Editing GroenLinks (section)

===Proposals===
The [[election manifesto]] for the [[2010 Dutch general election|2010 elections]] was adopted in April of that year. It was titled ''Klaar voor de Toekomst'' ("Prepared for the Future"). The manifesto emphasises international cooperation, welfare state reform, environmental policy and social tolerance.<ref name="KVDT">{{Citation
|last=Buitenweg
|first=Kathalijne
|author-link=Kathalijne Buitenweg
 |author2=Jolande Sap |display-authors=etal
|title=Klaar voor de Toekomst
|publisher=GroenLinks
|date=April 2010
|location=Utrecht
|url=http://tweedekamer.groenlinks.nl/node/46630
}}</ref>

GroenLinks considers itself a "[[welfare state reform|social reform]] party", which aims to reform the government finances and increase the position of "outsiders" on the labour market, such as migrant youth, single parents, workers with short term-contracts and people with disabilities. It disagrees with the parties on the right which, in the eyes of GroenLinks, were only oriented towards cutting costs and did not offer the worst-off a chance for work, emancipation and participation.<ref name="VED">{{citation
|last=Halsema
|first=Femke
|author-link=Femke Halsema
|author2=[[Ineke van Gent]]
|title=Vrijheid Eerlijk Delen. Vrijzinnige Voorstellen voor sociale politiek.
|date=11 November 2005
|url=http://www.groenlinks.nl/2ekamer/nieuws/Nieuwsbericht.2005-11-11.3300
|access-date=2008-04-28
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120802045058/http://www.groenlinks.nl/2ekamer/nieuws/Nieuwsbericht.2005-11-11.3300
|archive-date=2 August 2012
}}</ref>
But, unlike the other opposition parties of the left, the party does not want to defend the current welfare state – which the party calls "powerless", because it merely offers the worst-off a benefit rather than prospects for work.<ref name="VED"/> The party wants to reform the Dutch [[welfare state]] so it will benefit "outsiders" – those who have been excluded from the welfare state until now.

To increase employment, the GroenLinks proposes a participation contract, where unemployment recipients sign an agreement with their local council to become involved in volunteer work, schooling, or work experience projects – for which they get paid minimum wage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2006/09/green_left_to_slash_unemployme/|title=Green Left to slash unemployment pay - DutchNews.nl|date=2006-09-05|work=DutchNews.nl|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en-GB}}</ref>
The unemployment benefit should be increased and limited to one year. In this period, people would have to look for a job or education. If at the end of the year one should not succeed in finding a job, the government will offer one a job for the [[minimum wage]]. In order to create more employment, they want to implement the [[green tax shift]] which will lower taxes on lower paid labour. This would be compensated by higher taxes on pollution. In order to increase prospects for the underprivileged, it wants to invest in education, especially the [[voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs|vmbo]] (middle-level vocational education). In order to ensure that migrants have a better chance for jobs, it wants to deal firmly with discrimination, especially on the [[labour market]]. The party wants to decrease income differences by making [[child benefit]]s.<ref name="KVDT"/> The party favours reform of government [[pension]]s: after 45 years of employment, one should get the right to a pension. If one starts working young, one is able to stop working earlier than if one starts working when one is older. Receiving unemployment or disability benefits is counted as work, as is caring for children or family members. The system of mortgage interest deductions should be abolished over a forty-year period.

International cooperation is an important theme for the party. This includes [[development cooperation]] with underdeveloped countries. GroenLinks wants to increase spending on [[development aid]] to 0.8% of the [[gross national product]]. It wants to open the European markets to goods from Third World countries, under conditions of [[fair trade]]. In order to ensure free and fair trade, it wants to increase and democratise international economic organisations such as the [[International Monetary Fund]] and the [[World Bank]]. The party also favours greater international control over financial markets. GroenLinks favours [[European integration]], but is critical about the current policies of the [[European Commission]]. It favoured the [[European Constitution]], but after it was voted down in the [[2005 Dutch European Constitution referendum|2005 referendum]], GroenLinks advocated a new treaty which emphasised [[democracy]] and [[subsidiarity]]. The party is critical about the [[war on terror]]. It wants to strengthen the [[peacekeeping]] powers of the [[United Nations]] and reform the [[Army of the Netherlands|Dutch armed forces]] into a peace force, with the functions of [[NATO]] to be taken over by the European Union and the United Nations.

GroenLinks wants to solve environmental problems, especially [[climate change]], by stimulating durable alternatives. The party wants to use taxes and [[emissions trading]] to stimulate [[alternative energy]] as an alternative to both [[fossil fuel]] and [[nuclear plant]]s. It wants to close all nuclear plants in the Netherlands and impose a tax on the use of coal in energy production, in order to discourage the building of new coal-based power plants. Moreover, it wants to stimulate [[energy saving]]. It wants to invest in clean [[public transport]], as an alternative to private transport. Investments in [[public transport]] can be financed by not expanding [[highway]]s and imposing [[toll (road usage)|tolls on the use of roads]] (called ''rekeningrijden''). The party wants to stimulate [[organic farming]] through taxes as an alternative to [[industrial agriculture]]. Moreover, GroenLinks wants to codify [[animal rights]] in the [[Constitution of the Netherlands|Constitution]].<ref name="KVDT"/>

GroenLinks values individual freedom and the [[rule of law]]. The party wants to legalise [[Drug policy of the Netherlands|soft drugs]]. It wants to protect civil rights on the Internet by extending constitutional protection for free communication to email and other modern technologies. It also favours a reform of [[copyright]] to allow non-commercial reproduction and the use of [[open-source software]] in the public sector. In the long term, it seeks to abolish the [[Monarchy of the Netherlands|monarchy]] and create a [[republic]]. It also favours a reduction of the size of the government bureaucracy, for instance by decreasing the number of [[Dutch ministries]] and abolishing the [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]]. Finally, GroenLinks favours liberal [[immigration]] and [[asylum seeker|asylum]] policies. It wants to empower victims of [[human trafficking]] by giving them a residence permit and it wants to abolish the income requirements for marriage migration.<ref name="KVDT"/>

In the party's 2021 election programme, it stated that it wants to introduce a [[Universal basic income|basic income for all]] Dutch citizens within eight years.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.groenlinks.nl/verkiezingsprogramma/english |title= Election Programme 2021 |website= GroenLinks |access-date= 12 February 2023 |quote= GroenLinks wants to introduce a basic income for all Dutch citizens within the next eight years.}}</ref>