Union of Greens and Farmers

The Union of Greens and Farmers (Template:Langx, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia.<ref name="Nordsieck">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils.

It is positioned in the centre<ref name="cen1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="cen2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> on the political spectrum, sometimes also described as a centre-right<ref name="Muller2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Tāre2">Template:Cite book</ref> or a centre-left party.<ref name="osw">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is orientated towards agrarian,<ref name="osw"/> conservative,<ref name="Daimer2006">Template:Cite book</ref> Eurosceptic,<ref name=":0" /> and green policies,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and can be considered a centrist Nordic agrarian alliance,<ref name="Tāre2" /> with nationalist and anti-liberal elements.<ref name="Galbreath2010">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Sommers2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

While the alliance's formal leader is Edgars Tavars, its leading figure and chief financial supporter is the oligarch Aivars Lembergs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="SchreursPapadakis2019">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

The alliance was established to contest the 2002 parliamentary election by the Latvian Green Party (LZP) and Latvian Farmers' Union (LZS).<ref name="SchreursPapadakis2019"/> 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.<ref name="SchreursPapadakis2019"/>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In April 2015 she joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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. It stayed in opposition until 2023, when it became part of Evika Siliņa 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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 1 and allowed it to retain its name.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The alliance once again announced Lembergs as their prime ministerial candidate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The list won 16 seats, with two going to LSDSP, who returned to the Saeima for the first time since 2002.

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).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This perception has resulted in an alliance between green and farmer's parties, which is rare in other countries.

The alliance is Eurosceptic,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

On social issues, the party has taken a traditionally conservative approach, opposing same-sex marriage and instead favouring civil unions for same-sex couples.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It supports abortion rights for up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and has voted to ratify the Istanbul Convention for preventing violence against women, despite having initially expressed skepticism over the convention’s use of the term “gender” and potential redefinition of marriage outside of that of a union of a man and a woman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, the party is also environmentalist and follows green politics, stressing the need for sustainable and ecological economic policy, reducing environmental waste and for a transitation away from fossil fuel energy sources, in favor of renewable energy.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Economically, the party is populist, adhering to the principles of economic nationalism. It is also opposed to economic liberalism in favor of more redistributive policies.<ref name="pariah">Template:Cite book</ref> It opposes spending cuts, especially to welfare, pensions and healthcare - instead, the party proposes to extend the Latvian safety net, and promotes popular welfare measures.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Members

Name		Ideology	Position	Leader	Saeima	MEPs
style="background:Template:Party color; width:2px;"|	Latvian Farmers' Union Latvijas Zemnieku savienība	Agrarianism Conservatism	Centre	Armands Krauze	Template:Composition bar	Template:Composition bar
style="background:Template:Party color; width:2px;"|	For Latvia and VentspilsTemplate:Refn Latvijai un Ventspilij	Regionalism	Centre	Aivars Lembergs	Template:Composition bar	Template:Composition bar
style="background:Template:Party color; width:2px;"|	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā Strādnieku Partija	Social democracy	Centre-left	Jānis Dinevičs	Template:Composition bar	Template:Composition bar
style="background:Template:Party color; width:2px;"|	Independents				Template:Composition bar	Template:Composition bar

Former Members

Name		Ideology	Position	Leader	Time
style="background:Template:Party color; width:2px;"|	Latvian Green Party Latvijas Zaļā partija	Green politics Social conservatism	Centre to centre-right	Edgars Tavars	2002–2022
style="background:Template:Party color; width:2px;"|	Liepāja PartyTemplate:Refn 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	Template:Composition bar	New	5th	Template:Yes2
2006	Aivars Lembergs	151,595	16.81	Template:Increase 7.34	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 6	Template:Increase 2nd	Template:Yes2
2010		190,025	20.11	Template:Increase 3.30	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 4	Template:Decrease 3rd	Template:Yes2
2011	Raimonds Vējonis	111,957	12.33	Template:Decrease 7.78	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 9	Template:Decrease 5th	Template:No2
2014		178,210	19.66	Template:Increase 7.33	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 8	Template:Increase 3rd	Template:Yes2
2018	Māris Kučinskis	83,675	9.97	Template:Decrease 9.69	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 10	Template:Decrease 6th	Template:No2
2022	Aivars Lembergs	113,676	12.58	Template:Increase 2.61	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 5	Template:Increase 2nd	Template:No2 (2022-2023)
								Template:Yes2 (2023-)

European Parliament elections

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2004	Baiba Rivža	24,467	4.28 (#8)	Template:Composition bar	New	–
2009		29,463	3.79 (#10)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2014	Andris Bērziņš	36,637	8.32 (#4)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1	EFDD Template:Small NI Template:Small ALDE Template:Small
2019	Dana Reizniece-Ozola	25,252	5.37 (#6)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1	–
2024	Harijs Rokpelnis	11,852	2.30 (#9)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0

See also

• Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union

External links

• Union of Greens and Farmers Official Website