Green party "Zieloni 2004" was founded on September 7th 2003. At that time it had almost 100 founding members, coming from different groups and NGOs - ecological, feminist, dealing with human rights, ethnic and sexual minorities. The national council and the board were elected, both with a strict 50% quota for men and women. The co-chairpersons were Magdalena Mosiewicz and Jacek Bozek.

The work on the political integration of the Polish Greens started in the beginning of 2002. This is when the people coming from various NGOs - at that moment mainly ecological - and some of the former leaders of the Ecological Forum of the Union for Freedom started discussions about the creation of a real Green party in Poland, with a broad, modern profile, not limited to ecological subjects.

This move was a result of the disastrous outcome of the national elections of 2001, with the post-communists (SLD), radical right-wing parties (LPR, PiS) and populist party Samoobrona ("Self-defence") being the big winners. At the same time more than 50% of the people decided not to vote at all.

It became clear for us at that moment, that there is a need - and a space on the political scene - for a party that would address the issues of civil society, social solidarity, sustainability, equal opportunities and tolerance.

The political integration of the Greens started in a completely informal way - a group of about 10 people started discussions about the future programme of the party and about its basic principles. The initial moment when our work took on formal shape was our participation in the referendum campaign in the spring of 2003, before the EU accession referendum. This was the first moment when we entered the public scene as the Referendum Group "The Greens" - there were already about 40 of us, coming from ecological, feminist and gay-rights groups. We registered lists in 3 of the 13 constituencies in Poland. We ran the referendum campaign under the motto "Ecology - Democracy - Tolerance. Seeking changes in the EU". This campaign turned out to be a huge success both from the point of view of making ourselves visible to the public and also because it initiated a serious political co-operation between various groups.

Within a year and a half from the beginnings, our group grew up almost 500 people, and the basic programme achieved the form of a so-called "Green Manifesto", adopted at the Founding Congress as the basis for our future complete programme. The chapters of the Green Manifesto focus on the following issues: civil society; gender democracy; non-violence; subordinating the market to public good; information society; ecology; space for minorities; international policy.

We were registered as a political party on 22th February 2004 and we became a member of European Green Party in May 2005.

The statute of the party reflects the principles of internal democracy (going as far to the grassroots as possible), equal opportunities for women (including strict 50% quota in all the elected bodies and on the election lists, with a zebra-model, women on the first places; an institution of the Women Council in the party), respect for minorities (with the institution of the Minorities Council in the party).

As a political party we participated in the parliamentary elections in 2005 on a common register with the Social Democrats of Poland (SDPl) and the Labour Union (Unia Pracy) as we were fully aware that our party is still too weak for an independent start in the parliamentary elections. In accordance with the established agreement between the parties the Polish green Party Zieloni 2004 had only one candidate in each constituency to be found on the last place on the voting list - in order to differentiate ourselves from the other parties and so as not to compete internally against each other in the elections. Additionally, in a few of the constituencies we had some candidates on second and third places on the list, while the co-chairpersons of the Greens took part in the elections on the first place in their regions. Our list gained 459 380 votes, which gave it 3.89%, among which the candidates of the Polish Green Party had 20 000 votes, so about 0.17% of the nation-wide votes. The list did not manage to pass the 5% electoral threshold and did not enter the parliament, however the elections gave our Green candidates the opportunity to conduct their first independent election campaigns.

At present we are conducting 8 differentiated thematic campaigns, both on ecological and social subjects. We have joined in on the European campaign " Stop climate change" and "Eat better". We are also conducting our own ecological campaigns: "The Greens for clean water" which is an informational campaign hoping to draw people's attention to the importance of water resources and "Green energy" which promotes stable energy policies in accordance with rules of sustainable development (for renewable energy and against the plans for the construction of an atomic power plant in Poland). The campaign "Green Economy" introduces the green perspective on economy, while "Cities for People" is a series of actions aimed at improving the quality of life in cities and towns - we focus on issues of the revitalisation of municipal areas, sustainable transport and the ecology of urban areas. "Refunding Action" postulates the introduction of a refunding of the costs of contraceptives from the state budget. The "Spring of Democracy" is a campaign, within which we organize a number of events in various cities in Poland dealing with issues of democracy, such as freedom of expression and speech, as well as freedom of assembly: debates, meetings, marches, exhibitions, hyde-parks, demonstrations, etc.

We have also joined in on events organised by various groups, such as the March of Equality and Tolerance, the feminist Manifos, as well as organising happenings in answer to current political events. The Polish green Party Zieloni 2004 has local groups in most large cities and towns in Poland and are slowly becoming a recognised player on the Polish political scene.

Updated information and political statements can be found at the party's website www.zieloni2004.pl Information about green politics can also be found in many languages at pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zielona_polityka  

National Government:

Parties Represented in National Parliament :

Next National Elections:

Latest Green Party Election Results:

• National Election Year: 2007
  MPs:
  Total No. National Votes:
  % Gained :
• European Elections: 2004
  MEPs:
  Total No. European Votes: 16.288
  % Gained: 0,27