Venstre (Norway)
|
Liberal Party
Venstre |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Trine Skei Grande |
| Parliamentary leader | Trine Skei Grande |
| Founded | 28 January 1884 |
| Headquarters | Møllergata 16 0179 Oslo |
| Youth wing | Young Liberals of Norway |
| Membership | 9,643 (2012) |
| Ideology |
Liberalism Social liberalism |
| Political position | Centre |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| Colours |
Teal Orange |
| Storting |
9 / 169
|
| County Councils |
39 / 728
|
| Municipal Councils |
544 / 10,781
|
| Sami Parliament |
0 / 39
|
| Website | |
| www.venstre.no | |
The Liberal Party (Norwegian: Venstre, V, meaning "left") is a liberal and social-liberalpolitical party in Norway. The party is the oldest in Norway, and has enacted reforms such as parliamentarism, freedom of religion, universal suffrage and state schooling. For most of the late 19th and early 20th century, it was Norway's largest and dominant political party, but in the postwar era it lost most of its support and became a relatively small party. The party has nevertheless participated in several centrist and centre-right government coalitions in the postwar era. It currently holds nine seats in the Parliament, and has a cooperation agreement with the incumbent government parties. Since 2010, the leader of the party is Trine Skei Grande.
The party is regarded as social-liberal and advocates personal freedom under the pre-condition of an active state. Since the 1970s, the party has maintained an environmentalist position, which was an important part of the party profile when it came back to parliament in the 1990s. The Liberal Party was rated the second best party after the Green Party by the environmentalist organisation Framtiden i våre hender. The party is also a strong supporter of multiculturalism, increased labour immigration to Norway, and relaxed integration measures. Overall, it has had a centrist position in the Norwegian political landscape.
Founded in 1884, then with the main support from farmers and progressive members of the bourgeoisie, it was the first political party that came into existence in Norway, and was the dominant government party for several decades. Since the 1880s, the party has seen many internal schisms. A politically moderate and religious wing broke out in 1888 to form the Moderate Liberal Party, and the conservative-liberal faction, including among them the first Prime Minister of Norway Christian Michelsen broke out in 1909 to form the Free-minded Liberal Party (both parties eventually merged into the Conservative Party). The most notable recent schism was in 1972, when the Liberal Party decided to oppose Norwegian membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), and the faction supporting membership broke out and formed the Liberal People's Party.
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