Ecolo

Ecolo, officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales (English: Confederate Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles) is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The party is active in Wallonia, the Brussels-Capital Region, and the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Ecolo's Flemish equivalent is Groen; the two parties maintain close relations with each other.

Name

Ecolo is officially a backronym for Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales "Confederated Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles", but is really just short for écologistes, French for environmentalists.

History

Ecolo was part of the 1999 Verhofstadt I Government, but withdrew from the coalition before the 2003 general election, which saw it lose nearly two thirds of its 14 federal parliamentary seats in the face of a resurgent Socialist Party. The party made quite a comeback, however, in the 2007 general election, though failing to match the peak popularity it had enjoyed in 1999. In the general election of 10 June 2007, the party won eight out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and two out of the 40 directly elected seats in the Senate. In the 2010 elections, the party again won eight seats in the Chamber of Representatives and two in the Senate.

Political views

Ecolo is a political party that promotes sustainable development policies, aimed at preserving the environment and combating climate change, in the interests of current and future generations. The party seeks to create a more democratic and inclusive society by encouraging new political practices and strengthening citizen participation in a model of participatory democracy.

Election results

Chamber of Representatives

Senate

Regional

Brussels Parliament

German-speaking Community Parliament

Walloon Parliament

European Parliament

Elected politicians

Current

European Parliament Chamber of Representatives Brussels-Capital Region Parlement

Past