Twenty Years of European Greens
1984 - 2004
edited by Arnold Cassola & Per Gahrton
Pekka Haavisto
Vihreä Liitto
(Finland)
- EFGP Spokesperson 2000 - to date
In Finland the historical “green moment” was in March 1983, when – contrary to most forecasts – two green MPs were elected to the national parliament from independent green lists. The backbone of the green movement in Finland was to be found in environmental movements, represented by MP Ville Komsi in the first green parliamentary group, and in social movements, represented by MP Kalle Könkkölä. He was representing the Movement of handicapped people in Finland, and the Finnish Parliament House had to build its first ramps.
I was working as the secretary for the first parliamentary group, and my first international green experience was the Spring 1985 European Green Congress in Dover, UK. It was a huge green gathering with 600 greens from 19 countries. Sara Parkin, International Liaison Secretary from the UK Greens, opened the event. Among the speakers was the late Petra Kelly who addressed the congress with a plea for eco-feminism. Later on, Petra Kelly (and the ex-General Gerd Bastian) were to become also regular visitors to the Finnish Green events.
The 1985 Dover congress was a great gathering since you could find “all different faces” of the greens there: those who had already entered the national parliament and those who were very much concentrating on grassroots movements. After the leftist movements, which only concentrated on “how to change the structures of the society”, the fresh green viewpoint was “how to change the way of life in this society”. The green revolution did not have to wait: it could be done immediately.
In Finland we managed to go successfully through two parliamentary elections without registering the greens as a political party. There was a lot of criticism within the greens against following “a traditional political party path”, and finally the party was registered only in 1988 after a lengthy debate about the pros and cons. Some of the most radical anti-party people left the greens then.
Formally the Green Union joined the European Green Coordination in 1989, and the Finnish greens were proud to host the establishing meeting of the Federation of European Green Parties in 1993 in Majvik, close to Helsinki.
After elections in spring 1995 the Finnish greens entered to the coalition government, and we stayed in the government until Spring 2002, when the Finnish Parliament voted in favour of building a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland. That was our time to go into opposition again. Elections 2003 were again successful, and the Green Union has at the moment 14 out of 200 seats in the Finnish Parliament. Out of 14 MPs, there are 11 women and 3 men.
My understanding is that the green success is based on the fact that we have been able to keep both environmental and social issues as our key topics. In Finland the greens are also a party placed in the “centre”, in the way that it has been attractive for voters both from liberals and from leftist parties. Greens have also been keeping their good contacts with the grass-root movements and NGOs, and through rotation new green faces have always been available for the voters.
To keep the green process alive is a challenging task. For that, we need something from our history – the good tradition of social and environmental movements. But to change individual lifestyles is not enough for green success – therefore we have to concentrate also more on structural changes. That is why the party is needed, and that is why even an effective European
