Ecolo
Template:Distinguish Template:More citations needed Template:Expand French Template:Infobox political party Template:Green politics sidebar Ecolo (Template:IPA), officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales (Template:IPA, Template:Lit) is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics.<ref name="Nordsieck" /><ref name="AnttiroikoMälkiä2007">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The party is active in Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.
Ecolo's Flemish equivalent is Groen; the two parties maintain close relations with each other.
Name
Ecolo is officially a backronym for Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales "Confederated Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles", but is really just short for écologistes, French for environmentalists.
History
Ecolo was part of the 1999 Verhofstadt I Government, but withdrew from the coalition before the 2003 general election, which saw it lose nearly two thirds of its 14 federal parliamentary seats in the face of a resurgent Socialist Party. The party made quite a comeback, however, in the 2007 general election, though failing to match the peak popularity it had enjoyed in 1999. In the general election of 10 June 2007, the party won eight out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and two out of the 40 directly elected seats in the Senate.
In the 2010 elections, the party again won eight seats in the Chamber of Representatives and two in the Senate.<ref>IBZ: Official Results Template:Webarchive, retrieved 20 August 2010</ref>
Political views
Ecolo is a political party that promotes sustainable development policies, aimed at preserving the environment and combating climate change, in the interests of current and future generations. The party seeks to create a more democratic and inclusive society by encouraging new political practices and strengthening citizen participation in a model of participatory democracy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Electoral positioning
During the 2019 election campaign, the RePresent research centre — composed of political scientists from five universities (UAntwerpen, KU Leuven, VUB, UCLouvain and ULB)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Libre2019">Template:Cite web</ref> — studied the electoral programmes of Belgium's thirteen main political parties. This study classified the parties on two "left-right" axes, from "-5" (extreme left) to "5" (extreme right): a "classic" socio-economic axis, which refers to state intervention in the economic process and the degree to which the state should ensure social equality, and a socio-cultural axis, which refers to a divide articulated around an identity-based opposition on themes such as immigration, Europe, crime, the environment, emancipation, etc.<ref name="Libre2019" />
Ecolo then presented a programme marked on the left on the socio-economic level (-3.87), and close to the extreme left on the socio-cultural level (-4.37).<ref name="Libre2019" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The RePresent centre repeated the exercise during the 2024 election campaign for the twelve main parties. Ecolo's positioning changed little on the socio-economic axis (-3.81), and it became the most left-wing party on the socio-cultural axis (-4.62).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Election results
Chamber of Representatives
Senate
Regional
Brussels Parliament
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Abbr | Overall | |||||
| 1989 | 44,874 | 10.2 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:No2 | ||
| 1995 | 37,308 | 9.0 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | Template:No2 | |
| 1999 | 77,969 | 21.3 (#2) | 18.3 (#2) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 7 | Template:No2 |
| 2004 | 37,908 | 9.7 (#4) | 8.3 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2009 | 82,663 | 20.2 (#3) | 17.9 (#3) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 9 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2014 | 41,368 | 10.1 (#5) | 8.9 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 8 | Template:No2 |
| 2019 | 74,246 | 19.1 (#2) | 16.2 (#2) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 7 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2024 | 38,386 | 9.85 (#5) | #5 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 8 | Template:TBD |
German-speaking Community Parliament
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 5,897 | 15.0 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:No2 | |
| 1995 | 5,128 | 13.9 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | Template:No2 |
| 1999 | 4,694 | 12.7 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Steady 0 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2004 | 2,972 | 8.2 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | Template:No2 |
| 2009 | 4,310 | 11.5 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 1 | Template:No2 |
| 2014 | 3,591 | 9.5 (#6) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | Template:No2 |
| 2019 | 4,902 | 12.5 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 1 | Template:No2 |
| 2024 | 3,644 | 9.1 (#6) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | Template:No2 |
Walloon Parliament
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 196,988 | 10.4 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:No2 | |
| 1999 | 347,225 | 18.2 (#3) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 6 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2004 | 167,916 | 8.5 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 11 | Template:No2 |
| 2009 | 372,067 | 18.5 (#3) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 11 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2014 | 141,813 | 8.6 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 10 | Template:No2 |
| 2019 | 294,631 | 14.5 (#3) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 8 | Template:Yes2 |
| 2024 | 144,189 | 7.0 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 7 | Template:No2 |
European Parliament
Elected politicians
Current
European Parliament
Chamber of Representatives
- 2010 – 2014:
- Ronny Balcaen
- Juliette Boulet
- Olivier Deleuze (resigned in 2012; replaced by Lahssaini Fouad)
- Zoé Genot
- Muriel Gerkens
- Georges Gilkinet
- Eric Jadot
- Thérèse Snoy et d'Oppuers
Brussels-Capital Region Parlement
- 2009 – 2014:
- Aziz Albishari
- Dominique Braeckman
- Jean-Claude Defosse
- Céline Delforge
- Anne Dirix
- Anne Herscovici
- Zakia Khattabi
- Vincent Lurquin
- Alain Maron
- Jacques Morel
- Ahmed Mouhssin
- Marie Nagy
- Yaron Pesztat
- Arnaud Pinxteren
- Barbara Trachte
- Vincent Vanhalewyn
Past
European Parliament
- 1989 - 1994
- Brigitte Ernst de la Greate
Chamber of Representatives
- 1995 – 1999:
- Philippe Dallons
- Olivier Deleuze
- Thierry Detienne
- Mylène Nys (20 April 1999) Template:Small
- Martine Schüttringer
- Jean-Pierre Viseur
- 1999 – 2003:
- Marie-Thérèse Coenen
- Martine Dardenne
- Vincent Decroly
- Olivier Deleuze → Zoé Genot (14 July 1999)
- Thierry Detienne → Muriel Gerkens (23 July 1999)
- Claudine Drion
- Michèle Gilkinet
- Mirella Minne
- Géraldine Pelzer-Salandra
- Paul Timmermans → Bernard Baille (1 September 2002)
- Jean-Pierre Viseur → Gérard Gobert (10 January 2001)
- 2003–2007:
- 2007–2010:
- Juliette Boulet
- Zoé Genot
- Muriel Gerkens
- Georges Gilkinet
- Philippe Henry
- Fouad Lahssaini
- Jean-Marc Nollet
- Thérèse Snoy et d'Oppuers
Brussels-Capital Region Parlement
- 2004–2009:
- Dominique Braeckman
- Alain Daems
- Céline Delforge
- Christos Doulkeridis
- Josy Dubié
- Paul Galand
- Yaron Pesztat
Important figures
- José Daras
- Josy Dubié
- Isabelle Durant
- Muriel GerkensTemplate:Citation needed
- Evelyne HuytebroeckTemplate:Citation needed
- Jacky Morael
- Patrick DupriezTemplate:Citation needed
- Zakia Khattabi
- Template:IllTemplate:Citation needed
- Hélène Ryckmans
- Tom Zoete
See also
References
Template:Green parties Template:Belgian political parties Template:Authority control