The Greens – The Green Alternative (, ) is a green political party in Austria. The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of the Schallenberg government, the Second Kurz government, and the Nehammer government. It won 8.2% of votes cast in the 2024 Austrian legislative election. The current President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, is from the Green Party.
The party was founded in 1986 under the name "Green Alternative" (Grüne Alternative), following the merger of the more moderate Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs (United Greens of Austria VGÖ, founded 1982), which had its roots in the anti-nuclear power movement and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs (Alternative List Austria, ALÖ, founded 1982) formed by ecology, feminist, peace, Third World and student activists. Since 1993, the party has carried the official name Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative (Grüne), but refers to itself in English as "Austrian Greens". There are still differences between the former members of the old Alternative and VGÖ factions within the party, reflected in the differing approaches of the national and state parties.
Apart from ecological issues such as environmental protection, the Greens are pro-European, and campaign for the rights of minorities and advocate a socio-ecological (ökosozial) tax reform. Their basic values according to their charter in 2001 are: "direct democracy, nonviolence, ecology, solidarity, feminism and self-determination". The party is a member of the European Green Party and Global Greens.
History In 1978 the Austrian Green movement began with the successful campaign to prevent the opening of the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant (which had been favoured by Bruno Kreisky's government). Another major event in the Austrian environmental movement were the sit-in protests in 1984 which prevented the Danube power plant at Hainburg from being built.
The VGÖ and ALÖ contested the 1983 Austrian legislative election, scoring 1.9 and 1.4 percent of the vote each but failing to win any seats. Following this the two parties agreed joint lists for state elections in Salzburg, Tyrol, Voralberg and Styria, although other environmentalist lists also contested elections during this time. The joint lists enjoyed success in Voralberg, achieving 13 percent and four seats in 1984, and Styria, where they won 3.7 percent of the vote and two seats. The immediate catalyst for the merger of the two parties was the candidacy of activist Freda Meissner-Blau in the 1986 Austrian presidential election, in which she won 5.5 percent of the vote. A few months after the election members of the VGÖ and ALÖ, along with journalist, environmentalist and former Socialist Party member Günther Nenning's Citizens' Parliamentary Initiative and other groups to form Green Alternative.
In its early years the party described itself as an alliance of moderate ecologists, former members of the Socialist Party's left unhappy with the leadership of the moderate Franz Vranitzky, peace activists, Eurocommunists, anti-nuclear activists and Christian leftists.
Federal level In the 1986 parliamentary elections the Green Party started off with 4.82% of all votes cast and entered parliament with eight National Council mandates. In the early elections to National Council in 2002, the Green Party nationwide received 9.47% of votes, and won 17 mandates to the National Council. At that time, it was the highest number of votes garnered by any European Green party.
When the Greens took their seats in parliament for the first time, they chose to appear somewhat unconventional. They initially refused to adapt their behaviour to that of the other parties; an example of this is their refusal to elect a chairperson (Klubobmann/Klubobfrau) and designated a puppet made out of straw instead. Delegates would appear in parliament dressed in casual wear such as jeans and trainers. Worldwide attention was drawn when the Green delegate Andreas Wabl hoisted a swastika flag on the speakers podium in the Austrian parliament, protesting against then Federal President Kurt Waldheim.Austrians Seem To Cut Support For Waldheim, The New York Times, 17 May 1987 They were also highly active in parliament, proposing 60 pieces of legislation and asking over 400 written questions within 18 months of the Greens' entry to the National Council, more than any other party.
After the national election in 2002, the Greens entered into preliminary negotiations about a possible coalition government with the conservative ÖVP. During negotiations, party leadership was accused of internally black-mailing skeptical members. Negotiations between the two parties were subsequently called off, after the results with the ÖVP were not sufficient. The Green youth organisation Grünalternative Jugend (Green Alternative Youth or GAJ) briefly occupied the rooms of the Green parliamentary club in the Austrian parliament building in protest.
In 2003 three Green federal counsellors formed their own club in the Upper House Federal Council (Bundesrat) of Parliament.
After the 2006 elections the Greens gained four seats and ended up with 21 seats and became the third largest party in Parliament, however did not have enough mandates to form a coalition government with either the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) or Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and became the largest opposition party, while the SPÖ and ÖVP formed a grand coalition government.
The party suffered from internal struggles in 2017, losing its Youth wing (which split away and formed an ephemeral joint list with the Communist Party of Austria) and later experiencing a split of Peter Pilz's faction, forming the Peter Pilz List.
The 2017 legislative election saw a collapse for the party, scoring only 3.8% and losing its representation in the Nationalrat for the first time since 1986. Following the results, party spokesman Ingrid Felipe resigned from her post and was replaced by Werner Kogler.
The party saw a revival in the 2019 European election, in which they scored 14.1% and elected 2 MEPs. The election saw the collapse of JETZ.
The party eventually later this year, experienced a strong recovery and performed better well leading up to the 2019 snap legislative election, the Greens returned to the National Council () with their best ever result in a legislative election, scoring 13.9% and electing 26 MPs, an upswing of 10.2% from 2017.
In the 2024 Austrian legislative election, the party lost 10 seats and fell to 8.2%. The party was not included in the initial coalition negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS.
Chairpersons since 1986
The chart below shows a timeline of the Green chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria. The left green bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundessprecher, abbreviated as "Chair.") of the Green party, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ), black (ÖVP), and light grey (Independent) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for the cabinets.
Federal state level The Green party also entered the parliaments or assemblies (Landtag) of Austrian federal states and communal governments. Following is an analysis of the party on the federal state (Länder) level:
Burgenland Green Alternative first stood in state elections in Burgenland in 1987, taking 2.2 percent of the vote but no seat. The Greens first entered the Burgenland state parliament in 2000, receiving 5.49% of the vote and winning two seats.
In the 2025 Burgenland state election, the party won 5.66% of the vote and held on to their two seats. After swift negotiations, the Greens entered a governing coalition with the Social Democrats, making Burgenland the only Austrian federal state to be governed by the Greens.
Carinthia In the southernmost federal state Carinthia, different Green parties ran state elections: the KEL/AL in 1984, Anderes Kärnten in 1989 and 1994, and Demokratie 99 in 1999. These parties were, however, never able to enter the federal state assembly.
In the 2023 Carinthian state election, the Greens narrowly missed the 4% threshold for representation in the state assembly (Landtag), receiving 3.85% of the vote. On a local level, the Greens hold seats in the municipal councils (Gemeinderäte) of Klagenfurt and Villach, alongside those of various smaller municipalities.
Lower Austria In 1998 the Lower Austrian Greens were represented with two delegates in the federal state assembly. In the federal state elections in 2003 the Greens received 7.22% and thus won four mandates, which enabled them to form a parliamentary group - called club in Austrian politics - in the assembly. With Madeleine Petrovic, the Lower Austrian Greens have a former federal spokeswoman and one of the most outspoken animal activists of Austria as their leader (Klubobfrau). In 2005 the Lower Austrian Greens managed to win and take their seats in 100 municipal assemblies and as of 2005 had four vice-mayors. Their managing director in Lower Austria is Thomas Huber.
Salzburg After the federal state elections in 1989 the Salzburg State Greens had two mandates in the Salzburg federal state assembly, in 1994 three and in 1999 again two. Under the leadership of Cyriak Schwaighofer the Greens performed under their expectations in the 2004 federal state elections and could not achieve the desired club status of at least three mandates. As voter-current analyses showed, the small increases in votes were largely due to former voters of the Liberal Forum (LiF), which did not run in the Salzburg elections. In March 2009 they were down from 8% to 7.3%, keeping their two seats in Salzburg State's parliament.
The Bürgerliste (Citizen List) is the common platform of the Greens in Salzburg municipality. The List entered the city council in the 1987 election, taking 10.1 percent of the vote and four seats. Like many other autonomous municipal groups it carries its own name.
Styria The Styrian Greens have three delegates sitting in the federal state assembly, federal state spokesperson Lambert Schönleitner, Sandra Krautwaschl, and Lara Köck. There are two independent Greens parties: on the one hand the federal state party, on the other hand there is the Die Grünen - Alternative Liste Graz party for the federal state capital Graz. In the Graz city-council the Greens are represented by Sigi Binder, Lisa Rücker, Hermann Candussi and Christina Jahn.
Styria has the largest Austrian Green youth organization in Austria, called Grüne Jugend Steiermark (Green Youth Styria). Beside the Green Youth Styria there also exists Austria's first Green students' organization, the ECO Students.
Tyrol In Tyrol the Greens (official name: Die Grünen – die Grüne Alternative Tirol) were able to win seats and placed in 1994 Eva Lichtenberger as Austria's first Green state councillor in a local government, responsible for environmental affairs.
The 2003 Tyrolean Landtag (state assembly) elections were the best ever for the Austrian Greens, winning 15.59% of all votes cast. In the capital city of Innsbruck the Greens reached approximately 27% of the vote. The Tyrolean election result also meant that the Greens could for the first time in history nominate a member to the Upper House of Parliament. Since 2003 the Green delegate to the Federal Council (Bundesrat) of Parliament is Eva Konrad, former chairlady of the Austrian National Union of Students (Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft) of the University of Innsbruck.
The communal elections of 2004 brought a doubling of the mandates for the Tyrolean Greens. City elections in Innsbruck in 2006 were a success for the Greens and they gained 8 of the 40 seats in the parliament of Innsbruck.