Venstres Ungdom

Venstres Ungdom (literally: Youth of the Left) is the youth wing of the Danish Liberal Party Venstre. The ideology of Venstre is centre-of-right.

Related Topics:
Danish - Liberal - Venstre

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Note of terminology: The organisation's name is officially not translated into any other language. Similar rules apply for the name of the mother party Venstre. In Danish, Venstres Ungdom is usually referred to simply as "VU".

Related Topics:
Venstre - Danish

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first branch of Venstres Ungdom was founded in Kolding in 1908, and the nation-wide organization was established in 1912. This makes the youth wing older than the mother party, Venstre, which was established in its current form in 1910.

Related Topics:
Kolding - 1908 - 1912 - Venstre - 1910

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few unique features of Venstres Ungdom include

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Decisions made by Venstre are not binding for Venstres Ungdom (and vice-versa).
• Venstres Ungdom is an independent organization and not a mere branch of the mother party
• The national organization has no control over the local branches. The most important part of the organization are the local branches. Each local branch sends two representatives to the County branch, and each County branch sends one representative to the National Committee (Landsstyrelsen). The national organization is consequently organized bottom-up.

The combination of these characteristics makes Venstres Ungdom unique among Danish political youth organizations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Venstres Ungdom was founded, Denmark had a bicameral parliament, and suffrage to one of the houses (Landstinget) was reserved for men no younger than 35. Consequently, Venstres Ungdom was intended as an organization for Liberals younger than 35. When turning 35, a member became entitled to transfer his membership to the "real" political party Venstre. When Landstinget was abolished in 1953 this destinction became irrelevant, and members are now free to choose if they wish to belong to Venstres Ungdom, Venstre or both organizations. Most members transfer their membership from Venstres Ungdom to Venstre when they approach the age of 30.

Related Topics:
Bicameral - Parliament - Venstre - 1953

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 
Venstres Ungdom: Venstres Ungdom today ►