European Christian Political Movement

European Christian Political Movement
European Christian Political Movement
Abbreviation	ECPM
President	Valeriu Ghilețchi (MD, RO)
Secretary-General	Maarten van de Fliert (NL)
Founded	November 2002; 22 years ago
Headquarters	Bergstraat 33, 3811 NG Amersfoort, Netherlands
Think tank	Sallux
Youth wing	ECPYouth
Ideology	Christian right; Christian democracy; Social conservatism;
Political position	Right-wing
European Parliament group	European Conservatives and Reformists Group (SGP, PNCR); European People's Party Group (Family Party); Patriots for Europe (LPV)
Colours	Green; Blue
European Parliament	5 / 720
European Council	0 / 27
European Commission	0 / 27
Website
	ecpm.info
	Politics of European Union; Political parties; Elections;

The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is a European political party exclusively working on promoting what it perceives as Christian values.^[3] The party unites national parties and individuals from across Europe who share policies influenced by Christianity, largely following the ideals of Christian democracy. The member parties are generally socially conservative and Eurosceptic.

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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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

This table contains a list of full member parties of the ECPM.^[6]

Party	Abbr.	Country	MEPs^[a]	National MPs
Christian Party	CPÖ	Austria	–	–
VIA, the Way of the People	VIA	France	–	–
Alliance C – Christians for Germany	AUF & PBC	Germany	–	–
Family Party of Germany	FAMILIE	Germany	1 / 96	–
Jobbik – Conservatives	Jobbik	Hungary	–	8 / 199
Human Dignity Alliance	HDA	Ireland	–	0 / 160 (Dáil Éireann)
Human Dignity Alliance	HDA	Ireland	–	1 / 60 (Senate)
Identity and Action	IDeA	Italy	–	–
Sovereign Power	SV	Latvia	–	–
Latvia First	LPV	Latvia	1 / 9	8 / 100
Lithuanian Christian Democracy Party	LKDP	Lithuania	–	–
Christian Union	KS	Lithuania	–	–
ABBA	ABBA	Malta	–	–
Christian-Democratic People's Party	PPCD	Moldova	Not in EU	–
Christian Union	CU	Netherlands	–	3 / 150
Reformed Political Party	SGP	Netherlands	1 / 31	3 / 150
Integra-Macedonian Conservative Party		North Macedonia	Not in EU	–
Real Politics Union	UPR	Poland	–	–
Right Wing of the Republic	PR	Poland	–	–
People's Monarchist Party	PPM	Portugal	–	–
Democratic Union of Slovaks and Czechs of Romania	UDSCR	Romania	–	1 / 329
Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party	PNȚ-CD		–	–
Romanian National Conservative Party	PNCR		1 / 33	–
Christian Union	KÚ	Slovakia	–	2 / 150
Contigo Mas	Mas	Spain	–	–
Values	Valores	Spain	–	–
Evangelical People's Party	EVP – PEV	Switzerland	Not in EU	2 / 200
Christian Democratic Union	ХДС	Ukraine	Not in EU	–

Associate members

Europe

Armenia

Christian Democratic Union of Armenia

Belgium

Bulgaria

Crown Bulgaria
Rule of Law Bulgaria

France

Amical Service

Germany

Institute for Ethics and Values

Italy

Associazione "Cercasi un fine"
Unione per la Democrazia e la Libertà

Ireland

Rónán Mullen^[7]

Republic of Moldova

Academia pentru Integritate în Conducere (Academy for Integrity in Leadership (AIC))

Netherlands

Research Institute ChristianUnion
Stichting Crown Financial Ministries
Stichting vormingsactiviteiten Oost-Europa
The Schuman Centre for European Studies

Romania

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)

Serbia

Center for Christian-Democratic Studies

United Kingdom

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

Representation in European institutions

Organisation	Institution	Number of seats
European Union	European Parliament	5 / 720
	European Commission	0 / 27
	European Council (Heads of Government)	0 / 27
	Council of the European Union (Participation in Government)
	Committee of the Regions
Council of Europe	Parliamentary Assembly

Notes

^ 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

^ ^a ^b ^c Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
^ Costa, Olivier; Brack, Nathalie (29 April 2016). How the EU Really Works. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 9781317120735.
^ "European Christian Political Movement - What ECPM is all about". ECPM.
^ "PSD a pierdut un europarlamentar. Cristian Terheș a trecut la grupul extremiștilor din Parlamentul European". digi24.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
^ "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
^ "Our members and associates". ECPM.
^ "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.

External links

Official website

[7] 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.

[Nordsieck-1] Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.

[2] Costa, Olivier; Brack, Nathalie (29 April 2016). How the EU Really Works. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 9781317120735.

[3] "European Christian Political Movement - What ECPM is all about". ECPM.

[4] "PSD a pierdut un europarlamentar. Cristian Terheș a trecut la grupul extremiștilor din Parlamentul European". digi24.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 12 May 2020.

[5] "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

[6] "Our members and associates". ECPM.

[8] "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.

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