Австрийская партия "Зелёные" и каталонские политические партии.

Austrian political party
the Catalan political party

The Greens – The Green Alternative (Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative, ) is a green political party in Austria. The party was founded in 1986 under the name "Green Alternative" (Grüne Alternative), following the merger of the more conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs (United Greens of Austria VGÖ, founded 1982) and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs (Alternative List Austria, ALÖ, founded 1982). Since 1993, the party has carried the official name Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative (Grüne), but refers to itself in English as "Austrian Greens". There are still differences between the former members of the old Alternative and VGÖ factions within the party, reflected in the differing approaches of the national and state parties. Apart from ecological issues such as environmental protection, the Greens also campaign for the rights of minorities and advocate a socio ecological (ökosozial) tax reform. Their basic values according to their charter in 2001 are: "direct democracy, nonviolence, ecology, solidarity, feminism and self determination". The party is a member of the European Green Party and Global Greens.

In 1978 the Austrian Green movement began with the successful campaign to prevent the opening of the nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf (which had been favoured by Bruno Kreisky's government), the Green Party was born in 1984 during the sit in protests which prevented the Danube power plant at Hainburg from being built.

In the 1986 parliamentary elections the Green Party started off with 4.82% of all votes cast and entered parliament with eight National Council mandates. In the early elections to National Council in 2002, the Green Party nationwide received 9.47% of votes, and won 17 mandates to the National Council. At that time, it was the highest number of votes garnered by any European Green party. When the Greens took their seats in parliament for the first time, they chose to appear somewhat unconventional. They initially refused to adapt their behaviour to that of the other parties; an example of this is their refusal to elect a chairperson (Klubobmann/Klubobfrau) and designated a puppet made out of straw instead. Delegates would appear in parliament dressed in casual wear such as jeans and trainers. Worldwide attention was drawn when the Green delegate Andreas Wabl hoisted a swastika flag on the speakers podium in the Austrian parliament, protesting against then Federal President Kurt Waldheim. After the national election in 2002, the Greens entered into preliminary negotiations about a possible coalition government with the conservative ÖVP. During negotiations, party leadership was accused of internally black mailing skeptical members. Negotiations between the two parties were subsequently called off, after the results with the ÖVP were not sufficient. The Green youth organisation Grünalternative Jugend (Green Alternative Youth or GAJ) briefly occupied the rooms of the Green parliamentary club in the Austrian parliament building in protest. In 2003 three Green federal counsellors formed their own club in the Upper House Federal Council (Bundesrat) of Parliament. After the 2006 elections the Greens gained four seats and ended up with 21 seats and became the third largest party in Parliament, however did not have enough mandates to form a coalition government with either the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) or Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and became the largest opposition party, while the SPÖ and ÖVP formed a grand coalition government. The party suffered from internal struggles in 2017, losing its Youth wing (which split away and formed an ephemeral joint list with the Communist Party of Austria) and later experiencing a split of Peter Pilz's faction, forming the Peter Pilz List. The 2017 legislative election saw a collapse for the party, scoring only 3.8% and losing its representation in the Nationalrat for the first time since 1986. Following the results, party spokesman Ingrid Felipe resigned from her post and was replaced by Werner Kogler. The party saw a revival in the 2019 European election, in which they scored 14.1% and elected 2 MEPs. The election saw the collapse of JETZ. The party eventually later this year, experienced a strong recovery and performed better well leading up to the 2019 snap legislative election, the Greens returned to the National Council (Nationalrat) with their best ever result in a legislative election, scoring 13.9% and electing 26 MPs, an upswing of 10.2% from 2017.

The chart below shows a timeline of the Green chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria. The left green bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundessprecher, abbreviated as "Chair.") of the Green party, and the right bar shows the corresponding make up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ), black (ÖVP), and light grey (Independent) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for the cabinets.

The Green party also entered the parliaments or assemblies (Landtag) of Austrian federal states and communal governments. Following is an analysis of the party on the federal state (Länder) level:

The Burgenland Greens were able to take their seats in the federal state parliament (Landtag) for the first time in 2000. The party received 5.49% of the tally, which meant two mandates. In the federal state elections in 2005 these two seats were reaffirmed with 5.21% received of all votes cast.

In the southernmost federal state Carinthia, different Green parties ran state elections: the KEL/AL in 1984, Anderes Kärnten in 1989 and 1994, and Demokratie 99 in 1999. These parties were, however, never able to enter the federal state assembly, since the Carinthian voting system requires a party to win a direct mandate in one of the four regional election districts, which effectively means a 10% threshold in order to enter. Only in 2004 were the Carinthian Greens finally able to take their seats in the federal state assembly, where they are represented by cabaret artist Rolf Holub and Barbara Lesjak. On a regional level, for example in the federal state capital Klagenfurt, the Carinthian Greens have already played a political role for a longer time. In the Klagenfurt city council, the Greens are represented by Andrea Wulz, Matthias Koechl, Angelika Hoedl and Reinhold Gasper. Since the local election in 2003, the Klagenfurt Greens were able to take one of nine seats in the proportional city government, Andrea Wulz is the town councillor for issues relating to women, family matters and social housing projects.

In 1998 the Lower Austrian Greens were represented with two delegates in the federal state assembly. In the federal state elections in 2003 the Greens received 7.22% and thus won four mandates, which enabled them to form a parliamentary group called club in Austrian politics in the assembly. With Madeleine Petrovic, the Lower Austrian Greens have a former federal spokeswoman and one of the most outspoken animal activists of Austria as their leader (Klubobfrau). In 2005 the Lower Austrian Greens managed to win and take their seats in 100 municipal assemblies and as of 2005 had four vice mayors. Their managing director in Lower Austria is Thomas Huber.

After the federal state elections in 1989 the Salzburg State Greens had two mandates in the Salzburg federal state assembly, in 1994 three and in 1999 again two. Under the leadership of Cyriak Schwaighofer the Greens performed under their expectations in the 2004 federal state elections and could not achieve the desired club status of at least three mandates. As voter current analyses showed, the small increases in votes were largely due to former voters of the Liberal Forum (LiF), which did not run in the Salzburg elections. In March 2009 they were down from 8% to 7.3%, keeping their two seats in Salzburg State's parliament. The Bürgerliste (Citizen List) is the common platform of the Greens in Salzburg municipality. Like many other autonomous municipal groups it carries its own name.

The Styrian Greens have three delegates sitting in the federal state assembly, federal state spokesperson Lambert Schönleitner, Sandra Krautwaschl, and Lara Köck. There are two independent Greens parties: on the one hand the federal state party, on the other hand there is the Die Grünen Alternative Liste Graz party for the federal state capital Graz. In the Graz city council the Greens are represented by Sigi Binder, Lisa Rücker, Hermann Candussi and Christina Jahn. Styria has the largest Austrian Green youth organization in Austria, called Grüne Jugend Steiermark (Green Youth Styria). Beside the Green Youth Styria there also exists Austria's first Green students' organization, the ECO Students.

In 1997 the Upper Austrian Greens successfully entered the Upper Austrian Landtag (state assembly) for the first time. After the state elections in 2003 (state elections in Upper Austria are held every six years, not five like in the other states), the Greens were able to win even more seats. The campaign was already aimed at gaining ministerial seats in the state government. Since the conservative Christian democratic ÖVP was the strongest party, this would have meant for the Greens to enter into a coalition government with them (the so called "Schwarz Grün" [Black Green] coalition, named after the party colours). This new political constellation was quite controversial amongst party members on both sides. In the Green party, the leader Rudi Anschober was able to convince party members and after some dealing became state councillor for environmental affairs. The Greens of the state capital of Linz under the leadership of city councillor Jürgen Himmelbauer were most against this black green project. On the national level, the Upper Austrian Greens were able to nominate and send to the parliamentary Upper House Federal Council (Bundesrat) councillor Ruperta Lichtenecker.

In 2004 the Greens had about 3,000 members nationwide, although at present there are no uniform regulations for membership. Apart from the members, the Greens rely on a large number of volunteers. The party used to function on the principles of grassroots democracy (Basisdemokratie) and rotation principle (Rotationsprinzip), but this was stopped in the course of the time. The last basic democratic element is the Urabstimmung, which is a vote on any issue that can be initiated with the petition of at least 100 members. As of 2003 however, no such vote has taken place. The highest body is the Federal Congress (Bundeskongress), which convenes at least once a year. All federal state organisations send delegates, also the immigrants organisation is allowed to send delegates as "the tenth Austrian state". The Federal Congress decides the electoral lists for the National Council elections and elections to the European parliament. The congress also elects the federal spokesperson (BundesprecherIn). The congress also decides the party program and sets the party guidelines. In the last few years, the federal executive (Bundesvorstand) has developed into the actual decision making centre. It meets at least once a week, mostly on Tuesdays, and determines the guidelines of daily politics. The federal executive also decides on party finances. The extended federal executive (Erweiterter Bundesvorstand) consists of a smaller number of delegates from each state and meets at least once a month. It takes care of the implementation of the party guidelines, which were set by the party congress. It also chooses the representatives of the party spokesperson. The highest office in the party is that of the federal spokesperson (Bundessprecher). The party's federal spokesman is Werner Kogler. The federal state organisations (Landesorganisationen) are organised similarly: There are federal state meetings, which sometimes convene as a members meeting or a delegates meeting. Similar to the federal executive, there are federal state executives (Landesvorstände). The party charter also allows for each federal state group to hold a vote on basic issues as well that affect the whole party. Independently in the National Council there also exists a Green National Council Club (faction), which can independently specify its guidelines. In recent years however an increasing fusion of the work between party and its club was noticeable. Michaela Sburny, successor of Franz Raft since June 2004 as the Greens' federal chairperson, was allowed to keep her National Council mandate. This means she is allowed to hold two offices at the same time, something that was frowned upon by the Greens previously. There are different Green or Greenish organisations within the party and associated with it. These include:
The Grünen Andersrum is the gay , lesbian and transgender organisation, which is organised differently from state to state, and exists in all states except Vorarlberg and Burgenland. In Vienna, the Grünen Andersrum are a part of the party itself. The Grünen SeniorInnen (DGS) is the organisation for senior citizens. It was founded on March 9, 2001, in Vienna. The DGS fights for a policy more friendly to senior citizens and their right to lead an active, fulfilling and self determined life. The Initiative Grüne MigrantInnen (IGM) is the Green group for immigrants in Austria. Their demands are a facilitation of integration into life in Austria, equal rights and equal opportunities, fight against racism and other issues concerning migrants. The Grüne und Alternative Studierende (GRAS) is a separate party which candidates in the elections for the Austrian National Union of Students (Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft – ÖH). There they are the biggest faction, together with the Socialist Students of Austria (Verband Sozialistischer StudentInnen Österreichs – VSStÖ) they form the executive committee of the Austrian National Union for Students. The Grünalternative Jugend (GAJ) is the youth organisation of the Green party. The GAJ existed since the 1990s. It is a member of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG). The GAJ sees itself rather as extreme left. The organisation is subdivided into smaller groups for each state. The Grüne Frauenorganisation is the organisation for women. As of 2005, it does not exist yet in every state. ECO Students is a Green student's organisation, which currently only exists in Styria. The Grüne Wirtschaft is the Green economic organisation and runs in the elections for the Economic Parliament of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich – WKÖ). The Alternative und Unabhängige GewerkschafterInnen (AUGE/UG) is the Green labour union. It runs in the elections for the labour parliament of the Austrian Labour Chamber (Arbeiterkammer – AK). The education and training of new Green politicians is done by the Grüne Bildungswerkstatt, which is an independent voluntary association. The Grüne Bildungswerkstatt is financed by the republic, as regulated by Austrian law for the equal treatment of all parliamentary parties.

Election Votes % Seats +/– Government 1983 159,616 3.4 (#4) New 1986 234,028 4.8 (#4) 8 1990 225,084 4.8 (#4) 2 1994 338,538 7.3 (#4) 3 1995 233,208 4.8 (#5) 4 1999 342,260 7.4 (#4) 5 2002 464,980 9.5 (#4) 3 2006 520,130 11.1 (#3) 4 2008 509,936 10.4 (#5) 1 2013 582,657 12.4 (#4) 4 2017 192,638 3.8 (#6) 24 2019 664,055 13.9 (#4) 26

In the 2016 Austrian presidential election, Alexander Van der Bellen won the election with 50.35% of the votes and defeated Norbert Hofer the Freedom Party of Austria politician who received 49.65% of the vote. Van der Bellen became the first president from the Greens. On 1 July, the Constitutional Court overturned the result of the election and ordered a re run because of irregularities during the counting process. On 4 December 2016 Van der Bellen won the re run of the second round with 53.79% of the votes to Hofer's 46.21%. ElectionCandidateFirst round resultSecond round result Votes % Result Votes % Result 1986 Freda Meissner Blau 259,689 5.5 colspan=3 1992 Robert Jungk 266,954 5.7 colspan=3 1998 Gertraud Knoll [de] 566,551 13.6 colspan=3 2004 did not contest 2010 did not contest 2016Alexander Van der Bellen 913,218 21.3 2,472,892 53.8 2022 2,299,592 56.7 colspan=3

Election Votes % Seats +/– 1996 258,250 6.8 (#4) 1999 260,273 9.3 (#4) 1 2004 322,429 12.9 (#4) 0 2009 284,505 9.9 (#5) 0 2014 410,089 14.5 (#4) 1 2019 532,194 14.1 (#4) 0

State Year Votes % Seats ± Government Burgenland 2020 12,466 6.7 (#4) 0 Carinthia 2023 11,676 3.9 (#5) 0 Extra parliamentary Lower Austria 2023 68,207 6.4 (#4) 1 Salzburg 2023 22,074 8.2 (#5) 0 Styria 2019 72,749 12.1 (#4) 3 Tyrol 2022 31,598 9.2 (#5) 1 Upper Austria 2021 99,496 12.3 (#4) 1 Vienna 2020 107,397 14.8 (#3) 6 Vorarlberg 2019 31,201 18.9 (#2) 1

Year AT EU Bgld Ktn NÖ Sbg Stmk Tyrol OÖ Wien Vbg 1983 3.3 N/A 1.5 2.5 1984 1.8 4.3 2.9 13.0 1985 3.9 1986 4.8 3.7 1987 2.2 5.2 1988 3.6 1989 3.3 7.9 9.5 10.1 1990 4.8 1991 3.4 4.6 5.7 10.9 1992 1993 4.4 1994 7.3 1.6 7.3 10.7 7.8 1995 4.8 4.3 Proporz 1996 6.8 2.5 7.9 1997 5.8 1998 4.5 1999 7.4 9.3 3.9 5.4 8.0 6.0 2000 5.5 5.6 2001 12.5 2002 9.5 2003 7.2 15.6 9.1 2004 12.9 6.7 8.0 10.2 2005 5.2 4.7 14.6 2006 11.1 2007 2008 10.4 6.9 10.7 2009 9.9 5.2 7.4 9.2 10.6 2010 4.2 5.6 12.6 2011 2012 2013 12.4 12.1 8.1 20.2 12.6 2014 14.5 17.1 2015 6.4 6.7 10.3 11.8 2016 Proporz 2017 3.8 2018 3.1 6.4 9.3 10.7 2019 13.9 14.1 12.1 18.9 2020 6.7 14.8 2021 12.3Proporz Year AT EU Bgld Ktn NÖ Sbg Stmk Tyrol OÖ Wien Vbg Bold indicates best result to date. Present in legislature (in opposition) Junior coalition partner