European Christian Political Movement
European Christian Political Movement | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Valeriu Ghilețchi |
| General Secretary | Maarten van de Fliert |
| Founded | November 2002 |
| Headquarters | Bergstraat 33, 3811 NG Amersfoort, Netherlands |
| Youth wing | ECPYouth |
| Ideology | Christian democracy[1] Social conservatism[2] Christian right[2] |
| Political position | Centre-right to right-wing |
| European Parliament group | European Conservatives and Reformists[2] (Reformed Political Party, Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party)
European People's Party (ChristianUnion, Family Party of Germany) |
| Colours | Green and blue |
| Slogan | "elevate. empower. engage." |
| European Parliament | 4 / 705 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is the only European political party explicitly working on promoting Christian values. The party unites national parties and individuals from across Europe who share policies influenced by Christianity, largely following the ideals of Christian democracy. The member parties are generally more socially conservative and Eurosceptic.
The party was founded in November 2002 in Lakitelek, Hungary. It elected its first board in January 2005, and was registered in the Netherlands in September 2005. The first ECPM president was Peeter Võsu of the Party of Estonian Christian Democrats. The movement brings together over fifty Christian-Democratic political parties, NGOs, think-tanks and individual politicians from over twenty countries within EU and beyond. Youth movements are united in ECPYouth. The youth organisation started in 2004 and elected its first board in the summer of 2005.
During the 2014–2019 term, ECPM had six Members of the European Parliament: Peter van Dalen of Christian Union (NL), Bas Belder of the Dutch Reformed Party (SGP) (NL), Branislav Škripek of Kresťanská únia [sk] (SK), Arne Gericke of Bündnis C (DE), Marek Jurek of Right Wing of the Republic (PL) and Kazimierz Ujazdowski (PL). All six MEPs sat with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.
After the most recent 2019 European Parliament election, the party got 3 seats in the EP: Peter Van Dalen of the Christian Union, Bert-Jan Ruissen of the SGP, and Helmut Geuking of the Family Party of Germany. Peter Van Dalen and Helmut Geuking sit with the European People's Party Group while Bert-Jan Ruissen sits with the ECR. A fourth MEP, Cristian Terheș, member of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party in Romania, joined the party in May 2020.[3]
History
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The ECPM started as a platform in November 2002 when representatives of political parties from more than 15 countries decided to examine new chances for Christian politics in Europe at the conference "For a Christian Europe" at Lakitelek, Hungary.
The ECPM started with Christian parties and organizations, regardless of their denomination. Parties from within and from outside the EU participated in those first years and made it possible to create a movement that is steadily growing from one year to the next. In 2003 the ECPM adopted eight guiding principles in the Lakitelek declaration "Values for Europe", which shaped ECPM's vision of Europe. In January 2005 in Tallinn, Estonia, the ECPM elected its first board. On 15 September 2005 ECPM was officially registered with statutes as an association under Dutch law. In 2010 ECPM was officially recognized as a European political party by the European Parliament.[4] In 2014 ECPM took part in the European elections for the first time as a European Party. The ECPM board was chaired by MP Peter Östman from 2013 to 2016, from 2016 to 2021 by MEP Branislav Škripek and by Valeriu Ghileţchi (former Moldovan MP) since 2021.
Foundation
Sallux is the official think-tank of ECPM.
Member parties
Full members
This table contains a list of full member parties of the ECPM.[5]
| Party | Abbr. | Country | European MPs | National MPs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Party | CPÖ |  Austria
|
- | - |
| VIA, the Way of the People | VIA |  France
|
– | – |
| Alliance C – Christians for Germany | AUF & PBC |  Germany
|
– | – |
| Family Party of Germany | FP | 1 / 96
|
– | |
| Human Dignity Alliance | HDA |  Ireland
|
– | 1 / 60 (senate)
|
| Identity and Action | IDeA |  Italy
|
– | 1 / 315 (regional)
|
| Christian-Democratic People's Party | PPCD |  Moldova
|
Not in EU | – |
| Christian Union | CU |  Netherlands
|
1 / 26
|
5 / 150
|
| Reformed Political Party | SGP | 1 / 26
|
3 / 150
| |
| Integra-Macedonian Conservative Party |  North Macedonia
|
Not in EU | – | |
| League of Polish Families | LPR |  Poland
|
– | – |
| Right Wing of the Republic | PR | – | – | |
| People's Monarchist Party | PPM |  Portugal
|
– | 2 |
| Democratic Union of Slovaks and Czechs of Romania | DUSCR |  Romania
|
– | 1 / 329
|
| Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party | PNȚ-CD | 1 / 33
|
– | |
| Christian Union | KÚ |  Slovakia
|
– | 5 / 150
|
| Contigo Mas | Mas |  Spain
|
||
| Evangelical People's Party | EVP – PEV |  Switzerland
|
Not in EU | 3 / 200
|
| Christian Democratic Union | ХДС |  Ukraine
|
Not in EU | – |
Associate members
Armenia
Belgium
Bulgaria
France
Germany
Italy
Ireland
Republic of Moldova
- Academia pentru Integritate în Conducere (Academy for Integrity in Leadership (AIC))
Netherlands
- Research Institute ChristianUnion
- Stichting Crown Financial Ministries
- Stichting vormingsactiviteiten Oost-Europa
- The Schuman Centre for European Studies
Romania
- Areopagus. Centru de Educaţie Creştină şi Cultură Contemporană (Areopagus. Center for Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture)
- Asociaţia PRO VITA – Filiala Bucureşti (Pro-vita Association – Bucharest Branch)
- Centrul creștin pentru țigani (Christian Center for Roma)
- Asociația democratică creștină (Christian Democratic Association)
- Fundația românească pentru democrație (Romanian Foundation for Democracy)
- Asociația "Worldteach" (Worldteach Association)
Serbia
United Kingdom
Organisation
Congresses
The ECPM organizes two General Assemblies per year. An annual member congress is held as well where specific themes are discussed. The ECPM also organizes regional conferences and other events all over Europe.
Presidents
- Peeter Võsu, 2005–2013
- Peter Östman, 2013–2016
- Branislav Škripek, 2016–2021
- Valeriu Ghileţchi, 2021–present
See also
References
- ^ Costa, Olivier; Brack, Nathalie (29 April 2016). How the EU Really Works. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 9781317120735.
- ^ a b c Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ "PSD a pierdut un europarlamentar. Cristian Terheș a trecut la grupul extremiștilor din Parlamentul European". www.digi24.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- ^ "Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004–2012", November 2012, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/. Retrieved 25 January 2013
- ^ "Our members and associates". ECPM.
- ^ "List of registered European Political Parties and European Political Foundations". Europa (web portal). Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.