European Christian Political Movement

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European Christian Political Movement
AbbreviationECPM
President Valeriu Ghilețchi (MD, RO)
Secretary-GeneralMaarten van de Fliert (NL)
FoundedNovember 2002;22 years ago (2002-11)
HeadquartersBergstraat 33, 3811 NG Amersfoort, Netherlands
Think tank Sallux
Youth wing ECPYouth
Membership (26 January 2025)10 [1]
Ideology
Political position Right-wing
European Parliament group European Conservatives and Reformists Group [2] (SGP, PNCR)
European People's Party Group (Family Party)
Patriots for Europe (LPV)
Non-attached (Individual member Ondřej Dostál)
Colours  Green
  Blue
European Parliament
5 / 720
[4] [5]
European Council
0 / 27
[6]
European Commission
0 / 27
[7]
European
Lower Houses
27 / 6,312
European
Upper Houses
6 / 1,498
Website
ecpm.info OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is a European political party exclusively working on promoting Christian values. [8] The party unites national parties and individuals from across Europe who share policies influenced by Christianity, largely following the ideals of Christian democracy and the Christian right. The member parties are generally socially conservative and Eurosceptic.

Contents

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 (MEPs): 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 2019 European Parliament election, the party got three 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. [9]

History

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. [10] 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.

Membership

Full members

Countries with full and associate ECPM members:
States with full (and possibly associate) member parties
States with associate member parties ECPM members 2020.png
Countries with full and associate ECPM members:
  States with full (and possibly associate) member parties
  States with associate member parties

This table contains a list of full member parties of the ECPM. [11]

PartyAbbr.CountryMEPs [a] National MPs
VIA, the Way of the People VIAFlag of France.svg France
Alliance C – Christians for Germany AUF & PBCFlag of Germany.svg Germany
Family Party of Germany FAMILIE
1 / 96
Jobbik – Conservatives JobbikFlag of Hungary.svg Hungary
8 / 199
Human Dignity Alliance HDAFlag of Ireland.svg Ireland
0 / 160
(Dáil Éireann)
1 / 60
(Senate)
Sovereign Power SVFlag of Latvia.svg Latvia
Latvia First LPV
1 / 9
8 / 100
Lithuanian Christian Democracy Party LKDPFlag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania
Christian Union KS
Christian Union CUFlag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands
3 / 150
(House)
3 / 75
(Senate)
Reformed Political Party SGP
1 / 31
3 / 150
(House)
2 / 75
(Senate)
Right Wing of the Republic PRFlag of Poland.svg Poland
People's Monarchist Party PPMFlag of Portugal.svg Portugal
Democratic Union of Slovaks and Czechs of Romania UDSCRFlag of Romania.svg Romania
1 / 329
Romanian National Conservative Party PNCR
1 / 33
Christian Union Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia
2 / 150
Contigo Mas MasFlag of Spain.svg Spain
ValuesValores
Evangelical People's Party EVP – PEVFlag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  SwitzerlandNot in EU
2 / 200
Christian Values Party SwedenKRVPFlag of Sweden.svg Sweden

Associate members

Flag of Europe.svg  Europe

Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia

Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium

Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria

Flag of France.svg France

Flag of Germany.svg Germany

Flag of Italy.svg Italy

Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland


Flag of Moldova.svg Republic of Moldova

Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands

Flag of Romania.svg Romania

Flag of Serbia.svg Serbia

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg 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

Representation in European institutions

OrganisationInstitutionNumber of seats
Flag of Europe.svg  European Union European Parliament
5 / 720
[4] [5]
European Commission
0 / 27
[7]
European Council
(Heads of Government)
0 / 27
[6]
Council of the European Union
(Participation in Government)
Committee of the Regions
0 / 329
[13]
Flag of the Council of Europe.svg  Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly

See also

Notes

  1. The number of MEPs listed below may not match the total number of MEPs of the European party, as it does not include MEPs who join as individual members.

References

  1. "List of members as per Article 32(2) of Regulation 1141/2014 (English)" . Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  3. Costa, Olivier; Brack, Nathalie (29 April 2016). How the EU Really Works. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN   9781317120735.
  4. 1 2 "The European Christian Political Movement expands its representation in the EuropeanParliament" . Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  5. 1 2 "European Christian Political Movement". Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Members of the European Council" . Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  7. 1 2 "College of Commissioners" . Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  8. "European Christian Political Movement - What ECPM is all about". ECPM.
  9. "PSD a pierdut un europarlamentar. Cristian Terheș a trecut la grupul extremiștilor din Parlamentul European". digi24.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  10. "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
  11. "Our members and associates". ECPM.
  12. "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.
  13. "European Committee of the Regions Members Page" . Retrieved 6 February 2025.