# GroenLinks–PvdA

GroenLinks–PvdA (Dutch:), alternatively PvdA–GroenLinks, or GreenLeft–Labour in English, is an alliance between GroenLinks (GL) and the Labour Party (PvdA) in the Netherlands. The political alliance was founded at the national level by party leaders Lilianne Ploumen and Jesse Klaver during the 2021–2022 Dutch cabinet formation, whereas local alliances between the two parties had already been formed in prior years. The two parties formed a joint parliamentary group in the Provincial Council of Zeeland in 29 March 2023, then formed a joint group in the Senate following the 2023 Dutch Senate election, and formed a joint group in the House of Representatives on 27 October 2023.
Following the collapse of the fourth Rutte cabinet in July 2023, the leaders of PvdA (Attje Kuiken) and GL (Jesse Klaver) announced their intention to contest the 2023 Dutch general election as an alliance. Members of both PvdA and GroenLinks voted in favour of the proposal, and confirmed Frans Timmermans as lead candidate in August.
Despite their joint list in the 2024 European Parliament election, GroenLinks members joined the Greens/EFA group, while PvdA members joined the S&D group.

## History
### Informal cooperations

Prior to the formation of a national alliance, the Labour Party (PvdA) and GroenLinks (GL) had already formed local alliances in some municipalities; in the 2022 municipal elections, the two parties participated with a joint list in 50 local municipalities. In addition, they had formed electoral alliances (Dutch: lijstverbindingen) in multiple national elections, such as the 2009 European Parliament election and the 2010 general election.

### The concept behind the alliance

The idea of a possible merger of centre-left parties in the Netherlands, including the PvdA and GL, is not a new idea. As early as 2004, Job Cohen, then mayor of Amsterdam and later PvdA national leader, called for a merger of the PvdA, GL and Socialist Party (SP), suggesting "Progressive People's Party" as possible name. That name refers to an even earlier proposal with the same name that was discussed in the 1970s of the PvdA, Democrats 66 (D66) and the Political Party of Radicals (PPR), one of GL's forerunners, to merge into a single party. This, however, never materialised.
Following the heavy defeat of the PvdA in the 2017 general election, in which the party went from 25 per cent to less than six per cent of the vote, discussions about a possible merger began to rise again. With this electoral demise, the left-of-centre political landscape in the Netherlands - including D66, GL, SP, the Party for the Animals (PvdD), Christian Union (CU), Volt Netherlands, DENK and BIJ1 - fragmented. In both the 2017 and 2021 general elections, there was no left-leaning party big enough to be the main contender to Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from the left. Many left-leaning voters in the Netherlands have a habit of voting tactically for the largest left-leaning force in an attempt to prevent a right-leaning party from becoming the largest party. Examples of this are the 2012 and 2003 general elections when voters from other left-leaning parties flocked to the Labour Party.
When the PvdA and GL received a disappointing election result in the 2021 general election (5.7 per cent and 5.0 per cent respectively), calls for a merger increased. In the first week after the elections, members from both parties founded the movement Red-Green (Dutch: Rood-Groen) led by Frank van de Wolde calling for more cooperation between the two parties and an eventual merger. This movement has tabled motions in multiple party member meetings of both the PvdA and GL that pushed the parties towards a deeper cooperation. A list of these motions can be found below, together with the other membership votes.

### 2021–2022 cabinet formation

During the 2021–2022 cabinet formation, Lilianne Ploumen (PvdA) and Jesse Klaver (GL) indicated that they only wanted to join a coalition government if the other party also joined, thereby forming an alliance in the negotiations. In August 2021, PvdA members passed multiple motions tabled by the Red-Green movement that forced the party to not enter government without GL and further steps to strengthen the cooperation. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) leader Mark Rutte strongly opposed forming a coalition with both the PvdA and GL, and referred to the alliance as a 'left-wing cloud' (Dutch: linkse wolk). Following their exclusion from the fourth Rutte cabinet, the Labour Party and GroenLinks decided to intensify co-operation as opposition parties.

### 2023 provincial and Senate elections

The PvdA and GL participated in the 2023 provincial elections separately, but formed a joint list in Zeeland. After the 2023 Senate election, in which the members of the Senate were elected by the members of the provincial councils and electoral colleges, the two parties formed a joint group in the senate. With fourteen seats, the PvdA–GroenLinks group became the second-largest senate group behind the Farmer–Citizen Movement.

### 2023 general election

Following the collapse of the fourth Rutte cabinet on 7 July 2023, PvdA leader Attje Kuiken and GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver announced their intention to contest the 2023 Dutch general election, to be held on 22 November, with a joint electoral list and lead candidate. From 10 to 17 July 2023, both parties held an internal referendum on this proposal. Approximately 88% of PvdA members and 92% of GL members voted in favour of participating in the election with a joint GL/PvdA list.
Three days later, former foreign minister Frans Timmermans (PvdA) declared his intention to become lead candidate for the alliance. His candidacy was met with widespread approval from both parties. On 22 August 2023, during a joint GroenLinks–PvdA party meeting, Timmermans was confirmed as lead candidate with 92 percent of the vote. He resigned from his posts at the European Commission on the same day.
PvdA–GL finished the election with 25 seats and 15.75% of the vote, finishing second to the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) but ahead of the governing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). The coalition hoped to form a government with New Social Contract and other, smaller parties like the Party for the Animals (PvdD). Timmermans ruled out forming a government with PVV and VVD, and admitted that it was "extremely unlikely" that PvdA-GL would be in cabinet.

## Possible merger

There has been an ongoing discussion about a possible merger of the two parties into a single party. Proponents – including former Labour Party leaders Job Cohen and Diederik Samsom and Labour Party prominent and former health minister Hedy d'Ancona, and GroenLinks prominents Bram van Ojik, Andrée van Es and Bas de Gaay Fortman – have shown support for a merger by becoming a member of each other's party. They have also founded the activist group 'RedGreen' (Dutch: RoodGroen) to advocate for the creation of a "strong, leftist movement" for "social, green and righteous politics". Opponents, on the other hand, have expressed concern for the "ideological dilution" and possible loss of electorate as a consequence of the parties' merger.

## Election results
### House of Representatives

| Election | Lead candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
| 2023 | Frans Timmermans | 1,643,073 | 15.75 | 25 / 150 | 8 | Opposition |

### European Parliament

| Election | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
| 2024 | List | 1,314,428 | 21.09 | 8 / 31 | 1 | Greens-EFA / S&D |

### Provincial elections

| Election | Province | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
| 2023 | Zeeland | 24,514 | 13.4 | 6 / 39 | New |