Government, which was composed of the same parties. Agalev supplied two ministers: Mieke Vogels became responsible for Wellbeing, Health and Equal opportunities, and Vera Dua for Agriculture and Environment.

Renaming to Groen! (2003)
In the federal elections of 2003, Agalev scored less than 5% and lost all their seats (on the federal level). The next day, Jos Geysels resigned as party leader. The sitting ministers in the Flemish government Mieke Vogels and Vera Dua stepped down, and were replaced by Adelheid Byttebier and Ludo Sannen respectively.

Vera Dua got elected as chairperson, and on the same day, the party's name was changed to Groen! (Green!). The party got between 5 and 10% of the votes through the elections of the early 00's. They did not participate in a governmental coalition (on any level higher than local).

Groen (2012 - current)
In 2012 the party decided to drop de exclamation mark of their name.

After the local and provincial elections of 2014, Groen had a mandate for the first time in the province of Flemish-Brabant. In 2018 the province of East-Flanders followed. The results in Flemish-Brabant had improved though Green wasn't part of the coalition anymore after these elections.

In 2019, there were elections on the regional, federal and European level. At this time the school strike for climate movement had dominated the media, so the party Groen was expected to grow substantially. An total victory didn't happen, though the party gained seats on all levels.

On the regional level of Brussels-Capital, Groen participated in a red-green-blue coalition. Elke Van den Brandt became Minister of Mobility, Public Works, and Road Safety.

On the federal level, a new government wasn't formed until 17 March 2020, when the coronavirus outbreak urged a minority government with extra plenary powers to be formed. After 6 months a 'regular' majority government was formed and the Vivaldi coalition was sworn in with 2 Groen ministers. Petra De Sutter became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Civil Service, Public Enterprises, Telecommunication and Postal Services, as Europe's first transgender deputy prime minister. Tinne Van der Straeten holds the Ministry of Energy.

In 2012 the members of Groen elected new party leaders: the duo Nadia Naji and Jeremie Vaneeckhout, and the logo changed from green only to a more colourful background.