| Green Party Miljöpartiet de Gröna |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Gustav Fridolin Åsa Romson (spokespersons) |
| Founded | 6 December 1981 |
| Headquarters | Pustegränd 1-3, Stockholm |
| Membership (2009) | 10,635[1] |
| Ideology | Green politics |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| European Parliament Group | European Greens - European Free Alliance |
| Official colours | Green |
| Parliament |
25 / 349
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| European Parliament |
2 / 20
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| Counties[2] |
103 / 1,662
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| Municipalities[3] |
686 / 12,978
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| Mayors:[3] |
0 / 290
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| Website | |
| http://www.mp.se/ | |
| Politics of Sweden Political parties Elections |
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Core topics
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The Green Party (Swedish: Miljöpartiet de Gröna, literally "The Environmental Party the Greens", and usually simply referred to in Sweden as Miljöpartiet: "The Environmental Party") is a green political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1981 emerging out of the movement opposing nuclear power in a referendum held in 1980. It won seats in the Parliament of Sweden for the first time in 1988, failed to pass the 4% cutoff in the following election in 1991, but returned again in 1994 and has held seats since, getting around 5% in every election. In the election in 2010 they got 7.34%, making them the third biggest party in Sweden. Currently, the party garners the most support among the young, female, urban, educated, public employed demographics.
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The Green Party builds its ideology on the three solidarities: with animals, nature and the ecological system; with future generations; with all the world's people. The party took a stand against membership in the European Union and wanted a new referendum on the issue, though this policy was abolished in a September 2008 internal party referendum. However, the party remains predominantly EU-critical. The Greens support a phasing-out of nuclear energy in Sweden and hope to replace it with alternative, sustainable energy sources. The party further supports a general shift in taxation policy, towards high taxes on environmentally unfriendly or unsustainable products and activities, hoping to thus influence people's behavior towards the more sustainable. The Green Party was the first political party in Sweden to raise the issue of climate change.
The party does not have a formalized leadership, instead having chosen a system with two party spokespersons (always one male and one female as a promotion of gender equality). The current spokespersons are Gustav Fridolin and Åsa Romson.[4]
The party has 25 seats in the parliament and has seats in the municipal council of most municipalities.
It is often believed that the party is situated on the left on a left-right scale due to its cooperation with the social democrats. While the right-left scale is primly based on which social group a party has its support base in, the Green Party bases its ideology on the idea of human race survival – which not is an idea belonging to a particular social group. The party cooperated in a red-green coalition with the center-left Social Democrats and the left-wing Left Party from October 2008 until the 2010 elections in September 2010 and has vowed to cooperate with the Socialdemocrats until 2020.[5] In several municipalities, however, the Greens cooperate with liberal parties, and the party does not define itself as left, nor right. Rather, they place themselves on one end of a scale between sustainability and growth. In an article published in 2009, Maria Wetterstrand, then party co-spokesperson, defined the party as a natural home also for green-minded social liberals and libertarian socialists, by referring to its liberal policy regarding immigration and its support of personal integrity, participation and entrepreneurship, among other issues.[6]
As of 2006[update], the party is in opposition in Sweden, and its prioritized issues are climate change, anti-discrimination and equal rights.
In the European Parliament election, 2009, the Green Party received 11.02 % and elected 2 MEPs.
In the Church of Sweden, the Green Party is affiliated with the Miljöpartister i Svenska kyrkan nominating group, which participates in church elections at all levels. It currently holds several seats in the General Synod since the last elections in 2009.
The Green Party has a good relationship with the Social Democrats, and to a lesser extent, with the Left Party. The party does not rule out participation in a government with the minor liberal and center-right parties in Sweden, but has made it clear that its members will not support a government led by the Moderate Party. However, historically there has been political deals concluded with the parties forming the non-socialist Alliance, as an example concering education, and co-operation on municipal level are in fact relatively frequent.
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