Green Progressives

The Green Progressives (also styled as GreenProgressives) (: Groen Progressieven or GroenProgressieven, GP) is a green, left-wing and socially progressive party that is currently represented in the States General as the fifth largest party. It is in a coalition with the conservative-liberal Liberal People's Party (LVP) and the social liberal Union of Democrats (UVD) under leadership of LVP prime minister Jasper Tulpen.

The party was founded in 2003 after members from the Labourers Party (AP) (Group Van Graaij) and members from the UVD (Group Baardel) were expelled from their respective parties. AP member Van Graaij had openly stated he regularly consumed and hinted at having used other narcotics as well. This caused the AP leadership to expel him from the party; in protest eight prominent members of parliament from the AP left the party to join Van Graaij's parliamentary group. In defence of his parliamentary colleague and to "break the taboo", UVD MP Dirk Baardel claimed he also regularly consumed soft drugs, which caused him and three other self-confessed drug using members of parliament to be expelled from the UVD as well. Both parliamentary groups were offered to be integrated in to the far-left Radical/Pacifist party in order to create a new party. The first concepts for the new party would have it be called "Progressives", however the DIRE party (Direct Ingrijpen voor de Restauratie van onze Ecologie - Direct Intervention for the Restoration of our Ecology) - which had entered the States General after the previous general elections proposed a grande merger. This party's inclusion prompted the party leadership to add the word "Green" to the party's name.

A year after the merger the party absorbed the locally represented feminist party XX Party and also absorbed numerous other left-wing, green and socially progressive parties represented on a local level. In the 2004 elections the party ran on a fiscally left-wing and socially progressive platform. Unlike any party at the time, the GP also incorporated environmentalism in their campaign. In addition this, LGBTQ rights and drug legislation also held high positions on the party programme. This managed to grow the party from 41 seats to 61, primarily from young urban adults and female university students.

Just like at its inception the party is still seen as a very progressive and left-wing party. It tends to surpass the UVD in matters of social justice and environmentalism, whereas it is also considered to be more fiscally left wing than the AP.