Radical Venstre

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Radical Venstre
Radical Venstre, List B
Party leader Morten Østergaard
Morten Østergaard
Party leader Svend Thorhauge
Group chairmanship in the Folketing Sofie Carsten Nielsen
founding May 21, 1905
Place of foundation Odense
Alignment Left
Liberalism Centrism
Headquarters Copenhagen
Number of members 7,000 (2016)
Youth association Radical ungdom
Electoral list B.
Sit in the Folketing
16/179
International
connections 		Liberal International
MEPs
2/14
European party ALDE
EP Group RE
www.radikal.dk

Radikal Venstre ( RV or just R or according to the electoral list B , Danish for radical left ) is a left-wing liberal party in Denmark . It bears the suffix Danmarks social-liberale parti . This is why the term social liberals is used in the German context .

Political profile

Clear green accents have recently been added to the classic liberal content . The current basic program of the RV was adopted on February 22, 1997. A democratic society with space for everyone, in harmony with nature and with respect for the livelihoods of future generations is strived for. The party wants to fight injustice, violence, poverty and overpopulation worldwide and strengthen the international legal order.

Climate and energy policy
Independence from fossil energy sources by 2050. Promotion of renewable energies from wind, biomass , biogas , geothermal energy and tidal power through new environmental taxes amounting to 6.5 billion crowns annually . A study from 2019, which looked at the voting behavior of parties on climate policy issues in the EU Parliament, rated radicals as “delayers” of climate-friendly politics.
Taxes
A far-reaching tax reform is intended to relieve small incomes and reduce consumption that is harmful to the climate and health. This is intended to stimulate the labor market and generate funds for national and global climate investments. At the same time, the benchmark from which the top tax rate is levied is to be increased, so that medium incomes are better protected.
European politics
The RV supports the European project. Denmark's opt-out on four areas of European cooperation is to be removed by a referendum. This concerns police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters , the common security and defense policy , European citizenship and the euro . Radicals entered into an electoral alliance with alternatives in the 2019 European elections , which are also considered pro-European.
Security policy
The RV wants a UN that is capable of acting and which, in accordance with the Security Council, should also use military means. Denmark's engagement in UN peace missions and under the umbrella of NATO is to be continued. The country should take part in the EU's security and defense policy without reservation .
International cooperation
Development aid is to be increased again to 1% of gross national income .
Church and religion
The relationship between the state and the Danish national church is to be reorganized on the basis of a well-prepared referendum. The management of the civil status registers is to be transferred from the church to the municipalities. The church tax should remain in place, but it must be levied in favor of every religious community.

history

The radical Venstre split off in 1905 in protest against rising military spending from the liberal Venstre party . Literally the name means The Radical Left . The naming of the Left is explained by its position in the spectrum of parties in the 19th century: the Conservatives on the right, the Liberals on the left; It was radical in the sense of a consistently anti-conservative and pacifist attitude.

After taking over government for the first time in 1909–1910, the RV was again able to provide head of government from 1913 to 1920. When King Christian X dismissed Prime Minister Carl Theodor Zahle against the will of the parliamentary majority, a serious constitutional crisis broke out. After two executive cabinets, the parliamentarianism established in 1901 was given permanent validity.

In 1924, the RV came back to government, but only as a junior partner to the Social Democrats. As a coalition partner of the Social Democrats from 1929 to 1943, the party was involved in building the welfare state . Because of their pacifist tradition, the radicals rejected military resistance in the event of a German attack; the radical Foreign Minister Peter Munch signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in May 1939. After the German invasion, they supported the policy of cooperation.

In 1949, the party rejected Denmark's accession to NATO .

In the mid-1960s, the RV turned more to the bourgeois camp, which led to a majority government with right- wing liberals and conservatives under the RV politician Hilmar Baunsgaard (1968-71). Later, the RV supported both the conservative Prime Minister Poul Schlueter (1982–93) and the Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (1993–2001).

In the ten years of the Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen governments , the RV had increasingly criticized the rigid bloc policy. In contrast to the past, the social liberals were no longer able to influence the formation of a government, while the role of right-wing populists grew more and more important. In the end, however, certain successes were achieved in budget deliberations. Under the popular party leader Marianne Jelved , the RV achieved its best result in over 30 years in the 2005 Folketing election . However, the increase in mandates could not be converted into concrete influence, and the dispute over which camp the RV should be involved in flared up again. On May 7, 2007, part of the right wing of the party around Naser Khader and Anders Samuelsen split off and founded the Ny Alliance (from 2008 Liberal Alliance ).

In the summer of 2007, the former Minister of Education, Margrethe Vestager, became the new party leader. In the early Folketing election in November 2007 , the RV's share of votes fell to an average value. In the following election in autumn 2011 , the social liberals fought with the Social Democrats , the Socialist People's Party and the red-green unity list for a change of government. They were able to make up for their losses and regain the group strength of 2005. In the Helle Thorning-Schmidt II government formed on February 3, 2014 , the RV initially provided seven out of 20 cabinet members, and six since September 2, 2014.

In September 2013, the former Minister of Culture Uffe Elbæk left the party and parliamentary group and shortly afterwards founded a new party, Alternativet .

Election results

Folketing

Since 1920 (source: Folketingets Oplysning )

European Parliament

European elections Share of votes Seats
1979 3.3% -
1984 3.1% -
1989 2.8% -
1994 8.5% 1
1999 9.1% 1
2004 6.4% 1
2009 4.3% -
2014 6.5% 1
2019 10.1% 2

people

Prime Minister

  • Carl Theodor Zahle , October 1909 to July 1910 and June 1913 to March 1920. Minister of Justice 1929–1935
  • Erik Scavenius , November 1942 to August 1943 ( de iure to May 1945). Foreign Minister 1909–1910, 1913–1920 and 1940–1943/45
  • Hilmar Baunsgaard , February 1968 to October 1971. Minister of Commerce 1961–1964

Party leaders

In the RV, the party leader ( politisk leder ) never holds the post of party chairman ( partiformand ). He is either the parliamentary group leader or - if the party is involved in a government - a minister. In transition phases, the real balance of power between the parliamentary group chairman and the political spokesman was not always clearly recognizable. The RV traditionally makes a sharp distinction between parliamentary faction and party organization. Therefore, a party may chairman not hold a parliamentary seat, while the party chef necessarily has a seat in the Folketing. This also means that neither the ordinary member nor the party congress delegate can directly elect their political leader.

Prominent representatives (selection)

  • Viggo Hørup (1841–1902), spiritual founding father of the radicals
  • Edvard Brandes (1847–1931), finance minister, writer, cultural debater, editor-in-chief of Politiken
  • Ove Rode (1867–1933), Interior Minister, parliamentary group leader, editor-in-chief of Politiken
  • Hermod Lanning (1895–1996), UN diplomat, delegate to the Council of Europe, co-founder of the Liberal International
  • Uffe Elbæk (* 1954), chief organizer of the 2nd World OutGames , left the party in 2013

literature

  • Lars Bille: Partier i forandring. En analyze af danske partiorganisationers udvikling 1960–1995 . Odense Universitetsforlag, Odense 1997. ISBN 87-7838-314-5
  • Alfred Jüttner, Hans-Joachim Liese: Paperback of the European parties and elections . Olzog, Munich 1977. ISBN 3-7892-7119-5
  • Bo Lidegaard, Sune Pedersen (Red.): B. Radikalt 1905-2005 . Gyldendal , Copenhagen 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Membership figures 2016 Folketingets Oplysning, accessed on October 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Alfred Jüttner / Hans-Joachim Liese, pp. 174/175
  3. ↑ "Principprogram" ( Memento of 27 September 2011 at the Internet Archive ). Basic Program of the Radicals Venstre (Danish)
  4. ↑ http://www.caneurope.org/docman/climate-energy-targets/3476-defenders-delayers-dinosaurs-ranking-of-eu-political-groups-and-national-parties-on-climate-change/file
  5. ↑ https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/de-radISCHE-gar-i-valgforbund-med-alternativet-ved-eu-parlamentsvalget
  6. ^ Vagn Dybdahl: Politikens Danmarkshistorie , Volume 12, Copenhagen 1965, pp. 456/7
  7. ↑ Alexander Mühlauer: The decent one. Margarethe Vestager takes on Google and Amazon. The EU Commissioner has thus succeeded in doing what is very important in Brussels: to attract attention. , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 20, January 26, 2016, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Alternatively he godkendt: Får Liste Å på valgsedlen . politiken.dk. From March 13, 2015 (Danish)
  9. ↑ Two MPs since December 19, 2015 ( Jens Rohde changed party ).
  10. ↑ Lars Bille: Partier i forandring , p. 103 f.