The Green Liberal Party of Switzerland (German: Grünliberale Partei der Schweiz, GLP; French: Parti vert'libéral, PVL), Italian: Partito verde liberale, PVL), abbreviated to GLP, is a centrist green-liberalpolitical party in Switzerland.[8] Founded in 2007, the party holds eleven seats in the Federal Assembly as of the October 2023 election.
In 2004, two leading members of the Greens in Zurich, Verena Diener and Martin Bäumle, left the party citing its leftist tendencies and organisational concerns, and founded the Green Liberal Party of Zurich.[12]:513 The national party was founded on 19 July 2007 by four cantonal parties of the same name that had seceded from the Green Party.[14] These branches were in Zurich, Basel-Landschaft, Bern, and St. Gallen.
In the 2007 election to the National Council on 22 October 2007, the party ran in Zurich and St. Gallen.[15] Despite being limited to only two cantons, the party won 1.4% of the popular vote nationwide and 3 out of 200 seats. In Zurich, they won 7% of the vote and in St. Gallen they won 3.2%.[12]:513[15] One of these three had been a National Councillor for the Green Party in the previous Parliament. Success in the 2007 elections caused leaders to look to seriously compete for a seat on the Federal Council.[12]:510
A month later, it won a seat in the Council of States, with Verena Diener representing Zurich. Along with the first appearance of the Green Party, this was the first time a minor party had won representation in the Council of States since 1995.[16] When the Federal Assembly convened, the GLP joined the Christian Democrats/EPP/glp Group,[15] making it the second-largest group, behind the Swiss People's Party.[17] In 2010 the party got an additional seat in the Council of States with Markus Stadler from Uri.
At the 2011 federal election, the GLP was one of the big winners, increasing its vote share to 5.4%.[12]:513 It had stood in 11 cantons, getting between 2% and 10.3% of the vote.[12]:513
In October 2021, the GLP introduced a new, refreshed logo with the French slogan créateurs d'avenir (creators of the future). Since April 2022, there are cantonal parties in all 26 cantons.
Ideology and platform
The party supports ending the use of nuclear energy in Switzerland and terminating any subsidies to nuclear power companies.[18] At the same time, the GLP supports the promotion of green technologies and cleantech through tax credits as an economic opportunity.[19] The party supports the criminalization of the corporal punishment of children.[20]
On economic and fiscal matters the GLP is more centre-right. It supports Switzerland maintaining a balanced fiscal budget and continued tax competition between the Swiss cantons.[21] It also supports stronger regulation of large Swiss banks such as UBS, including liquidity requirements.[22]
The Green Liberals support closer EU-Swiss relations and on this question are considered ideologically closer to the Social Democrats and Green Party than to the The Liberals or Swiss People's Party because they support Switzerland's accession to the European Economic Area.[19] However, unlike the Swiss left the GLP support lifting the Swiss ban on exporting weapons to Ukraine.[23]
Oscar Mazzoleni (2019). "Diversity, unity and beyond: The Swiss Liberals". In Emilie van Haute; Caroline Close (eds.). Liberal Parties in Europe. Taylor & Francis. p.120. ISBN978-1-351-24549-4.