Democrat Youth Community of Europe

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Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC)
Formation1964 (1964)
Type
President
Javier Hurtado Mira
Secretary General
Margherita Saltini
Key people
Falah Hasan
Affiliations International Young Democrat Union

The Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC) is the international umbrella organisation of the youth wings of christian democratic, conservative and like-minded parties of Europe. With currently now more than one million affiliates in its member organisations, DEMYC is one of the strongest political youth organisations in Europe.

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DEMYC is the oldest centre-right youth political formation in Europe, founded in 1964, celebrating 51 years of existence. DEMYC currently comprises 45 national organisations from 33 countries from Europe and its neighbourhood.

It is DEMYC's aim to further contacts and strengthen co-operation between its member organisations from European countries and thereby to contribute to a united Europe.

In 1973 DEMYC was granted a consultative status at the Council of Europe and since then represented its member organisations in the activities of the European Youth Centres and the European Youth Foundation.

DEMYC is a full member of the European Youth Forum, a platform of one hundred youth organisations all over Europe, promoting the interest of young people to the institutions of the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations.

The senior parties of the DEMYC member organisations followed their youth organisation's example and formed in 1978 the European Democrat Union (E.D.U.), a European-wide working association of centre-right parties. DEMYC became a permanent observer of EDU in 1979 and has been actively involved in its political work since then.

Each year DEMYC organises a number of seminars in different parts of Europe. Topics discussed at these meetings in recent years have included: the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and their way into a common future Europe, the European Union and its development to a unified Europe, the North-South dialogue, environmental and employment policy, the future of the welfare state, implications of the introduction of new technologies and a lot more.

On a worldwide level DEMYC has promoted the creation of the International Young Democrat Union (IYDU), thus guaranteeing permanent links to centre and centre-right parties all around the globe. Excellent relations have thereby developed to the Republican Party of the United States as well as to like-minded organisations in Latin-America, Africa and Asia

Study visits have been made to the United States, Central America, Cyprus, Israel, Southern Africa, China, Hong Kong, Turkey and to all former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe before and after their democratisation.

The organisation was founded as the Conservative and Christian Democratic Youth Community of Europe (COCDYC) in May 1964 by the conservative and Christian democratic youth organisations from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The current name was adopted at the conference in Manchester in October 1975, to allow for a broader ideological spectrum.

List of Chairpersons

Name YearsCountry
John MacGregor 1964–1966Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Dietrich Rollmann 1966–1968 Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Ragnvald Dahl 1968–1970Flag of Norway.svg  Norway
Alan Haselhurst 1970–1972Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Volker Rühe 1972–1974Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Per Unckel 1974–1977Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Tony Kerpel 1977–1979Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Elmar Brok 1979–1981Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Gunnar Hökmark 1981–1983Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Robert Miller-Bakewell 1983–1985Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Alexander Demblin 1985–1987Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Neale Stevenson 1987–1991Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Klaus Welle 1991–1994Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Arthur Winkler-Hermaden 1994–1995Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Fredrik Reinfeldt 1995–1997Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Stavros Papastavrou 1997–2001Flag of Greece.svg  Greece
Meinhard Friedl 2001–2006Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Ines Elise Prainsack 2006–2008Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Páll Heimisson 2008–2010Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland
Jani Johansson 2010–2012Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Antonio de Lucia 2012–2015Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Javier Hurtado Mira 2015–Flag of Spain.svg  Spain

Executive Bureau 2018–20

The new DEMYC Executive Bureau was elected in May 2018 by the 26th DEMYC Congress.

NameCountryPosition
Javier Hurtado Mira Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Chairman
Margherita Saltini Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Secretary General
Lilit Beglaryan Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia Deputy Secretary Gerenal
Falah Hasan Flag of Kurdistan.svg  Kurdistan First Vice Chairman
Juela Hamati Flag of Albania.svg  Albania Vice Chairman
Athanasios Lazaros Moldovanidis Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Vice Chairman
Andrej Čuš MPFlag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia Vice Chairman
Marko Dejanovic Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia Vice Chairman

See also