Christian Union – Reformed Political Party ( nl, ChristenUnie – Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij) is a parliamentary common list for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

formed by two

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

orthodox

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

parties: the Christian Union and the

Reformed Political Party The Reformed Political Party ( nl, Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP) is a conservative CalvinistThese sources describe the SGP as a Calvinist political party: * * * * * political party in the Netherlands. The term ''Reformed'' is not a refere ...

. Both parties are

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

and morally conservative, and each has candidates on the common list. The CU and SGP also regularly co-operate in municipal elections, often gaining above-average results in municipalities which form part of the Dutch Bible Belt.

History

The

Reformed Political Alliance The Reformed Political LeagueTranslation used by Andeweg and Irwin in ''Governance and Politics of the Netherlands'' (2002: 45) ( nl, Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond, GPV) was an orthodox Protestant political party in the Netherlands. The GPV is ...

(GPV) and the

(SGP) first tried to enter the European Parliament on their own in the

1979 European Parliament election The 1979 European Parliament election was a series of parliamentary elections held across all 9 (at the time) European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the Europe ...

. In 1984 they formed a common list together with the

(RPF). The RPF-GPV-SGP parliamentary common list got its first seat in the 1984 European Parliament election. In 2001 RPF and the GPV merged into the Christian Union. After this merger the common list was renamed to Christian Union-SGP. The 2004 European election was the first time it took part under this name.

European grouping

* 1984 and 1989: The parties were not part of any group and thus part of

Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits (; abbreviated NI; also non-attached members, abbreviated NA) are Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who do not belong to one of the recognised political groups. These MEPs may be members of a national party, or of a Euro ...

* 1994: All parties were part of the first eurosceptic group in the European Parliament. Europe of Nations (EN), which dissolved in 1996 and succeeded by the Independents for a Europe of Nations (I-EN) * 1999: The Independents for a Europe of Nations (I-EN) reorganised and renamed to Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group. * 2004: The RPF and GPV merged into the Christian Union. The Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group reorganised itself into a new group, the

Independence/Democracy Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) was a Eurosceptic political group active during the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament. The group was the successor to the Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group. The group collapsed foll ...

(IND/DEM) group. Both the Christian Union and the Reformed Political Party were part of the

(IND/DEM) group. * 2009: In June 2009, the

(IND/DEM) group broke up, because many member parties joined the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European ...

(ECR) group, including the Christian Union. The ECR leadership did not want the SGP to join the new European parliamentary group, because of its conservative views on women.ChristenUnie en SGP uit elkaar
op eurofractie.nl The

(IND/DEM) group reorganised and renamed itself to the

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and ...

(EFD). The SGP joined this new group. * 2014: The ECR accepted the SGP after all, as the SGP had softened its position on female suffrage. Since the 2014 European elections, the Christian Union and SGP are thus again part of the same group. * 2019: The CU left the ECR arguing that the ECR was moving too far to the right by including MEPs far-right parties such as the Dutch

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( nl, Forum voor Democratie, FvD) is a right-wing populist Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections ...

and the Sweden Democrats. The party instead joined the

European People's Party Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...

while SGP stayed in ECR.

European Parliament

Common list

Results for Christian Union-SGP common list. Participated as SGP/RPF/GPV, before 2004

SGP

(SGP)

GPV

(GPV)

Current members of the European Parliament

2 Seats: #

Peter van Dalen Peter van Dalen (born 3 September 1958) is a Dutch politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2009. He is a member of the Christian Union, which used to be part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), bu ...

( CU) ( top candidate) # Bert-Jan Ruissen ( SGP)

References

External links

ChristenUnie–SGP web site
Eurosceptic parties in the Netherlands Political party alliances in the Netherlands Protestant political parties Confessional parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 1984 1984 establishments in the Netherlands {{Netherlands-party-stub