European Young Conservatives

European Young Conservatives
Chairman	Alexander Redpath
Deputy Chairman	Alexios Karamanolas
Vice-Chairman	Gabriel Kroon Jan Smitka Raz Granot Nathan Redmond Berenika Grabowska Frederik Jansen Khatia Lachashvili Lukhani Rogol Fabio Roscani
Secretary General	Michał Szpądrowski
Treasurer	Mo Metcalf Fisher
Founded	August 1993
Split from	Democrat Youth Community of Europe
Headquarters	Margaret Thatcher House, 85 Western Road, Romford, London, RM1 3LS United Kingdom
Ideology	Conservatism Euroscepticism
International affiliation	International Young Democrat Union
Website	www.eycorganisation.com

The European Young Conservatives (EYC) is a grouping of youth wings of conservative and centre-right political parties in Europe.

As of 2014, the group has a membership of 25 political youth organisations from 22 countries and territories, in addition to four associated members. The EYC is independent and not affiliated with any European political party, but maintains a non-exclusive relationship with the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.

The EYC is a full member of the International Young Democrat Union.

History

The EYC was founded in August 1993 by the youth wings of the British Conservative Party, Danish Conservative People's Party, and Icelandic Independence Party, under the leadership of Andrew Rosindell, then-chairman of the UK's Young Conservatives. ^[1]

It emerged from a split in the centre-right Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC), which separated into two factions: the larger part, following a broadly Christian democratic philosophy; and the smaller part, led by Rosindell, following a broadly conservative philosophy. Two crucial points of disagreement were the scope of economic liberalisation and the desirability of a federal Europe.

From 1993 to 1997, the group was led by Rosindell. ^[2] The group gave training to newly established democratic political parties in Russia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. ^[3] It was refounded much later by Oliver Cooper. ^[4]

The EYC generally holds three conference events per year, with the largest being the autumn Freedom Summit.

Freedom Summit

• Cambridge, United Kingdom – 2014
• Cambridge, United Kingdom – 2015
• Porto, Portugal – 2016
• Warsaw, Poland – 2017

Summer Camp

• Stockholm, Sweden – 2014
• Tbilisi, Georgia 2016
• Prague, Czech Republic – 2017
• Leptokarya, Greece – 2018
• Leptokarya, Greece – 2019

Annual Congress

• Warsaw, Poland – 2012
• Prague, Czech Republic – 2013
• Istanbul, Turkey – 2014
• Prague, Czech Republic – 2015
• Brussels, Belgium – 2016
• London, England – 2017
• Warsaw, Poland – 2018
• Amsterdam, Netherlands – 2019

Since 2016, an internal conflict between civic and ethnic nationalists has emerged within the EYC. The ethnic nationalists were opposed to the membership of Turkish and Israeli parties and claimed the EYC has "replaced anti-immigration politics with free market capitalism". ^[5] Resulting from the dispute, the Finns Party Youth announced its withdrawal on 18 May 2017, with its leader Samuli Voutila saying: "We cannot be members in the same organization as the new Turkish sultan’s youth wing, when it acts against European values." ^[6] On 12 June, the Estonian movement Blue Awakening sent a letter to the EYC demanding the expulsion of the Turkish AK Party Youth within seven days. The letter was later published on Richard B. Spencer's website Altright.com. ^{[5] [7]}

Membership

The EYC has twenty-five member organisations: ^[8]

Country	Organisation	Mother party	European party
Armenia	Prosperous Armenia Youth	Prosperous Armenia		ACRE
Belarus	BPF Youth	BPF Party		ACRE
Belgium	Jong N-VA	N-VA		EFA
Bulgaria	YBWC	–		None
Czech Republic	Young Conservatives	Civic Democratic Party		ACRE
Faroe Islands	Huxa	People's Party		ACRE
Georgia	Young Conservatives	Conservative Party of Georgia		ACRE
Germany	Young Reformer	Alliance for Progress and Renewal		ACRE
Iceland	Young Independents	Independence Party		ACRE
Italy	Conservatives and Reformists	Conservatives and Reformists		ACRE
Italy	National Youth	Brothers of Italy		ACRE
Italy	Youth for Freedom	–		None
Israel	Likud Youth	Likud		ACRE (regional partner)
Latvia	For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK Youth Club	For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK		None
Liechtenstein	Junge FBP	Progressive Citizens' Party		None
Lithuania	Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania Youth Organisation	Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania		ACRE
Luxembourg	adrenalin, déi jonk adr	Alternative Democratic Reform Party		ACRE
The Netherlands	Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie	Forum for Democracy		None
Norway	Progress Party's Youth	Progress Party		None
Poland	Law and Justice Youth Forum	Law and Justice		ACRE
Portugal	People's Youth	Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party		EPP
Romania	New Republic Youth	New Republic		ACRE
Sweden	Young Swedes SDU	Sweden Democrats		None
Switzerland	Young SVP	Swiss People's Party		None
United Kingdom	Young Conservatives	Conservative Party		ACRE
United Kingdom ( Scotland)	Conservative Future Scotland	Scottish Conservative Party		ACRE
United Kingdom	Young Unionists	Ulster Unionist Party		ACRE

Associate members

Country	Organisation	Mother party
Australia	Young Liberals	Liberal Party of Australia
Canada	Young Conservatives	Conservative Party of Canada
New Zealand	New Zealand Young Nationals	New Zealand National Party
United States	Young Republicans	Republican Party
North Macedonia	United Youth for Macedonia	United for Macedonia [9] [10]

Former members

Country	Organisation	Mother party
Estonia	Blue Awakening	Conservative People's Party of Estonia
Finland	Finns Party Youth	Finns Party
Turkey	AK Party Youth	Justice and Development Party

Footnotes

1. Mercer, Paul (1994). Directory of British Political Organisations. London: Longman. p. 133. ISBN   978-0-582-23729-2.
2. "Andrew Rosindell". Parliament. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
3. "After the Campaign Rush". BBC News . 7 June 2001.
4. "BBC Three – Free Speech, Series 2 – Oliver Cooper". BBC.
5. Lyons, Charles (12 June 2017). "Estonian Blue Awakening Gives European Young Conservatives 7 Days To Stop Their Cuckish Ways". AltRight.com . Retrieved 13 June 2017.
6. The Finns Party Youth leaves European Young Conservatives Archived 13 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine . 18 May 2017.
7. "EKRE's youth organization thrown out of European Young Conservatives". 19 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
8. "Members". European Young Conservatives. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
9. "ОММ стана придружен член на Европските млади конзервативци". 20 March 2021.
10. "Никола Дујовски".