The Greens (France): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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{{redirectRedirect|Verts|other uses|Vert (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox political party
| native_name = Les Verts
| name = The Greens
| logo = Logo des verts français.png
| colorcode = {{French politics/party colourscolor|LesThe Greens Verts(France)}}
| foundation = 20 January 1984
| dissolved = 13 November 2010
| merged = [[Europe Ecology – The Greens]]
| ideology = [[Green politics]], <br /> [[Social progressivism]], [[Ecology movement|EcologismAlter-globalization]]
| european = [[European Green Party]]
| europarl = [[The Greens–European Free Alliance|Greens/EFA]]
| international = [[Global Greens]]
| president = [[Dominique Voynet]]
| colours = Green
| position = [[Centre-left politics|Centre-left]] to [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]]
| headquarters = 247, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin <br /> F-75010 Paris
| website = [http://www.lesverts.fr/ http://www.lesverts.fr/]
| country = France
}}
{{Green politics sidebar}}
'''The Greens''' ({{lang-fr|link=no|Les Verts}}, {{IPA-|fr|le vɛʁ|IPA}}; VEC or LV) was a [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] to [[Centre-left politics|centre-left]] [[Green politics|green]]-[[Ecology movement|ecologist]]<ref name="AnttiroikoMälkiä2007">{{cite book|author1=Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko|author2=Matti Mälkiä|title=Encyclopedia of Digital Government|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDrTMazYhdkC&pg=PA397|accessdateaccess-date=18 July 2013|year=2007|publisher=Idea Group Inc (IGI)|isbn=978-1-59140-790-4|page=397}}</ref> [[list of political parties in France|political party in France]]. The Greens had been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as [[René Dumont]]'s [[1974 French presidential election, 1974|candidacy for the presidency in 1974]]. On 13 November 2010, The Greens merged with [[Europe Écologie|Europe Ecology]] to become [[Europe Ecology – The Greens]].<ref name="Lansford2014">{{cite book|author=Tom Lansford|title=Political Handbook of the World 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC_VBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA488|date=20 March 2014|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-8626-3|page=488}}</ref>
==History==
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Since 1974, the environmentalist movement has been a permanent feature of the French political scene, contesting every election: municipal, national & European.
In the years following Dumont’sDumont's challenge for the presidency, and prior to the formal confirmation of les Verts as political party, environmentalists contested elections under such banners as ''Ecology 78'', ''Ecology Europe'' and ''Ecology Today''. When, in 1982, ''the Ecologist Party'' merged with ''the Ecologist Confederation'', les Verts were born. Under the ideological guidance of [[Antoine Waechter]], the party in 1986 signalled a break with the traditional divide in French politics, declaring that environmental politics could not be "married" to either the left or the right (which gave rise to its famous slogan "ni droite, ni gauche" – "neither right, nor left"). Antoine Waechter ran in the [[1988 French presidential election, 1988|1988 presidential elections]], capturing 1,150,000 ballots (or 3.8%) in the first round of voting. But the major breakthrough came the following year when – again under the leadership of Waechter – the Greens polled 10.6% in the European parliamentary elections.
However, the party faced with another ecologist party: [[Ecology Generation]] led by [[Brice Lalonde]], environment minister of President [[François Mitterrand]] and allied with the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]] (PS). In this, if the ecologist parties benefited from the electoral decline of the PS in the beginning of the 1990s, the Greens competed for the leadership of the French ecologist movement. In the [[1992 French regional elections, 1992|1992 regional elections]], the Greens obtained 6.8% of votes and the presidency of [[Nord-Pas-de-Calais]] region. The next year, it scored 4.1% in the [[1993 French legislative election, 1993|legislative election]] while all of the ecologist votes represented 11%. But, without political allies in the second round, they failed to gain a parliamentary seat.
===Participation in government===
Waechter's influence was called into question in 1994 when the Greens decided to break with his policy of non-alignment, instead deciding to adopt a markedly left-wing stance. The move prompted Waechter to leave the Greens. He went on to found the [[Independent Ecological Movement]]. In the following presidential election of 1995, [[Dominique Voynet]] polled a modest 3.8% but, in due to the marginalisation of [[Ecology Generation]], the Greens captured the leadership into the family of the French [[political ecology]].
Component of [[Plural Left]] coalition, the Greens obtained for the first time a parliamentary representation in [[1997 French legislative election, 1997|1997]]. [[Dominique Voynet]] was to lead the party into government for the first time, joining [[Lionel Jospin]]'s [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]] (PS) and the [[French Communist Party|Communist Party]] (PCF). Voynet was rewarded with the cabinet position of Minister for the Environment and Regional Planning, before being replaced by [[Yves Cochet]] in 2001.
[[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]] (or "Danny the Red"), a leader of the [[May 1968 in France|1968 student uprising]], spearheaded the party's [[1999 European Parliament election, 1999in (France)|1999 European campaign]], obtaining 9.7% of votes cast, enough to return seven deputies to [[Strasbourg]].
[[Alain Lipietz]] was first selected to represent the Greens in the [[2002 French presidential election, 2002|2002 presidential elections]] but his public outings proved awkward and he was soon replaced by [[Noël Mamère]] who had initially lost the [[primary election]]s. Mamère's 5.25% represents the strongest Green challenge for the presidency to date. However, the legislative elections were a major disappointment: with just 4.51% of votes cast nationally, the Greens’ representation fell from six to just three deputies (out of a total of 577) in the [[French National Assembly|National Assembly]].
===TheOpposition Greensand todaymerger===
Following the return to opposition benches in 2002, [[Gilles Lemaire]] assumed the position of national secretary. His tenure is marked by a period of internal strife in the party. Lemaire was in turn replaced by [[Yann Wehrling]], who seemingly united a majority of the membership under a text outlining the future direction that the party hoped to pursue. He was succeeded by [[Cécile Duflot]] in 2006, who was the party's youngest National Secretary at the age of 31. She announced her resignation in May 2012 after being appointed to the new cabinet appointed by President [[François Hollande]].
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In the hugely divisive 2005 referendum on the [[European Constitution]], the Greens campaigned for a Yes vote.
In the [[2007 French presidential election, 2007]], les Verts nominated [[Dominique Voynet]]. Her low score of 1.57% in the first round was the party's worst electoral result, and the French ecologist's worst showing since [[René Dumont]] in the [[1974 French presidential election, 1974|1974]]. The party refused an electoral deal with the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialists]] for the [[2007 French legislative election, 2007|June legislative election]]. However, the three Green incumbents, [[Noël Mamère]], [[Yves Cochet]], and [[Martine Billard]] had no PS opposition in their respective constituencies. While the Green's vote share was down from 2002, it won a fourth seat in [[Nantes]] where [[François de Rugy]] defeated a conservative UMP incumbent. The Greens now had four seats in the Assembly and sat with the [[French Communist Party|PCF]] in the [[Democratic and Republican Left]] group.
In the [[2009 European Parliament election, 2009in (France)|2009 European Parliament election]], the party was an integral part of the [[Europe Écologie]] coalition, led by [[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]], which gained 8 seats for a total of 14 on a 16.3% of the vote. Since November 2010, it merged with the coalition to become [[Europe Ecology – The Greens]].
==The Skandrani Affair==
One of the party's co-founders, [[Ginette Skandrani]], had long attracted criticism due to her involvement with [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust deniers]].<ref name="auffray">{{frin iconlang|fr}} Auffray, Alain, ''[http://www.pdpinfo.org/article.php3?id_article=909 Une verte trop brune exclue du parti] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312122359/http://www.pdpinfo.org/article.php3?id_article=909 |date=12 March 2007 }}'', ''Libération'', 2 June 2006– hosted on [http://www.pdpinfo.org/ http://www.pdpinfo.org/]</ref>
The [[Stephen Roth Institute]] criticized the Green Party in 2004, calling its record "tainted by abortive attempts to expel from within its ranks notorious anti-Jewish activist Ginette Skandrani herself ethnically Jewish<ref name="www.proche-orient.info">{{frin iconlang|fr}} Audio file recorded by Skandrani, hosted on [http://www.proche-orient.info www.proche-orient.info]</ref> who has close contacts with Holocaust deniers."<ref name="Roth">Anonymous, "[http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2004/france.htm Country Reports, France- 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119110633/http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2004/france.htm |date=19 November 2012 }}", ''Steven Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism.'' 2004.</ref>
Other critics, such as [[Roger Cukierman]] of the [[Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France|Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions]] did not attack the party as a whole, but rather its [[Anti-Zionism|anti-Zionist]] wing, claiming that it promoted a "[[Red-green-brown alliance|brown-green alliance]]".<ref name="auffray" />
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In June 2005, the Greens voted to permanently expel Skandrani. Among the reasons for her definitive expulsion were her participation in the holocaust-denial website ''[[AAARGH]]'' (Association des anciens amateurs de récits de guerres et d'holocaustes).<ref name="auffray" /> Patrick Farbiaz, a Green leader involved in her expulsion, argued that "although she has not written [anti-Semitic texts] herself, she looks like a kingpen of holocaust deniers and avowed antisemites".<ref name="auffray" />
The party had previously expelled another co-founder (in 1991), [[Jean Brière]], for signing a text addressing the alleged "war-causing role" of Israel and "the [[zionism|zionist]] lobby in the [[Gulf War]]."<ref name="auffray" />
==Call to lift sanctions against Cypriot Turks==
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==Factions==
Most internal divisions within the party concern the party's political position (neither right nor left, or left-wing) and electoral strategy (alliance with the PS, the centre or the alternativefar-left leftparties).
*'''[[Antoine Waechter|Neo-Waechterians]]''' ([[environmentalism|environmentalists]], [[social liberalism|social liberals]], [[centrism|centrists]]): Followers of former Green leader [[Antoine Waechter]], a large part has joined the [[Independent Ecological Movement]] or, more recently, the [[Democratic Movement (France)|MoDem]] ([[Jean-Luc Bennahmias]], [[Yann Wehrling]])
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*'''Deputies:''' [[Yves Cochet]], [[Noël Mamère]], [[François de Rugy]] ([[Democratic and Republican Left|GDR]] Group). [[Martine Billard]], elected as a Green in 2007 joined the [[Left Party (France)|Left Party]] in July 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=1090226|publisher= Le Monde.fr|title = article|date = 9 July 2009}}</ref>
*'''Senators:''' [[Marie-Christine Blandin]], [[Alima Boumediene-Thiery]], [[Jean Desessard]], [[Jacques Muller (politician)|Jacques Muller]], [[Dominique Voynet]] ([[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist]] Group).
*'''MEPs:''' [[Malika Benarab-Attou]], [[Pascal Canfin]], [[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]], [[Karima Delli]], [[Hélène Flautre]], [[Catherine Grèze]], [[Nicole Kiil-Nielsen]], [[Michèle Rivasi]] (6 of the 14 MEPs from [[Europe Écologie]] are not members of the party).
The Greens held 41 town halls,{{when|date=June 2012}} the largest city being [[Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis|Montreuil]] ([[Seine-Saint-Denis]]). Other cities held by the Greens include [[Wattwiller]], [[Bègles]] and [[Mèze]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://lesverts.fr/article.php3?id_article=3844|title= Overview of 2008 local results|publisher = Les Verts|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080325235952/http://lesverts.fr/article.php3?id_article=3844|archive-date= 25 March 2008|df= dmy-all}}</ref> The party also claims 168 regional councillors and 14 general councillors (plus 9 Parisian councillors).
==Popular support and electoral record==
The Greens were strong electorally in urban areas, specifically in the [[Île-de-France (region)|Greater Paris]] area, [[Brittany]] and western France, parts of the [[Rhône-Alpes]] region and [[Alsace]]. In the 2009 European elections, the Greens won their best result outside of [[Corsica]], where their result was due to the support of the [[Party of the Corsican Nation]] (PNC), in the city of Paris (27.41%),<ref name="interieur.gouv.fr">{{cite web |url= http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/resultats-elections/ER2009/05/082/074/074.html|title= Ministry of the Interior results page}}</ref> [[Haute-Savoie]] (20.26%),<ref name="interieur.gouv.fr"/> [[Drôme]] (21.75%),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/resultats-elections/ER2009/05/082/026/026.html|title= Ministry of the Interior results page}}</ref> [[Isère]] (21.64%), [[Hauts-de-Seine]] (20.74%), [[Ille-et-Vilaine]] (20.59%), and [[Loire-Atlantique]] (20.16%). It also did very well in large, wealthy urban centres such as [[Rennes]] or [[Grenoble]]. It does more poorly in rural areas, notably areas where its rival, [[Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition|CPNT]], is strong. It also did poorly in industrial or poorer urban areas; for example it won only 9.33% in the [[Pas-de-Calais]], a department formerly dominated by coal mining, in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://q.liberation.fr/flash/electionseuropeennes2009/carte-France-dept-circ.swf|title= Interactive map of the 2009 European election results|publisher = Libération.fr|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111007225614/http://q.liberation.fr/flash/electionseuropeennes2009/carte-France-dept-circ.swf|archive-date= 7 October 2011|df= dmy-all}}</ref>
===Presidential===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! rowspan=2|Election year▼
! rowspan=2|Candidate▼
! colspan=2|1stFirst round▼
! colspan=2|2ndSecond round▼
!rowspan=2|Result
|-
!Votes
▲! rowspan=2|Election year
!%
▲! rowspan=2|Candidate
!Votes
▲! colspan=2|1st round
!%
▲! colspan=2|2nd round
|-
! # of overall votes
! % of overall vote
! # of overall votes
! % of overall vote
|-
! [[1988 French presidential election, 1988|1988]]
| [[Antoine Waechter]]
| 1,149,897
| 3.8%
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
| colspan=2 bgcolor=lightgrey|
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
! [[1995 French presidential election, 1995|1995]]
| [[Dominique Voynet]]
| 1,010,738
| 3.3%
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
| colspan=2 bgcolor=lightgrey|
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
! [[2002 French presidential election, 2002|2002]]
| [[Noël Mamère]]
| 1,495,724
| 5.3%
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
| colspan=2 bgcolor=lightgrey|
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
! [[2007 French presidential election, 2007|2007]]
| [[Dominique Voynet]]
| 576,666
| 1.6%
|<nowiki>-</nowiki>
| colspan=2 bgcolor=lightgrey|
| <nowiki>-</nowiki>
|-
|{{no|Lost}}
! [[French presidential election, 2012|2012]]
| [[Eva Joly]]
| 828,345
| 2.3
| colspan=2 bgcolor=lightgrey|
|}
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! # of seats
|-
! [[1986 French legislative election, 1986|1986]]
| 340,109
| 1.21%
| 0
|-
! [[1988 French legislative election, 1988|1988]]
| 86,312
| 0.35%
| 0
|-
! [[1993 French legislative election, 1993|1993]]
| 1,022,196
| 4.08%
| 0
|-
! [[1997 French legislative election, 1997|1997]]
| 1,738,287
| 6.83%
| 7
|-
! [[2002 French legislative election, 2002|2002]]
| 1,138,222
| 4.51%
| 3
|-
! [[2007 French legislative election, 2007|2007]]
| 845,977
| 3.25%
| 4
|-
! [[French legislative election, 2012|2012]]
| 1,418,264
| 5.46%
| 17
|-
! [[French legislative election, 2017|2017]]
| 973,527
| 4.30%
| 1
|}
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! Notes
|-
! [[1984 European Parliament election, 1984in (France)|1984]]
| 680,080
| 3.4 (#5)
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|
|-
! [[1989 European Parliament election, 1989in (France)|1989]]
| 1,922,945
| 10.6 (#4)
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|
|-
! [[1994 European Parliament election, 1994in (France)|1994]]
| 574,806
| 3.0 (#8)
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|
|-
! [[1999 European Parliament election, 1999in (France)|1999]]
| 1,715,450
| 9.7 (#4)
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|
|-
! [[2004 European Parliament election, 2004in (France)|2004]]
| 1,271,394
| 7.4 (#5)
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|
|-
! [[2009 European Parliament election, 2009in (France)|2009]]
| 2,803,759
| 16.3 (#3)
| {{Composition bar|14|72|hex=Green}}
| {{increase}} 8
|
|-
! [[European Parliament election, 2014 (France)|2014]]
| 1,696,442
| 9.0 (#5)
| {{Composition bar|6|74|hex=Green}}
| {{decrease}} 8
|
|}
==See also==
{{Portal|Sustainable development|Environment|Ecology}}
*[[European Federation of Green Parties]]
*[[List of environmental organizations]]
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==External links==
*{{frin iconlang|fr}} [http://lesverts.fr/ Official site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060130103248/http://www.europeangreens.org/peopleandparties/members/france.html Profile from the European Green Party]
{{French political parties}}
{{Green parties}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greens Party France}}
[[Category:Defunct green political parties]]
[[Category:Green political parties in France]]
[[Category:Left-wing parties in France]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1982]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2010]]
[[Category:European Green Party]]
[[Category:Political parties of the French Fifth Republic]]