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Lithuanian Green Party

Lietuvos žaliųjų partija
Lithuanian Green Party Lietuvos žaliųjų partija
Leader	Ieva Budraitė
Founded	20 March 2011
Headquarters	Vilnius
Ideology	Green liberalism; Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre
Colours	Green
Seimas	0 / 141
European Parliament	0 / 11
Municipal councils	12 / 1,498
Website
	www.lzp.lt
	Politics of Lithuania; Political parties; Elections;

The Lithuanian Green Party (Lithuanian: Lietuvos žaliųjų partija, LŽP) is a green-liberal political party in Lithuania.^[2] It was founded in 2011. The party's chairwoman is environmental activist Ieva Budraitė.

History

Foundation

Until 2011, Lithuania was the last member state of the European Union without a green party. The first summit of environmental activists with the intention of establishing an environmentalist party was held on 7 October 2009, organized by biologist and employee of the Ministry of Environment Juozas Dautartas.^[3] Though the party intended to compete in the 2011 municipal elections, it was not founded in time. On 20 March 2011, a founding conference established the Lithuanian Green Movement (Lithuanian: Lietuvos žaliųjų sąjūdis).^[4] It was renamed to the Lithuanian Green Party in 2012.

The impetus for the party's formation came in ongoing discussion over the fate of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The party opposed projects to replace it with the planned Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant and demanded a referendum alongside the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.^[5] In 2012, a referendum was held on the construction of the plant, in which the proposal was defeated. Though the referendum was consultative, the Visaginas nuclear plant project was subsequently abandoned.

Activity

In the 2012 parliamentary election, it chose to run as a part of the Farmer-Green electoral list^[6] - the election was unsuccessful, however, Linas Balsys [lt] ran as an independent and won a seat.^[7] He was elected as the party's new chairman.

It has contested every national election since. Its most successful showing was in the 2014 European Parliament election in Lithuania, in which it received 3.56% of the vote. It also frequently holds protests against pollution, violations of animal rights and for climate change awareness.^[8]

In spite of its modest showings, it has earned headlines as a "place of exile" for politicians in Lithuania. Saulius Skvernelis entered discussions on joining the Green Party before choosing to establish the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" instead.^[9] In the 2020 parliamentary election, the party was joined by former Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, formerly a member of the Social Democratic Party.^[10] He won a seat in Vilkaviškis. In 2022, he joined the Union of Democrats, depriving the Green Party of its seat in the Seimas.

The party's current chairman, Ieva Budraitė, was elected in November 2020.^[11] She is the youngest party leader in Lithuania.

The party's list in the 2024 European Parliament election was the first in the country's history to only include female candidates. According to Budraitė, this was done to shed light on gender inequality and encourage female participation in politics.^[12]

Ideology

The Lithuanian Green Party holds progressive and environmentalist positions. It supports participatory democracy, transition to renewable energy and the circular economy, and animal rights.^[13] During the electoral campaign for the 2020 parliamentary election, it vowed to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, encourage companies to switch to the four-day work week through tax rebates, abolish VAT for electric vehicles, and raise the monthly minimum wage to 1000 EUR.^[14]

It supports membership in the European Union and NATO, and fulfilling NATO's 2% military expenditure criteria. It endorses same-sex partnerships and legalizing dual citizenship in Lithuania.^[15]