Green League

The Green League (Finnish: Vihreä liitto, Vihr.; Swedish: Gröna Förbundet) is a centrist green liberal political party in Finland. It has ten seats in the Finnish Parliament and two in the European Parliament. The current chairperson is Ville Niinistö.

Founded in 1987, the party absorbed a number of green organisations, including four MPs elected in 1987. The party won ten seats in the 1991 election. Despite falling to nine seats in 1995, Pekka Haavisto, joined Paavo Lipponen's grand coalition first cabinet, making the Green League the first Green party in a national cabinet. The party remained in government until 2002, when it left in opposition to nuclear power. In 2007, the party peaked at 15 seats, and joined the centre-right government. At the 2011 election, the party fell to ten seats. Nevertheless, since the only winner of the 2011 elections chose to remain in opposition, the Greens were invited to join a six-party rainbow coalition government.

The party sits in the centre of the political spectrum, criticising both socialism and the free market. The party is a member of the Global Greens and the European Green Party, while its two MEPs sit with The Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament. Originally split on whether Finland should join the European Union, the Green League is now pro-European and was the first Finnish party to support a federal Europe.