The Christian Social People's Party (, , ; CSV or PCS) is the largest
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
. The party follows a
Christian democratic
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
and
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
ideology and has been described as
centre to
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
.
Furthermore, akin to most parties in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
, it is strongly
pro-European
Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...
.
The CSV is a member of the
Christian Group,
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
, and the
Centrist Democrat International
The Centrist Democrat International (CDI; , IDC) is a political international inspired by the values of Christian democracy. Until 2001, it was known as the Christian Democrat International (CDI); before 1999, it was known as the Christian Demo ...
.
The CSV has been the largest party in the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
since the party's formation, and currently holds 21 of 60 seats in the Chamber. Since the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, every
Prime Minister of Luxembourg
The prime minister of Luxembourg (; ; ) is the head of government of Luxembourg. The prime minister leads the executive branch, chairs the Cabinet and appoints its ministers.
Since 1989, the title of ''Prime Minister'' has been an official one, ...
has been a member of the CSV, with only two exceptions:
Gaston Thorn
Gaston Egmond Thorn (3 September 192826 August 2007) was a Luxembourgish politician who served in a number of high-profile positions, both domestically and internationally. He most prominently served as prime minister of Luxembourg (1974–19 ...
(1974–1979), and
Xavier Bettel
Xavier Bettel (; born 3 March 1973) is a Luxembourgish lawyer and politician who serves as the List of deputy prime ministers of Luxembourg, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg and as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Luxembourg), minister for Fo ...
(2013–2023). It holds two of
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
's six seats in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...
, as it has for 14 of the 44 years for which
MEPs
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 European Coal and Steel Comm ...
have been directly elected.
The party's
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
has been Prime Minister
Luc Frieden
Luc Frieden (; born 16 September 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer serving as List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg since November 2023. A member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), he held nu ...
since March 2024. A leading figure from the party is the former
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
,
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
, who previously governed
in coalition with the
Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (, , ), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a social democratic, pro-European political party in Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Eu ...
(LSAP) until the
2013 general election.
History

The earliest roots of the CSV date back to the foundation of the
Party of the Right on 16 January 1914.
In December 1944, the Party of the Right was officially transformed into the Luxembourg Christian Social People's Party. "Luxembourg" was dropped from the name by late March 1945. The first elections after the Second World War took place in 1945; the party won 25 out of 51 seats, missing an absolute majority by a single seat.
From 1945 to 1974, the party was in government and gave Luxembourg the following Prime Ministers:
Pierre Dupong,
Joseph Bech
Joseph Bech (17 February 1887 – 8 March 1975)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848." Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer. He was the prime minist ...
,
Pierre Frieden, and
Pierre Werner
Pierre Werner (29 December 1913 – 24 June 2002) was a Luxembourgish politician of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) who was the prime minister of Luxembourg from 1959 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1984.
Training and early activities
Pi ...
. Mostly in coalition with the
Democratic Party (DP), it gave Luxembourg a certain economic and social stability.
In the 1950s, the party structure underwent a certain democratisation: the party's youth section (founded in 1953) and women's section received representation in the party's central organs.
The party went into opposition for the first time in 1974, when the Democratic Party's
Gaston Thorn
Gaston Egmond Thorn (3 September 192826 August 2007) was a Luxembourgish politician who served in a number of high-profile positions, both domestically and internationally. He most prominently served as prime minister of Luxembourg (1974–19 ...
became Prime Minister in coalition with the
Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (, , ), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a social democratic, pro-European political party in Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Eu ...
(LSAP). In 1979, the party returned to government after its victory in the
1979 general election;
Pierre Werner
Pierre Werner (29 December 1913 – 24 June 2002) was a Luxembourgish politician of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) who was the prime minister of Luxembourg from 1959 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1984.
Training and early activities
Pi ...
became PM.
In 1984,
Jacques Santer became PM. He remained as such until 1995, when
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
became PM, with Santer meanwhile taking up the post of President of the European Commission.
Following the
2013 general election, the party went into opposition for the second time in its history as the Democratic Party's
Xavier Bettel
Xavier Bettel (; born 3 March 1973) is a Luxembourgish lawyer and politician who serves as the List of deputy prime ministers of Luxembourg, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg and as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Luxembourg), minister for Fo ...
became Prime Minister in coalition with the LSAP and
The Greens, making it the first time in Luxembourg's history that a three-party coalition government had been formed. This also marked the first time that The Greens were part of a governmental coalition. Despite remaining the largest party, the result of the
2018 general election represented the lowest public support in the party's history.
As of 2023, CSV is against making
luxembourgish
Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide.
The language is standardized and officiall ...
an
official language in the european insititutions, citing that
french and
german already being official languages is enough for the needs of Luxembourg.
Election results
Chamber of Deputies
ImageSize = width:700 height:150
PlotArea = width:600 height:125 left:25 bottom:20
AlignBars = justify
Colors =
id:CSV value:rgb(0.999,0.5,0)
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bar:Seats color:CSV width:23 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S
bar:1945 color:CSV from:start till:25 text:25 align:center
bar:1948 color:CSV from:start till:22 text:22 align:center
bar:1951 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center
bar:1954 color:CSV from:start till:26 text:26 align:center
bar:1959 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center
bar:1964 color:CSV from:start till:22 text:22 align:center
bar:1968 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center
bar:1974 color:CSV from:start till:18 text:18 align:center
bar:1979 color:CSV from:start till:24 text:24 align:center
bar:1984 color:CSV from:start till:25 text:25 align:center
bar:1989 color:CSV from:start till:22 text:22 align:center
bar:1994 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center
bar:1999 color:CSV from:start till:19 text:19 align:center
bar:2004 color:CSV from:start till:24 text:24 align:center
bar:2009 color:CSV from:start till:26 text:26 align:center
bar:2013 color:CSV from:start till:23 text:23 align:center
bar:2018 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center
bar:2023 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center
ImageSize = width:700 height:150
PlotArea = width:600 height:125 left:25 bottom:20
AlignBars = justify
Colors =
id:CSV value:rgb(0.999,0.5,0)
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:0 till:500
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0
PlotData=
bar:Vote% color:CSV width:23 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S
bar:1945 color:CSV from:start till:447 text:44.7 align:center
bar:1948 color:CSV from:start till:363 text:36.3 align:center
bar:1951 color:CSV from:start till:421 text:42.1 align:center
bar:1954 color:CSV from:start till:424 text:42.4 align:center
bar:1959 color:CSV from:start till:369 text:36.9 align:center
bar:1964 color:CSV from:start till:333 text:33.3 align:center
bar:1968 color:CSV from:start till:352 text:35.2 align:center
bar:1974 color:CSV from:start till:276 text:27.6 align:center
bar:1979 color:CSV from:start till:345 text:34.5 align:center
bar:1984 color:CSV from:start till:349 text:34.9 align:center
bar:1989 color:CSV from:start till:324 text:32.4 align:center
bar:1994 color:CSV from:start till:303 text:30.3 align:center
bar:1999 color:CSV from:start till:301 text:30.1 align:center
bar:2004 color:CSV from:start till:361 text:36.1 align:center
bar:2009 color:CSV from:start till:380 text:38.0 align:center
bar:2013 color:CSV from:start till:336 text:33.6 align:center
bar:2018 color:CSV from:start till:283 text:28.3 align:center
bar:2023 color:CSV from:start till:292 text:29.2 align:center
European Parliament
Party office-holders
Presidents
*
Émile Reuter
Émile Reuter (2 August 1874 – 14 February 1973)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848."Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician. He served as prime minister of Lux ...
(1945–1964)
*
Tony Biever (1964–1965)
*
Jean Dupong (1965–1972)
*
Nicolas Mosar (1972–1974)
*
Jacques Santer (1974–1982)
*
Jean Spautz (1982–1990)
*
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
(1990–1995)
*
Erna Hennicot-Schoepges (1995–2003)
*
François Biltgen (2003–2009)
*
Michel Wolter (2009–2014)
*
Marc Spautz (2014–2019)
*
Frank Engel (2019–2021)
*
Claude Wiseler (2021–2023)
*
Elisabeth Margue (2022–2024)
*
Luc Frieden
Luc Frieden (; born 16 September 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer serving as List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg since November 2023. A member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), he held nu ...
(2024–present)
General Secretaries
* Nicolas Hommel (1944–1946)
* Lambert Schaus (1945–1952)
*
Pierre Grégoire (1952–1960)
* Nicolas Mosar (1960–1972)
*
Jacques Santer (1972–1974)
* Jean Weber (1974–1977)
*
Jean-Pierre Kraemer (1977–1984)
*
Willy Bourg (1984–1990)
*
Camille Dimmer (1990–1995)
*
Claude Wiseler (1995–2000)
*
Jean-Louis Schiltz (2000–2006)
*
Marco Schank (2006–2009)
*
Marc Spautz (2009–2012)
*
Laurent Zeimet (2012–2019)
*
Félix Eischen (2019–2021)
*
Christophe Hansen (2021–2023)
*
Stéphanie Weydert (2022–2024)
Presidents of Christian Social People's Party in the Chamber of Deputies
*
Tony Biever (1959–1974)
*
Pierre Werner
Pierre Werner (29 December 1913 – 24 June 2002) was a Luxembourgish politician of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) who was the prime minister of Luxembourg from 1959 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1984.
Training and early activities
Pi ...
(1974–1979)
*
Nicolas Mosar (1979–1984)
*
François Colling (1984–1995)
*
Lucien Weiler (1996–2004)
*
Michel Wolter (2004–2009)
*
Jean-Louis Schiltz (2009–2011)
*
Lucien Thiel (2011)+
*
Marc Spautz (2011–2013)
*
Gilles Roth (2013)
*
Claude Wiseler (2014–2018)
*
Martine Hansen (2018–2023)
*
Marc Spautz (2023–present)
+ Died in office
See also
*
List of political parties in Luxembourg
This article lists political parties in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg has a multi-party system with three strong political party, political parties; two other moderately successful parties have emerged recently. No single party has a chance of gaining ...
References
Further reading
*
* Schaus, Émile (1974). ''Ursprung und Leistung einer Partei: Rechtspartei und Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei 1914-1974''. Luxembourg : Sankt-Paulus-Druckerei.
* Trausch, Gilbert, ed. (2008). ''CSV Spiegelbild eines Landes und seiner Politik? Geschichte der Christlich-Sozialen Volkspartei Luxemburgs im 20. Jahrhundert''. Luxembourg: Éditions Saint-Paul.
External links
*
{{Authority control
1944 establishments in Luxembourg
Political parties established in 1944
Catholic political parties
Centre-right parties in Europe
Christian democratic parties in Europe
Member parties of the European People's Party
Political parties in Luxembourg
Conservative parties in Luxembourg