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Revision as of 03:48, 10 February 2012

This article is about the European political party. For the European Parliament Group, see European People's Party (European Parliament group).

European People's Party
Europäische Volkspartei
Parti Populaire européen
Partito Popolare Europeo
Partido Popular Europeo
Europese Volkspartij
Partit Popolari Ewropew
Ευρωπαϊκό Λαϊκό Κόμμα
(Evropaïkó Laïkó Kómma)
Europejska Partia Ludowa
Európai Néppárt
Partido Popular Europeu
Avrupa Halk Partisi
Европейска народна партия
Páirtí Pobail na hEorpa
Evropská lidová strana
Evropska ljudska stranka
Європейська Народна Партія
Partidul Popular European
PresidentWilfried Martens
Founded8 July 1976 (1976-07-08)
HeadquartersRue du Commerce / Handelsstraat 10, Brussels, B-1000
IdeologyChristian democracy
Liberal conservatism
Pro-Europeanism[1][2][3][4]
Political positionCentre-right
European Parliament groupGroup of the European People's Party
International affiliationCentrist Democrat International
International Democrat Union
ColoursBlue, gold
Political foundationCentre for European Studies
Website
http://www.epp.eu/index.asp

The European People's Party (EPP) is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.[5][6][7]

The EPP is the most influential of the European parties. It has been the largest party in the European Parliament since 1999, the European Council since 2002 and is also by far the largest party in the current European Commission. Likewise the President of the European Parliament (and most of them for its history), the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission are all from the EPP. Many of the Founding fathers of the European Union were also from parties that would later form the EPP. Outside the EU, the party also controls a majority in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The EPP includes major parties such as the German CDU, French UMP, Italian PdL, Spanish PP, and Polish PO, but has member parties in almost all EU states. It has no member party in the United Kingdom, as the British Conservatives do not agree with the EPP's pro-EU policies, and formed the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.

History

According to its website, the EPP is "the family of the political centre-right, whose roots run deep in the history and civilization of the European continent and has pioneered the European project from its inception."[8]

The EPP was formally founded on 8 July 1976 in Luxembourg on the particular initiative of Jean Seitlinger and then Belgian PM, Leo Tindemans, who also became the first President of the party.

Sauli Niinistö was the architect of the merging of EDU within EPP

It’s to be noted though, that many political centre-right associations were already on the move since long ago and could be considered as EPP’s predecessors. For example the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales in 1946[9] or 1948,[10] via the European Union of Christian Democrats founded in 1965,[9] although it has been argued that it ultimately descends from the Secretariat International des partis démocratiques d'inspiration chrétienne founded in 1925.[10]

An important movement came in the late 1990s, when Finnish politician Sauli Niinistö, negotiated the merger of the European Democrat Union (EDU), of which he was President, into the EPP. In October 2002, the EDU ceased its activities after being formally absorbed by the EPP at a special event in Estoril, Portugal. In recognition of his efforts, Niinistö was elected Honorary President of the EPP in the same year.

During these 35 years, the EPP has had four Presidents:

From left to right:Tindemans, Bukman and Santer; former presidents of the EPP

EPP manifesto

As a central part of its 2009 campaign for the European elections, the EPP approved at the April Congress in Warsaw its 'Election Manifesto'. The EPP 2009 election manifesto calls for:

  • Creation of new jobs. Continuing reforms and investment in education, lifelong learning and employment in order to create opportunities for everyone.[11]
  • Protectionism must be averted. Fiscal and monetary policies must be coordinated.[11]
  • Increasing transparency and surveillance on financial markets.[11]
  • Making Europe the market leader in green technology.[11]
  • Increasing the share of renewable energy to at least 20% of the energy mix by 2020.[11]
  • Family-friendly flexibility for working parents. Better childcare and housing must be provided, family-friendly fiscal policies introduced, and parental leave should be encouraged.[11]
  • Europe should find a strategy to attract skilled workers from the rest of the world to make Europe’s economy more competitive, more dynamic and more knowledge driven.[11]
Gathering at the Congress Warsaw, the EPP endorsed Barroso for a second term and President of the Commission.

Structure

Organisation

Presidency

The Presidency is the executive body of the party. It decides on the general political guidelines of the Party and presides over the Political Assembly. The Presidency is composed of the president, ten vice-presidents, the honorary presidents, the secretary-general and the treasurer. Besides, the chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the Presidents of the Commission, the Parliament, the Council and the High Representative (as long as they belong to a member party) are all ex-officio vice-presidents.

President of the EPP Wilfried Martens

Since the EPP Congress of 2009 in Bonn, the presidency is formed by:

EPP Presidency

Political Assembly

The Political Assembly defines the political positions of the party between each Congress, deciding on membership applications, political guidelines and budget. The Political Assembly is composed of designated delegates from EPP member and associated member parties, member associations and groups.

The Political Assembly meets at least three times a year.

Congress

The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the party and is composed of delegates from EPP member and associated member parties, member associations and groups.

By rule of its statutes, it must meet once every three years, but it also meets normally during the years of elections for the European Parliament (every five years) and extraordinary Congresses can be (and have been) summoned. This means that, in fact, the Congress meets more frequently than the three years.

It elects the EPP Presidency (every three years), decides on the main policy documents and electoral programmes and provides a platform for the EPP Heads of Government and party leaders.

The last Congress of the EPP was the Marseille Congress in December, 2011.[12]

Activity

The European People's Party is active horizontally with the main EU institutions.

By invitation of the EPP President, the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Parliament and the EPP heads of state and government, (EPP ministers if the member party is a junior coalition partner and EPP leaders of the opposition if the member party is not at all in government) customarily meet a few hours prior to the Summit of the European Council at the 'Académie Royale' in Brussels for the EPP Summit to form common positions.

For the past two years the Party organizes on a regular basis EPP Ministerial meetings prior to the meetings of the Council of the European Union. The meetings of EPP Ministers are usually hosted in the Party headquarters. Currently, the EPP organises a total of eleven different Ministerial meetings which are:

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Economy and Finance
  • Home affairs
  • Justice
  • Defense
  • Employment and Social Affairs
  • Industry
  • Agriculture
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Transport [8]

The EPP also organizes on an ad hoc basis meetings with its affiliated members of the European Commission and it also invites individual Commissioners to the EPP Summit meetings and/or to EPP Ministerial meetings.

Following the 2007 amendment of the EU Regulation that governs Europarties, the EPP as well as the other Europarties, are responsible for organizing the pan-European campaign for the European elections every five years. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the EPP (like all Europarties) must present, as part of the campaign for the European elections, a candidate for President of the European Commission; the EPP already did this prior to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, by endorsing for a second term Jose Manuel Barroso in April 2009.

Family Reunion Picture at 2011 Summit.

In the European institutions

The EPP holds the Presidencies of all three main EU institutions: the European Commission led by President José Manuel Barroso (PSD), the European Council led by Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V) – who was nominated by EPP as its first permanent President – and the European Parliament led by President Jerzy Buzek (PO).

European Council

The EPP has 16 out of the 27 heads of State or Government in the European Council:

The EPP also has six heads of State or Government who do not normally take part in the European Council since that responsibility belongs to the other leaders of their countries: Bronisław Komorowski (Poland, PO), Christian Wulff (Germany, CDU), Pál Schmitt (Hungary, Fidesz), Aníbal Cavaco Silva (Portugal, PSD), François Fillon (France, UMP) and Traian Băsescu (Romania, PD-L).

European Commission

The EPP during its 2009 European elections campaign, re-nominated at its April 2009 Congress in Warsaw José Manuel Barroso as its candidate for re-election as Commission President if it won the elections. Because the EPP won, Barroso's nomination was endorsed by the European Council and was elected by an absolute majority in the European Parliament for a second term.

On 27 November 2009, Barroso unveiled the 'Barroso II Commission' which includes a total of 13 (out of 27) EPP Commissioners.

European Parliament

Main article: European People's Party (European Parliament group)

In the European Parliament the EPP has the largest parliamentary group – the EPP Group – with 271 MEPs. In every European election, candidates elected on lists of member-parties of the EPP are obliged to join the EPP Group in the European Parliament. In the current parliamentary term, the EPP is the only Europarty that has a fully corresponding parliamentary group. The current chairman of the EPP Group is French MEP Joseph Daul.

Beyond the EU

EPP in non-EU states

Through its associate and observer parties, EPP has five Heads of State and Government in European non-EU countries, besides one of the members of the Bosnian Presidency. They all attend EPP summits and meetings:

The party has also other two Heads of State but they don't normally attend the meetings since the other leaders of their countries are the ones that attend. They are Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov (VMRO-DPMNE) and Turkish President Abdullah Gul (AKP)

EPP in the Council of Europe

The Group of the EPP in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe defends freedom of expression and information, as well as freedom of movement of ideas and religious tolerance. It promotes the principle of subsidiarity and local autonomy, as well as the defence of national, social and other minorities. The EPP/CD Group is led by Italian UDC membre Luca Volonte.

EPP in the OSCE

The "EPP and like-minded Group" in the OSCE parliamentary assembly is the most active political group of that organization. The Group meets on a regular basis and promotes the EPP positions at levels of decision-making process. The members of the EPP Group also participate in election monitoring missions of the OSCE and are committed in promoting democratic values and practices.

The Group is chaired by Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden) and its Vice Presidents are: Consiglio Di Nino (Canada), Vilija Aleknaitė Abramikiene (Lithuania), Laura Allegrini (Italy) and George Tsereteli (Georgia).

EPP in NATO

Following the by-laws of the Party, the EPP is also present in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO-PA) and forms the “EPP and Associated Members” Group. It is an active political group which is led by German CDU politician Karl Lamers, who is also the current President of the NATO-PA.

From left to right: López-Istúriz, McCain & Martens

EPP and the US

The EPP has close relations with the International Republican Institute (IRI), an organization funded by the American government specially to promote democracy and democratization. EPP and IRI cooperate in the framework of the 'European Partnership Initiative'.[14]

EPP President Wilfried Martens endorsed Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, in the 2008 United States election[15] (McCain is also IRI Chairman).

In 2011 Martens and McCain have made some joint press statements expressing their concerns on the state of democracy in Ukraine and politically motivated trial against former PM Yulia Tymoshenko.[16][17]

Global networks

The EPP is the European wing of two centre-right global multilateral organizations: the International Democrat Union (IDU) and the Christian Democrat International (CDI).

Centre for European Studies

Following the 2008 revision of the EU Regulation that governs European political parties allowing the creation of European foundations affiliated to Europarties, the EPP established in the same year its official foundation/think tank, the Centre for European Studies (CES). The CES includes as members all the major national think tanks and foundations affiliated to EPP member parties: Konrad Adenauer Foundation (CDU), Hanns Seidel Foundation (CSU), Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (PP), Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy (ND), Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation (MOD), the Political Academy of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and others. During the 2009 European elections campaign, the CES launched a successful web-based campaign module 'tellbarroso.eu' to support Jose Manuel Barroso, the EPP candidate, for re-election as Commission President.

The Budapest-based Robert Schuman Institute and the Luxembourg-based Robert Schuman Foundation are also affiliated with the European People's Party.

EPP Associations

EPP is linked to many specific associations which focus in specific groups and which many times, by their own, organise seminars, forums, publications and other activities. Those associations are:

European Democrat Students (EDS)

EDS is the official students’ organisation of the EPP. Since it was founded in 1961, EDS brings together students and young political leaders from all over Europe to promote a political pro-European exchange.

Although being a students’ organisation, and therefore taking a special interest in topics like the Bologna Process, the organisation is especially aware of the importance of promoting values like freedom, democracy and human rights.

Led by Juraj Antal, the structure has 40 member organisations, representing nearly 500,000 students across the continentand currently, it's represented in 31 countries, including non-EU member states like Belarus and Georgia.

EDS is not a centralised organisation, it is an “organisation of organisations”, a networking structure whose general aim is to bundle the power of the various members in order to give young people and students a strong voice.

Every year the organisation hosts Summer and Winter universities and several seminars. It also publishes a bi-annual magazine called “Bullseye” and campaigns, through various forms, for the interests of young people.

European Senior Citizen’s Union (ESCU)

Founded in Madrid in 1995 and led by CDU member Bernhard Worms, ESCU is the largest political senior citizens’ organisation in Europe.

The ESCU is represented in 26 states with 45 organisations and about 500,000 members and it's dedicated to the advancement of rights of European senior citizens and their engagement in society. The aims of the ESCU are the promotion of the role of the elderly in ageing European societies, the fight against the discrimination of the elderly, the European pension systems, seniors and volunteering, intergenerational relationship and participation.

European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW)

The EUCDW is the workers' organisation of the EPP with 24 member organisations from 18 different countries.

As the officially recognized EPP association of workers, the EUCDW is led by Elmar Brok, MEP, and aims: to press for the political unification of a democratic Europe; to promote the development of the EPP on the basis of Christian-social teaching; to represent and defend worker interests in European Policy; to work for the achievement of Christian-social principles and policies in the European workers' movements; to step up co-operation with the workers and their representatives to realise step by step the European Social Model. Therefore, in the last years, the EUCDW has made a lot of effort in influencing employment policy and defending an undivided Europe of social justice.

Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Union (SME Union)

The SME UNION of the EPP is the network of pro-business Christian Democrat, Conservative and Neoliberal politicians and political organisations. Its main objective is to shape EU policy in a more SME friendly way in close cooperation with the SME Circle of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, DG Enterprise and the SME UNION members within the EPP member parties. The importance of the work of the SME UNION can be seen in the fact that SMEs are considered as the key driver for sustainable jobs, growth and prosperity.

Its top priority is to reform the legal framework for SMEs all over Europe and to promote and support the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises which - due to their willingness to take risks and responsibility - are the engine of the European economy.

The SME-UNION is led by Nadezhda Neynsky.

Women of the European People’s Party (EPP Women)

EPP Women is recognised by the EPP as the official association of women from all like-minded political parties of Europe. EPP Women have over 40 member organisations from countries of the European Union and beyond. All member organisations are women‘s organisations from political parties which are members of the EPP.

EPP Women, led by Doris Pack, is dedicated to the advancement of women‘s political participation throughout Europe and to the promotion of important women-related issues.

Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP)

YEPP, led by Csaba Dömötör, is EPP‘s official youth organisation, self-governed by its own statutes, political program and elected representatives. YEPP’s members are national partypolitical youth organisations.

The purpose of all 51 member organisations as well as for YEPP is to provide young people a channel in order to influence the shaping of their societies with democratic means and centre-right, Christian Democratic and conservative ideas. Through its member organisations YEPP brings together between one and two million young people in 38 countries of Europe. This makes YEPP the largest party-political youth organisation in Europe.

Membership

Within the EPP there are three kinds of members: full membres, associate membres and observers.

Full members are all parties from EU states. They have absolute rights to vote in all the organs and on all the matters; meanwhile associate members have the same voting rights except for matters concerning EU structure or policies. These associate membres are parties from EU-candidate countries, EFTA countries and also of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe if approved by the Political Assembly.

On the other hand, observer parties can participate in all the activities of the EPP and attend the Congresses and Political Assemblies, but do not have any voting rights.

Finally, there’s a special membership status which are the “supporting members”, which is granted by the Presidency to individuals and associations. Although the do not have voting rights, the can be invited by the President to attend meetings of certain organs of the party.

It´s worth noting that commissioners Dacian Ciolos, Kristalina Georgieva and Andris Piebalgs are members of the EPP though they do not belong to any national party in their conuntries.

Full member parties

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Notes

  1. ^ The Irish Prime Minister is commonly referred to as the Taoiseach in both Irish and English. See: Article 28.5.1° of the Constitution of Ireland.

References

  1. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (21 October 2005). "Out of the race, but no longer a lightweight". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Profile: 'Young pretender' David Cameron". Daily Mail. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  3. ^ "Tories urged to make EPP split". BBC News. 11 July 2006. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  4. ^ Spinant, Dana (11 July 2006). "Secret talks could lead to federal group of 30 MEPs". BBC News. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  5. ^ Magone, José María (2006). The New World Architecture: the role of the European Union in the making of global governance. New York: Transaction Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 9780765802798.
  6. ^ Hloušek, Vít; Kopeček, Lubomír (2010). Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties: East-Central and Western Europe compared. London: Ashgate Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 9780754678403.
  7. ^ Colomer, Josep Maria (2008). Comparative European Politics. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 288. ISBN 9780415437554.
  8. ^ a b administrator. "EPP | European People's Party". Epp.eu. Retrieved 11 September 2011. Cite error: The named reference "about" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b ""Trans-European Party Groupings: Emergence of New and Alignment of Old Parties in the Light of Direct Elections to the European Parliament" by Paul-H Claeys and Nicole Loeb-Mayer, from "Government and Opposition", Volume 14, issue 4, page 455-478". .interscience.wiley.com. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  10. ^ a b "On the road towards transnational party cooperation in Europe" by Steven van Hecke in "European View", Volume 3, 2006, from the Centre for European Studies
  11. ^ a b c d e f g EPP Manifesto – European Elections 2009[dead link]
  12. ^ [1][dead link]
  13. ^ For official purposes, and following EU use, EPP uses the provisional name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).http://www.epp.eu/countryPg.asp?cid=31
  14. ^ "European Partnership Initiative | International Republican Institute". IRI. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  15. ^ "Financial Times Article Wilfried Martens". Epp.eu. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  16. ^ "United States Senator John McCain :: Press Office :". Mccain.senate.gov. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  17. ^ "Senator McCain and President Martens urge for the release of Yulia Tymoshenko". Epp.eu. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  18. ^ http://news.am/eng/news/92667.html
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