Progressief Nederland
Proposed Dutch political party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Progressief Nederland (lit. 'Progressive Netherlands'; abbreviated Pro, stylised in all caps[9]) is a proposed political party to be founded on 13 June 2026. It is a merger of GroenLinks and the Labour Party, which have previously cooperated with joint parliamentary groups and electoral lists as GroenLinks–PvdA (GL–PvdA).[9]
Progressive Netherlands Progressief Nederland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PRO |
| Leader in the House of Representatives[1] | Jesse Klaver |
| Leader in the Senate | Paul Rosenmöller |
| Founded | 13 June 2026 (expected) |
| Merger of | GroenLinks Labour Party |
| Preceded by | GroenLinks–PvdA |
| Youth wing | PROTEST[2] |
| Ideology | Social democracy[3][4][5] Green politics[3][4][5] Progressivism[3] |
| Political position | Centre-left[6] to left-wing[7] |
| Regional affiliation | SGD/SVD[8] |
| Colours | Red Green Pink Mint green |
| House of Representatives | 20 / 150 |
| Senate | 14 / 75 |
| European Parliament | 8 / 31 |
| Provincial councils | 15 / 548 |
| Municipal Councils | 149 / 7,991 |
| Benelux Parliament | 2 / 21 |
| Website | |
| https://progressiefnederland.nl/ | |
The party's name was announced at an event on 26 March 2026.[5] At the event, party leader Jesse Klaver described the party as "pro-fair, pro-green, pro-social, pro-progress".[5] Klaver had already requested Speaker of the House of Representatives Thom van Campen recognize the joint GL–PvdA group be renamed Progressief Nederland, and expressed hope that GL−PvdA groups in municipal councils would also immediately switch to the new name.[5] In municipal councils where the GL and PvdA groups remain separate, those groups can continue operating under the previous parties' names until the next municipal election.[5]
The youth wing of the party will be known as PROTEST.[2]
Background
The party is a merger of the Labour Party (Dutch: Partij van de Arbeid; PvdA) and GroenLinks (lit. 'GreenLeft'; GL). PvdA was formed on 2 February 1946, and has participated in thirteen government coalitions and produced three Prime Ministers, while GroenLinks was formed on 24 November 1990 as a political party, formally merging the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP), Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN), Political Party of Radicals (PPR), and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP); these parties had formed an alliance for the 1989 European Parliament election known as Rainbow, and had renamed the alliance to GroenLinks for the 1989 general election.[10]
The idea of a possible merger of centre-left parties in the Netherlands, including the PvdA and GL, is not new. As early as 2004, Job Cohen, then the 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" (Dutch: Progressieve Volkspartij) as possible name.[11] 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 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, Christian Union, 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.[12]
During the 2021–2022 cabinet formation, party leaders 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.[13] 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.[14] Following their exclusion from the fourth Rutte cabinet, the Labour Party and GroenLinks decided to intensify co-operation as opposition parties.[15] The parties formed a joint list in Zeeland for the 2023 provincial elections,[16] and following the 2023 Senate election the parties formed a joint group in the Senate.[17]
Following the collapse of the fourth Rutte cabinet, PvdA leader Attje Kuiken and Klaver announced that they intended to run in the 2023 general election on a joint list, named GroenLinks–PvdA (GL–PvdA). Both parties' memberships endorsed this move in a referendum.[18] The PvdA's Frans Timmermans was endorsed as lead candidate by both parties.[19] GL–PvdA 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). Timmermans ruled out forming a government with PVV and VVD, and admitted that it was "extremely unlikely" that GL–PvdA would be in cabinet,[20] and the alliance ended up as opposition to the Schoof cabinet.
On 13 March 2025, it was announced that members of the parties would be able to vote for a decision in principle about founding a new left and green party on 21 June 2025.[21] The referendum was brought forward to between 5 and 12 June 2025 after the fall of the Schoof cabinet on 3 June.[22] On 12 June 2025, it was announced that GL and PvdA would merge into a new party in 2026, with 89.1% of GL voters and 88.0% of PvdA voters voting in favour.[23] GL–PvdA contested the 2025 general election, but the alliance lost five seats and fell back to fourth; Timmermans resigned following the results.[24]
On 26 March 2026, new party leader Jesse Klaver hosted an event, revealing the party's new name as Progressief Nederland, as well as its logo. The party is set to be formally launched on 13 June.[9]
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