European Christian Political Movement
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The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is the only European political party explicitly working on promoting
Christian values Christian values historically refers to values derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The term has various applications and meanings, and specific definitions can vary widely between denominations, geographical locations and different schools ...
. The party unites national parties and individuals from across Europe who share policies influenced by Christianity, largely following the ideals of
Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
. The member parties are generally more
socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
and Eurosceptic. The party was founded in November 2002 in
Lakitelek Lakitelek is a large village in Bács-Kiskun county, in the Southern Great Plain region of southern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, wheth ...
, 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 i
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 A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
:
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), b ...
of Christian Union ( NL),
Bas Belder Bastiaan "Bas" Belder (born 25 October 1946) is a Dutch politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands. He is a member of the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, part of the European Conservatives and Reformists. ...
of the Dutch Reformed Party (SGP) ( NL)
Branislav Škripek
of ( SK), Arne Gericke of Bündnis C ( DE),
Marek Jurek Marek Jurek (; 28 June 1960 in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland) is a right-wing politician and a Member of the European Parliament. Since 20 April 2007 he has been the leader of the aspirant party Right of the Republic. Politically, he is most kno ...
of
Right Wing of the Republic The Right Wing of the Republic ( pl, Prawica Rzeczypospolitej) is a political party in Poland founded by former ''Marshal of the Sejm'' Marek Jurek on 20 April 2007 after he had left Law and Justice on 16 April 2007, when the Sejm failed to pass ...
( 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 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), b ...
of the Christian Union, Bert-Jan Ruissen of the SGP, and Helmut Geuking of the
Family Party of Germany The Family Party of Germany (german: Familienpartei Deutschlands) is a minor conservative political party in Germany. It has elected members to several local councils in the state of Saarland. In the 2005 federal elections, the Family Party rece ...
. Peter Van Dalen and Helmut Geuking sit with 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 Bert-Jan Ruissen sits with the ECR. A fourth MEP,
Cristian Terheș Cristian-Vasile Terheș (born December 4, 1978) is a Romanian politician currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament for Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD) after being elected on the Social Democratic Party (PS ...
, member of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party in Romania,
joined
the party in May 2020.


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 Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
" at
Lakitelek Lakitelek is a large village in Bács-Kiskun county, in the Southern Great Plain region of southern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, wheth ...
, 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 Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
, 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 The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
. 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 ME
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


Associate members

* European Christian Political Youth * European Evangelical Alliance *
Christian Democratic Union of Armenia The Christian Democratic Union of Armenia (CDU) ( hy, Հայաստանի Քրիստոնեա-դեմոկրատական միություն, translit=Hayastani K’ristonea-demokratakan ​​miut’yun (HKDM)) is a political party in Armenia. Hist ...
* Care for Europe * * European Evangelical Alliance * Crown Bulgaria * Rule of Law Bulgaria * Amical Service * Institute for Ethics and Values * Associazione "Cercasi un fine" * Unione per la Democrazia e la Libertà *
Rónán Mullen Rónán Thomas Mullen (born 13 October 1970) is an Irish senator and former delegate to the Council of Europe. He is the leader of the Human Dignity Alliance, an anti-abortion political party formed in 2018. He was elected by the National Un ...
*
Human Dignity Alliance The Human Dignity Alliance ( ga, Comhaontas Dhínit an Duine) is a minor right-wing political party in Ireland. The party was officially founded on 29 June 2018 by Senator Rónán Mullen. Background Mullen, the party's founder, has served as ...
* Academia pentru Integritate în Conducere
Academy for Integrity in Leadership (AIC)
* Research Institute ChristianUnion * Stichting Crown Financial Ministries * Stichting vormingsactiviteiten Oost-Europa *
The Schuman Centre for European Studies ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
* 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) *
Center for Christian-Democratic Studies The Center for Christian-Democratic Studies, (Serbian: ''Центар за хришћанско-демократске студије / Centar za hrišćansko-demokratske studije'') formerly known as the Serbian Christian Democratic Movement is a ...
* Jubilee Centre


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

*
Christian politics The relationship between Christianity and politics is a historically complex subject and a frequent source of disagreement throughout the history of Christianity, as well as in modern politics between the Christian right and Christian left. There ...
*
Political catholicism The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. Historically, the Church opposed liberal ideas such as democracy, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state und ...


References


External links


ECPMECPYouthSalluxECR Group
{{EU politics Political parties established in 2002 Christian political organizations Christian democratic parties in Europe Organisations based in Utrecht (province) Amersfoort