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Union of Greens and Farmers

February 07, 2023

The Union of Greens and Farmers (Latvian: Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia.[3] It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils.

Union of Greens and Farmers
Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība
AbbreviationZZS
LeaderAivars Lembergs
ChairmanArmands Krauze [lv]
Founded25 July 2002; 20 years ago (2002-07-25)
HeadquartersLielirbes iela 17a-30, Riga
Membership (2017)2,254[1][2]
IdeologyAgrarianism
Political positionCentre to centre-right
Members
Colours
  •   Green
  •   Yellow
Saeima
16 / 100
European Parliament
0 / 8
Mayors
11 / 43
Website
zzs.lv

It is positioned in the centre[4][5] or centre-right[6][7] on the political spectrum. It is orientated towards conservative,[8] Eurosceptic,[9] and green policies,[10] and can be considered a centrist Nordic agrarian alliance,[7] with nationalist and anti-liberal elements.[11][12][13]

While the alliance's formal leader is Edgars Tavars, its leading figure and chief financial supporter is the oligarch Aivars Lembergs.[14] The ZZS has had the world's first prime minister, Indulis Emsis (Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004), and first head of state, Raimonds Vējonis (President of Latvia 2015–19), to be affiliated with a green party.[15]

History

The alliance was established to contest the 2002 parliamentary election by the Latvian Green Party (LZP) and Latvian Farmers' Union (LZS).[15] It ran on an ideologically amorphous agenda and won 12 out of 100 seats in the parliament. In March 2004, Indulis Emsis from the LZP became the Prime Minister of Latvia until December of that year.[15]

On a European level, the LZP cooperated with the European Green Party while the LZS has no formal affiliation. Before the 2004 European Parliament election, ZZS announced that if its representative was elected, he or she would join one of two political groups depending on which party they belonged to.

The alliance continued for the 2006 parliamentary election, and won 18 seats. It became part of the governing coalition, and LZP chairman Indulis Emsis, who served as Prime Minister briefly in 2004, became Speaker of the Saeima.

Aivars Lembergs was the candidate of the Union of Greens and Farmers for the position of Prime Minister in 2006, before being charged with corruption, fraud, bribery, money laundering and abuse of elected office on 20 July 2006. On 14 March 2007, Lembergs was detained by the Latvian authorities in relation to a criminal investigation.

At the 2014 European Parliament election, the ZZS won 8.3% of the vote and for the first time one of Latvia's European Parliament seats. Its MEP is Iveta Grigule who initially sat with the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFFD) group. On 16 October 2014 Grigule defected from the EFDD to sit as an independent. This move required EFDD to co-opt a member of Poland's Congress of the New Right to remain eligible for parliamentary group status.[16] In April 2015 she joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group.[17]

In the 2015 presidential election, the alliance's then-leader Raimonds Vējonis became President of Latvia and subsequently resigned his leadership of the alliance. In January 2016, after the resignation of Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma, Liepāja Party member Māris Kučinskis became the head of government. After the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election, ZZS lost ten seats and ultimately in 2019 became a part of the opposition to the Kariņš cabinet.

Split, change of members

In early 2022, the alliance started to break apart, with the Green Party announcing that it sees no way of further cooperation with For Latvia and Ventspils, still led by oligarch Aivars Lembergs, and ultimately on 11 June 2022 it voted to leave the alliance, later joined by the Liepāja Party. In July, the Greens and the Liepāja Party joined the Latvian Association of Regions and a political NGO led by construction contractor Uldis Pīlēns in forming the United List alliance.[18]

The departing parties were replaced with the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDSP), a rival of the 1920s and 1930s, who joined ZZS on June 1st and allowed it to retain its name.[19] The alliance once again announced Lembergs as their prime ministerial candidate.[20]

Ideology

The Union of Greens and Farmers is based on similar sentimental feelings shared by the voters of the two groups. Latvians are supportive of traditional small farms and perceive them as more environmentally friendly than large-scale farming: Nature is threatened by development, while small farms are threatened by large industrial-scale farms. For example, after the restoration of independence, Latvia broke down Soviet-era collective farms and returned land to its original owners (or their descendants).[21] This perception has resulted in an alliance between green and farmer's parties, which is rare in other countries.

The alliance is Eurosceptic,[9] although not opposed to Latvian membership of the European Union. The ZZS opposed the adoption of the euro by Latvia. The party opposes granting non-citizens Latvian citizenship or voting rights in local elections.[22]

Members

Name Ideology Position Leader Saeima MEPs
Latvian Farmers' Union
Latvijas Zemnieku savienība 		Agrarianism
Conservatism 		Centre Armands Krauze
11 / 100
0 / 8
For Latvia and Ventspils[nb 1]
Latvijai un Ventspilij 		Regionalism Centre Aivars Lembergs
2 / 100
0 / 8
Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party
Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā Strādnieku Partija 		Social democracy Centre-left Jānis Dinevičs
2 / 100
0 / 8
Independents
1 / 100
0 / 8

Former Members

Name Ideology Position Leader Time
Latvian Green Party
Latvijas Zaļā partija 		Green politics
Social conservatism 		Centre to centre-right Edgars Tavars 2002–2022
Liepāja Party[nb 2]
Liepājas Partija 		Localism Centre-right Uldis Sesks 2004–2022

Election results

Legislative elections

Election Leader Performance Rank Government
Votes % ± pp Seats +/–
2002 Ingrīda Ūdre 93,759 9.47 New
12 / 100
 New 5th Coalition
2006 Aivars Lembergs 151,595 16.81   7.34
18 / 100
   6   2nd Coalition
2010 190,025 20.11   3.30
22 / 100
   4   3rd Coalition
2011 Raimonds Vējonis 111,957 12.33   7.78
13 / 100
   9   5th Opposition
2014 178,210 19.66   7.33
21 / 100
   8   3rd Coalition
2018 Māris Kučinskis 83,675 9.97   9.69
11 / 100
   10   6th Opposition
2022 Aivars Lembergs 113,676 12.58   2.61
16 / 100
   5   2nd Opposition

European Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/–
2004 Baiba Rivža 24,467 4.28 (#8)
0 / 8
2009 29,463 3.79 (#10)
0 / 8
  
2014 Andris Bērziņš 36,637 8.32 (#4)
1 / 8
   1
2019 Dana Reizniece-Ozola 25,252 5.37 (#6)
0 / 8
   1

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Cooperation agreement with the alliance, not formal member
  2. ^ Cooperation agreement with the alliance, not formal member

References

  1. ^ "What's up with Latvia's feeble civic engagement?". LSM.lv. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Latvijā partijās daudzkārt mazāk biedru nekā Lietuvā un Igaunijā. Kāpēc tā?" (in Latvian). LSM.lv. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  3. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Māris Kučinskis nominated as Latvian prime minister". POLITICO. 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  5. ^ "Ethnic Russians have big influence in Latvian election". Associated Press. 6 October 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Tom Muller, ed. (2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012. SAGE. p. 814. ISBN 978-1-60871-995-2.
  7. ^ a b Tāre, Ineta (2010). Labour Law in Latvia. London: Kluwer Law International. p. 15. ISBN 978-90-411-3325-0.
  8. ^ Stephanie Daimer (2006). "Latvia and the EU constitution: a pragmatic "yes"". In Thomas König; Simon Hug (eds.). Policy-Making Processes and the European Constitution: A Comparative Study of Member States and Accession Countries. Routledge. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-134-17336-5.
  9. ^ a b Stalker, Peter (2007). A Guide to Countries of the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-19-920271-3.
  10. ^ "Latvia poised to gain its first female prime minister". POLITICO. 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  11. ^ David J. Galbreath; Daunis Auers (2010). "Green, Black and Brown: Uncovering Latvia's Environmental Politics". In David J. Galbreath (ed.). Contemporary Environmentalism in the Baltic States: From Phosphate Springs to 'Nordstream'. Routledge. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-317-96590-9.
  12. ^ Jeffrey Sommers (2014). "Austerity, internal devolution, and social (in)security in Latvia". In Jeffrey Sommers; Charles Woolfson (eds.). The Contradictions of Austerity: The Socio-Economic Costs of the Neoliberal Baltic Model. Taylor & Francis. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-317-80014-9.
  13. ^ Auers, Daunis (May 2012). "The curious case of the Latvian Greens". Environmental Politics. 21 (3): 522–527. doi:10.1080/09644016.2012.671579. ISSN 0964-4016.
  14. ^ Goehring, Jeannette (2007). Nations in Transit 2007: Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia. London: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 404. ISBN 978-0-932088-26-0.
  15. ^ a b c Miranda Schreurs; Elim Papadakis, eds. (2019). Historical Dictionary of the Green Movement. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-5381-1960-0.
  16. ^ "Farage's EFDD group collapses". 16 October 2014.
  17. ^ "Liberals and Democrats adopt Latvia's stray MEP".
  18. ^ "Latvian Green Party leaves Union of Greens and Parties". Baltic News Network - News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  19. ^ "Saeimas vēlēšanās Zemnieku savienības un LSDSP kopīgais premjera amata kandidāts būs Viktors Valainis". www.lsm.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 2022-08-14.
  20. ^ "Union of Greens and Farmers picks Aivars Lembergs as PM candidate". Baltic News Network - News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
  21. ^ Hiltzik, Michael (16 September 1991). "Reclaiming the Past in the Baltics : Property owners are getting back what the Soviets took away decades ago. That makes tenants and farmers nervous and fearful". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  22. ^ Extra, Guus; Spotti, Massimiliano Andrea; van Avermaet, Piet (2007). A Guide to Countries of the World. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-1-84706-345-8.

External links

  • Union of Greens and Farmers Official Website

February 07, 2023
union, greens, farmers, latvian, zaļo, zemnieku, savienība, agrarian, political, alliance, latvia, made, latvian, farmers, union, latvian, social, democratic, workers, party, latvia, ventspils, zaļo, zemnieku, savienībaabbreviationzzsleaderaivars, lembergschai. The Union of Greens and Farmers Latvian Zalo un Zemnieku savieniba ZZS is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia 3 It is made up of the Latvian Farmers Union Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party and For Latvia and Ventspils Union of Greens and Farmers Zalo un Zemnieku savienibaAbbreviationZZSLeaderAivars LembergsChairmanArmands Krauze lv Founded25 July 2002 20 years ago 2002 07 25 HeadquartersLielirbes iela 17a 30 RigaMembership 2017 2 254 1 2 IdeologyAgrarianismPolitical positionCentre to centre rightMembersLZSLSDSPLuVDNPColours Green YellowSaeima16 100European Parliament0 8Mayors11 43Websitezzs wbr lvPolitics of LatviaPolitical partiesElectionsIt is positioned in the centre 4 5 or centre right 6 7 on the political spectrum It is orientated towards conservative 8 Eurosceptic 9 and green policies 10 and can be considered a centrist Nordic agrarian alliance 7 with nationalist and anti liberal elements 11 12 13 While the alliance s formal leader is Edgars Tavars its leading figure and chief financial supporter is the oligarch Aivars Lembergs 14 The ZZS has had the world s first prime minister Indulis Emsis Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004 and first head of state Raimonds Vejonis President of Latvia 2015 19 to be affiliated with a green party 15 Contents 1 History 1 1 Split change of members 2 Ideology 3 Members 3 1 Former Members 4 Election results 4 1 Legislative elections 4 2 European Parliament 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksHistory EditThe alliance was established to contest the 2002 parliamentary election by the Latvian Green Party LZP and Latvian Farmers Union LZS 15 It ran on an ideologically amorphous agenda and won 12 out of 100 seats in the parliament In March 2004 Indulis Emsis from the LZP became the Prime Minister of Latvia until December of that year 15 On a European level the LZP cooperated with the European Green Party while the LZS has no formal affiliation Before the 2004 European Parliament election ZZS announced that if its representative was elected he or she would join one of two political groups depending on which party they belonged to The alliance continued for the 2006 parliamentary election and won 18 seats It became part of the governing coalition and LZP chairman Indulis Emsis who served as Prime Minister briefly in 2004 became Speaker of the Saeima Aivars Lembergs was the candidate of the Union of Greens and Farmers for the position of Prime Minister in 2006 before being charged with corruption fraud bribery money laundering and abuse of elected office on 20 July 2006 On 14 March 2007 Lembergs was detained by the Latvian authorities in relation to a criminal investigation At the 2014 European Parliament election the ZZS won 8 3 of the vote and for the first time one of Latvia s European Parliament seats Its MEP is Iveta Grigule who initially sat with the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy EFFD group On 16 October 2014 Grigule defected from the EFDD to sit as an independent This move required EFDD to co opt a member of Poland s Congress of the New Right to remain eligible for parliamentary group status 16 In April 2015 she joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ALDE group 17 In the 2015 presidential election the alliance s then leader Raimonds Vejonis became President of Latvia and subsequently resigned his leadership of the alliance In January 2016 after the resignation of Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma Liepaja Party member Maris Kucinskis became the head of government After the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election ZZS lost ten seats and ultimately in 2019 became a part of the opposition to the Karins cabinet Split change of members Edit In early 2022 the alliance started to break apart with the Green Party announcing that it sees no way of further cooperation with For Latvia and Ventspils still led by oligarch Aivars Lembergs and ultimately on 11 June 2022 it voted to leave the alliance later joined by the Liepaja Party In July the Greens and the Liepaja Party joined the Latvian Association of Regions and a political NGO led by construction contractor Uldis Pilens in forming the United List alliance 18 The departing parties were replaced with the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party LSDSP a rival of the 1920s and 1930s who joined ZZS on June 1st and allowed it to retain its name 19 The alliance once again announced Lembergs as their prime ministerial candidate 20 Ideology EditThe Union of Greens and Farmers is based on similar sentimental feelings shared by the voters of the two groups Latvians are supportive of traditional small farms and perceive them as more environmentally friendly than large scale farming Nature is threatened by development while small farms are threatened by large industrial scale farms For example after the restoration of independence Latvia broke down Soviet era collective farms and returned land to its original owners or their descendants 21 This perception has resulted in an alliance between green and farmer s parties which is rare in other countries The alliance is Eurosceptic 9 although not opposed to Latvian membership of the European Union The ZZS opposed the adoption of the euro by Latvia The party opposes granting non citizens Latvian citizenship or voting rights in local elections 22 Members EditName Ideology Position Leader Saeima MEPsLatvian Farmers UnionLatvijas Zemnieku savieniba AgrarianismConservatism Centre Armands Krauze 11 100 0 8For Latvia and Ventspils nb 1 Latvijai un Ventspilij Regionalism Centre Aivars Lembergs 2 100 0 8Latvian Social Democratic Workers PartyLatvijas Socialdemokratiska Stradnieku Partija Social democracy Centre left Janis Dinevics 2 100 0 8Independents 1 100 0 8Former Members Edit Name Ideology Position Leader TimeLatvian Green PartyLatvijas Zala partija Green politicsSocial conservatism Centre to centre right Edgars Tavars 2002 2022Liepaja Party nb 2 Liepajas Partija Localism Centre right Uldis Sesks 2004 2022Election results EditLegislative elections Edit Election Leader Performance Rank GovernmentVotes pp Seats 2002 Ingrida udre 93 759 9 47 New 12 100 New 5th Coalition2006 Aivars Lembergs 151 595 16 81 7 34 18 100 6 2nd Coalition2010 190 025 20 11 3 30 22 100 4 3rd Coalition2011 Raimonds Vejonis 111 957 12 33 7 78 13 100 9 5th Opposition2014 178 210 19 66 7 33 21 100 8 3rd Coalition2018 Maris Kucinskis 83 675 9 97 9 69 11 100 10 6th Opposition2022 Aivars Lembergs 113 676 12 58 2 61 16 100 5 2nd OppositionEuropean Parliament Edit Election Leader Votes Seats 2004 Baiba Rivza 24 467 4 28 8 0 82009 29 463 3 79 10 0 8 2014 Andris Berzins 36 637 8 32 4 1 8 12019 Dana Reizniece Ozola 25 252 5 37 6 0 8 1See also EditLithuanian Farmers and Greens UnionNotes Edit Cooperation agreement with the alliance not formal member Cooperation agreement with the alliance not formal memberReferences Edit What s up with Latvia s feeble civic engagement LSM lv 3 January 2018 Retrieved 1 July 2018 Latvija partijas daudzkart mazak biedru neka Lietuva un Igaunija Kapec ta in Latvian LSM lv 2 January 2018 Retrieved 1 July 2018 Nordsieck Wolfram 2018 Latvia Parties and Elections in Europe Retrieved 6 April 2019 Maris Kucinskis nominated as Latvian prime minister POLITICO 2016 01 13 Retrieved 2021 11 20 Ethnic Russians have big influence in Latvian election Associated Press 6 October 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Tom Muller ed 2012 Political Handbook of the World 2012 SAGE p 814 ISBN 978 1 60871 995 2 a b Tare Ineta 2010 Labour Law in Latvia London Kluwer Law International p 15 ISBN 978 90 411 3325 0 Stephanie Daimer 2006 Latvia and the EU constitution a pragmatic yes In Thomas Konig Simon Hug eds Policy Making Processes and the European Constitution A Comparative Study of Member States and Accession Countries Routledge p 144 ISBN 978 1 134 17336 5 a b Stalker Peter 2007 A Guide to Countries of the World Oxford Oxford University Press p 177 ISBN 978 0 19 920271 3 Latvia poised to gain its first female prime minister POLITICO 2014 01 08 Retrieved 2021 11 20 David J Galbreath Daunis Auers 2010 Green Black and Brown Uncovering Latvia s Environmental Politics In David J Galbreath ed Contemporary Environmentalism in the Baltic States From Phosphate Springs to Nordstream Routledge p 63 ISBN 978 1 317 96590 9 Jeffrey Sommers 2014 Austerity internal devolution and social in security in Latvia In Jeffrey Sommers Charles Woolfson eds The Contradictions of Austerity The Socio Economic Costs of the Neoliberal Baltic Model Taylor amp Francis p 52 ISBN 978 1 317 80014 9 Auers Daunis May 2012 The curious case of the Latvian Greens Environmental Politics 21 3 522 527 doi 10 1080 09644016 2012 671579 ISSN 0964 4016 Goehring Jeannette 2007 Nations in Transit 2007 Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia London Rowman amp Littlefield p 404 ISBN 978 0 932088 26 0 a b c Miranda Schreurs Elim Papadakis eds 2019 Historical Dictionary of the Green Movement Rowman amp Littlefield p 205 ISBN 978 1 5381 1960 0 Farage s EFDD group collapses 16 October 2014 Liberals and Democrats adopt Latvia s stray MEP Latvian Green Party leaves Union of Greens and Parties Baltic News Network News from Latvia Lithuania Estonia 2022 06 13 Retrieved 2022 06 29 Saeimas velesanas Zemnieku savienibas un LSDSP kopigais premjera amata kandidats bus Viktors Valainis www lsm lv in Latvian Retrieved 2022 08 14 Union of Greens and Farmers picks Aivars Lembergs as PM candidate Baltic News Network News from Latvia Lithuania Estonia 2022 07 18 Retrieved 2022 08 14 Hiltzik Michael 16 September 1991 Reclaiming the Past in the Baltics Property owners are getting back what the Soviets took away decades ago That makes tenants and farmers nervous and fearful Los Angeles Times Retrieved 16 June 2016 Extra Guus Spotti Massimiliano Andrea van Avermaet Piet 2007 A Guide to Countries of the World London Continuum International Publishing Group pp 47 48 ISBN 978 1 84706 345 8 External links EditUnion of Greens and Farmers Official Website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Union of Greens and Farmers amp oldid 1130907530, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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