Ecolo

Not to be confused with ecolo.org.

Ecolo (French pronunciation: [ekɔlo]), officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales ([ekɔlɔʒist kɔ̃fedeʁe puʁ lɔʁɡanizasjɔ̃ də lyt ɔʁiʒinal], lit. 'Confederate Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles') is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics.^[2][3][6] The party is active in Wallonia, the Brussels-Capital Region, and the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

Ecolo
Leader	Marie Lecocq [fr] and Samuel Cogolati [fr]
Founded	1980; 45 years ago (1980)
Headquarters	Espace Kegeljan Av. de Marlagne 52, Namur
Think tank	Centre d'études Jacky Morael[1]
Ideology	Green politics[2][3]
Political position	Centre-left[4]
Regional affiliation	Socialists, Greens and Democrats[5]
European affiliation	European Green Party
European Parliament group	The Greens–European Free Alliance
International affiliation	Global Greens
Flemish counterpart	Groen
Colours	Green
Chamber of Representatives (French-speaking seats)	3 / 61
Senate (French-speaking seats)	5 / 24
Parliament of Wallonia	12 / 75
Parliament of the French Community	16 / 94
Brussels Parliament (French-speaking seats)	15 / 72
Parliament of the German-speaking Community	3 / 25
European Parliament (French-speaking seats)	1 / 8
Website
ecolo.be
Politics of Belgium Political parties Elections

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.^[7]

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.^[8]

Election results

Chamber of Representatives

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
1977[9]	3,834	0.1	0 / 212	0	Extra-parliamentary
1978[10]	21,224	0.4	0 / 212	0	Extra-parliamentary
1981[11]	132,312	2.2	2 / 212	2	Opposition
1985[12]	152,483	2.5	5 / 212	3	Opposition
1987[13]	157,988	2.6	3 / 212	2	Opposition
1991[14]	312,624	5.1	10 / 212	7	Opposition
1995[15]	243,362	4.0	6 / 150	4	Opposition
1999[16]	457,281	7.4	11 / 150	5	Coalition
2003[17]	201,118	3.1	4 / 150	7	Opposition
2007[18]	340,378	5.1	8 / 150	4	Opposition
2010[19]	313,047	4.8	8 / 150	0	Opposition
2014[20]	222,524	3.3	6 / 150	2	Opposition
2019[21]	416,452	6.1	13 / 150	7	External support (2020)
					Coalition (2020–2025)
2024	204,438	2.9	3 / 150	10	Opposition

Senate

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
1977[22]	7,558	0.1	0 / 106
1978[23]	43,883	0.8	0 / 106
1981[24]	153,989	2.6	3 / 106	3
1985[25]	163,361	2.7	2 / 106	1
1987[26]	168,491	2.8	2 / 106
1991[27]	323,683	5.3	6 / 106	4
1995[28]	258,635	4.3	2 / 40	4
1999[29]	458,658	7.4	3 / 40	1
2003[30]	208,868	3.2	1 / 40	2
2007	385,466	5.8	2 / 40	1
2010	353,111	5.5	2 / 40	0

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Election	Votes	%		Seats	+/-	Government
		F.E.C.	Overall
1989	44,874		10.2 (#5)	8 / 75		Opposition
1995	37,308		9.0 (#4)	7 / 75	1	Opposition
1999	77,969	21.3 (#2)	18.3 (#2)	14 / 75	7	Opposition
2004	37,908	9.7 (#4)	8.3 (#4)	7 / 89	1	Coalition
2009	82,663	20.2 (#3)	17.9 (#3)	16 / 89	9	Coalition
2014	41,368	10.1 (#5)	8.9 (#5)	8 / 89	8	Opposition
2019	74,246	19.1 (#2)	16.2 (#2)	15 / 89	7	Coalition
2024	38,386	9.85 (#5)	#5	7 / 89	8	[to be determined]

German-speaking Community Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
1990	5,897	15.0 (#5)	4 / 25		Opposition
1995	5,128	13.9 (#4)	3 / 25	1	Opposition
1999	4,694	12.7 (#5)	3 / 25	0	Coalition
2004	2,972	8.2 (#5)	2 / 25	1	Opposition
2009	4,310	11.5 (#5)	3 / 25	1	Opposition
2014	3,591	9.5 (#6)	2 / 25	1	Opposition
2019	4,902	12.5 (#5)	3 / 25	1	Opposition
2024	3,644	9.1 (#6)	2 / 25	1	Opposition

Walloon Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
1995	196,988	10.4 (#4)	8 / 75		Opposition
1999	347,225	18.2 (#3)	14 / 75	6	Coalition
2004	167,916	8.5 (#4)	3 / 75	11	Opposition
2009	372,067	18.5 (#3)	14 / 75	11	Coalition
2014	141,813	8.6 (#4)	4 / 75	10	Opposition
2019	294,631	14.5 (#3)	12 / 75	8	Coalition
2024	144,189	7.0 (#5)	5 / 75	7	Opposition

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes		%			Seats	+/−	EP Group
		F.E.C.	G.E.C.	F.E.C.	G.E.C.	Overall
1979	Paul Lannoye (F.E.C.)	107,833	—	5.14 (#5)	—	1.98	0 / 24	New	−
1984	François Roelants du Vivier (F.E.C.)	220,663	—	9.85 (#4)	—	3.86	1 / 24	1	RBW
1989	Paul Lannoye (F.E.C.)	371,053	—	16.56 (#4)	—	6.29	2 / 24	1	G
1994	Paul Lannoye (F.E.C.) Unclear (G.E.C.)	290,859	5,714	13.02 (#4)	14.90 (#4)	4.97	1 / 25	1
1999	Paul Lannoye (F.E.C.) Didier Cremer (G.E.C.)	525,316	6,276	22.70 (#3)	17.01 (#3)	8.59	3 / 25	2	Greens/EFA
2004	Pierre Jonckheer (F.E.C.) Lambert Jaegers (G.E.C.)	239,687	3,880	9.84 (#4)	10.49 (#4)	3.75	1 / 24	2
2009	Isabelle Durant (F.E.C.) Claudia Niessen (G.E.C.)	562,081	6,025	22.88 (#3)	15.58 (#3)	8.64	2 / 22	1
2014	Philippe Lamberts (F.E.C.) Erwin Schöpges (G.E.C.)	285,196	6,429	11.69 (#3)	16.66 (#2)	4.36	1 / 21	1
2019	Philippe Lamberts (F.E.C.) Shqiprim Thaqi (G.E.C.)	485,655	6,675	19.91 (#2)	16.37 (#2)	7.31	2 / 21	1
2024	Saskia Bricmont (F.E.C.) Shqiprim Thaqi (G.E.C.)	259,745	4,819	10.06 (#5)	11.10 (#6)	3.71	1 / 22	1

Elected politicians

Current

European Parliament

• Philippe Lamberts
• Saskia Bricmont

Chamber of Representatives

• 2010 – 2014:

1. Ronny Balcaen
2. Juliette Boulet
3. Olivier Deleuze (resigned in 2012; replaced by Lahssaini Fouad)
4. Zoé Genot
5. Muriel Gerkens
6. Georges Gilkinet
7. Eric Jadot
8. Thérèse Snoy et d'Oppuers

Brussels-Capital Region Parlement

• 2009 – 2014:

1. Aziz Albishari
2. Dominique Braeckman
3. Jean-Claude Defosse
4. Céline Delforge
5. Anne Dirix
6. Anne Herscovici
7. Zakia Khattabi
8. Vincent Lurquin
9. Alain Maron
10. Jacques Morel
11. Ahmed Mouhssin
12. Marie Nagy
13. Yaron Pesztat
14. Arnaud Pinxteren
15. Barbara Trachte
16. Vincent Vanhalewyn

Past

European Parliament

• 1989 - 1994

1. Brigitte Ernst de la Greate

Chamber of Representatives

• 1995 – 1999:

1. Philippe Dallons
2. Olivier Deleuze
3. Thierry Detienne
4. Mylène Nys (20 April 1999) (replaced Vincent Decroly)
5. Martine Schüttringer
6. Jean-Pierre Viseur

• 1999 – 2003:

1. Marie-Thérèse Coenen
2. Martine Dardenne
3. Vincent Decroly
4. Olivier Deleuze → Zoé Genot (14 July 1999)
5. Thierry Detienne → Muriel Gerkens (23 July 1999)
6. Claudine Drion
7. Michèle Gilkinet
8. Mirella Minne
9. Géraldine Pelzer-Salandra
10. Paul Timmermans → Bernard Baille (1 September 2002)
11. Jean-Pierre Viseur → Gérard Gobert (10 January 2001)

• 2003–2007:

1. Zoé Genot (replaced Olivier Deleuze)
2. Muriel Gerkens
3. Gérard Gobert (replaced Jean-Marc Nollet)
4. Marie Nagy

• 2007–2010:

1. Juliette Boulet
2. Zoé Genot
3. Muriel Gerkens
4. Georges Gilkinet
5. Philippe Henry
6. Fouad Lahssaini
7. Jean-Marc Nollet
8. Thérèse Snoy et d'Oppuers

Brussels-Capital Region Parlement

• 2004–2009:

1. Dominique Braeckman
2. Alain Daems
3. Céline Delforge
4. Christos Doulkeridis
5. Josy Dubié
6. Paul Galand
7. Yaron Pesztat

Important figures

• José Daras
• Josy Dubié
• Isabelle Durant
• Muriel Gerkens^{[citation needed]}
• Evelyne Huytebroeck^{[citation needed]}
• Jacky Morael
• Patrick Dupriez^{[citation needed]}
• Zakia Khattabi
• Jean-Marc Nollet [fr]^{[citation needed]}
• Hélène Ryckmans
• Tom Zoete

See also

• Environment portal
• Ecology portal

• Green party
• Green politics
• List of environmental organizations