President Joseph Daul MEP (FR) | Deputy leader Jyrki Katainen (FI) | |
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Leader Jean-Claude Juncker (LU) Founded 8 July 1976 (1976-07-08) Headquarters Rue du Commerce/Handelsstraat 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium Think tank Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies | ||
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties, not individuals. Founded by primarily Christian democratic parties in 1976, it has since broadened its membership to include liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives.
Contents
- History
- Political manifesto and platform
- Electoral manifesto
- Governance
- Presidency
- Political Assembly
- Congress
- Summit
- Ministerial meetings
- Other activities
- Activities within European institutions
- European Commission
- European Parliament
- European Council
- In third countries
- In the Council of Europe
- In the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe
- In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Relations with the United States
- Global networks
- Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies
- EPP associations
- Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Europe SME Europe
- European Democrat Students
- European Senior Union
- European Union of Christian Democratic Workers
- Women of the European Peoples Party
- Youth of the European Peoples Party
- Membership
- Full member parties
- Associate members
- Observer members
- Former members
- References
The EPP has been the largest party in the European Parliament since 1999 and in the European Council since 2002. It is also by far the largest party in the current European Commission. The President of the European Council, President of the European Commission and the President of the European Parliament are both from the EPP. Many of the Founding fathers of the European Union were also from parties that later formed the EPP. Outside the EU the party also controls a majority in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The EPP has alternated with its centre-left rival the Party of European Socialists (PES) as the largest European political party and parliamentary group.
The EPP includes major parties such as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), The Republicans of France, Forza Italia of Italy, and the People's Party (PP) of Spain, and it has member parties in all of the EU member states except the United Kingdom.
History
According to its website, the EPP is "the family of the political centre-right, whose roots run deep in the history and civilisation of the European continent, and [which] has pioneered the European project from its inception".
The EPP was founded in Luxembourg on 8 July 1976 on the initiative of Jean Seitlinger; Leo Tindemans, then Prime Minister of Belgium, who became the first President of the EPP; and Wilfried Martens, who later became both President of the EPP and Prime Minister of Belgium. It had been preceded by the Secretariat International des partis démocratiques d'inspiration chrétienne, founded in 1925, the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales, founded in 1946 (or 1948), and the European Union of Christian Democrats, founded in 1965.
In the late 1990s the Finnish politician Sauli Niinistö negotiated the merger of the European Democrat Union (EDU), of which he was President, into the EPP. In October 2002 the EDU ceased its activities after being formally absorbed by the EPP at a special event in Estoril, Portugal. In recognition of his efforts Niinistö was elected Honorary President of the EPP the same year.
The EPP has had five Presidents:
Political manifesto and platform
During its Congress in Bucharest in 2012 the EPP updated its political platform after 20 years (since its Congress in Athens in 1992) and approved a political manifesto in which it summarised its main values and policies.
The manifesto highlights:
The manifesto also describes the EPP's priorities for the EU, including:
Electoral manifesto
As a central part of its campaign for the European elections in 2009 the EPP approved its election manifesto at its Congress in Warsaw in April that year. The manifesto called for:
Governance
The EPP operates as an international non-profit association under Belgian law according to its by-laws, the Statutes of the European People's Party (Statuts du Parti Populaire Européen), originally adopted 29 April 1976.
Presidency
The Presidency is the executive body of the party. It decides on the general political guidelines of the EPP and presides over its Political Assembly. The Presidency is composed of the President, ten Vice-Presidents, the Honorary Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer. The Chairperson of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the Presidents of the Commission, the Parliament and the Council, and the High Representative (if they are a member of an EPP member party) are all ex officio Vice-Presidents.
As of 2015 the Presidency of the EPP comprised:
Political Assembly
The Political Assembly defines the political positions of the EPP between Congresses, and decides on membership applications, political guidelines and the budget. The Political Assembly is composed of designated delegates from EPP member parties, associated parties, member associations and other affiliated groups. The Political Assembly meets at least three times a year.
Congress
The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the EPP. It is composed of delegates from member parties, EPP associations, EPP Group MEPs, the EPP Presidency, national heads of party and government, and European Commissioners who belong to a member party, with the numbers of delegates being weighted according to the EPP's share of MEPs, and individual delegates being elected by member parties according to member parties' rules.
Under the EPP's statutes the Congress must meet once every three years, but it also meets normally during the years of elections for the European Parliament (every five years), and extraordinary Congresses have also been summoned. The Congress elects the EPP Presidency every three years, decides on the main policy documents and electoral programmes, and provides a platform for the EPP's heads of government and party leaders.
Summit
EPP leaders meet for the EPP Summit a few hours before each meeting of the European Council in order to formulate common positions. Invitations are sent by the EPP President and attendees include, besides the members of the EPP's Presidency, all Presidents and Prime Ministers who are members of the European Council and belong to the EPP; the Presidents of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council, as well as the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, provided that they belong to the EPP; Deputy Prime Ministers or other ministers in those cases where the Prime Minister of a country does not belong to an EPP member party; and, where no EPP member party is part of a government, the leaders of the main EPP opposition party.
Ministerial meetings
Following the pattern of the EPP Summit the party also organises regular EPP Ministerial meetings before each meeting of the Council of the European Union, with ministers, deputy ministers, secretaries of state and MEPs in the specific policy field attending:
Other activities
The EPP also organises working groups on different issues and on an ad hoc basis, as well as meetings with its affiliated members in the European Commission. It also invites individual Commissioners to the EPP Summit meetings and to EPP Ministerial meetings.
Following amendments to the EU Regulation that governs Europarties in 2007, the EPP, like the other "Europarties", is responsible for organising a pan-European campaign for the European elections every five years. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the parties must present candidates for President of the European Commission, but the EPP had already done this by endorsing Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term in April 2009.
The year 2014 saw the first fully fledged campaign of the EPP ahead of the European elections of that year. The party nominated former Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as its candidate for President of the European Commission and led a pan-European campaign in coordination with the national campaigns of all its member parties.
Activities within European institutions
The EPP holds the Presidencies of two of the three main EU institutions: the European Commission, led by President Jean-Claude Juncker (CSV), and the European Council, led by Donald Tusk (PO), who has been nominated by the EPP and took office the 1st of December 2014.
European Commission
In 2014 the EPP nominated Jean-Claude Juncker as its candidate for election as Commission President if it won the elections for the European Parliament that year. Because the EPP won Jean-Claude Juncker's nomination was endorsed by the European Council and he was elected by an absolute majority in the European Parliament.
On 1 November 2014 Jean-Claude Juncker Commission officially took office. Juncker's Commission includes 14 EPP Commissioners out of 28.
European Parliament
The EPP has the largest group in the European Parliament: the EPP Group. As of 2015 it has 216 Members of the European Parliament and its chairman is the German MEP Manfred Weber.
In every election for the European Parliament candidates elected on lists of member parties of the EPP are obliged to join the EPP Group in the European Parliament.
The EPP Group holds six of the fourteen vice-presidencies of the European Parliament.
European Council
The EPP has 8 out of the 28 heads of state or government attending the EPP summits in preparation for the European Council:
The EPP also has other heads of state or government who do not normally take part in the European Council or EPP summits since that responsibility belongs to the other leaders of their countries: Rosen Plevneliev (Bulgaria, GERB), János Áder (Hungary, Fidesz), Bronisław Komorowski (Poland, PO), Aníbal Cavaco Silva (Portugal, PSD), Sauli Niinistö (Finland, KOK).
In third countries
Through its associate and observer parties the EPP has four heads of state or government in non-EU countries, as well as one of the three members of the Bosnian Presidency, all of whom are invited to attend EPP summits and meetings:
The EPP also has other heads of state or government who do not normally attend the meetings, since the other leaders of their countries attend instead. They include Prime Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda (Bosnia-Herzegovina, HDZ BiH), President Gjorge Ivanov (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE) and President Bujar Nishani (Albania, PD).
In the Council of Europe
The Group of the EPP in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe defends freedom of expression and information, as well as freedom of movement of ideas and religious tolerance. It promotes the principle of subsidiarity and local autonomy, as well as the defence of national, social and other minorities. The EPP/CD Group is led by Pedro Agramunt, a member of the Spanish Popular Party.
The EPP/CD group also includes members from parties that are not related to the EPP itself, including members of the Patriotic Union (Liechtenstein), the Progressive Citizens' Party (Liechtenstein), the National and Democratic Union (Monaco) and the Serbian Progressive Party.
In the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The "EPP and like-minded Group" in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the most active political group in that body. The Group meets on a regular basis and promotes the EPP's positions. The members of the EPP Group also participate in the election-monitoring missions of the OSCE.
The Group is chaired by Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden), and its Vice-Presidents are Consiglio Di Nino (Canada), Vilija Aleknaitė Abramikiene (Lithuania), Laura Allegrini (Italy) and George Tsereteli (Georgia).
The Group also includes members of parties not related to the EPP, accounting for the "like-minded" part of its name. Among them are members of the Patriotic Union (Liechtenstein), the Union for the Principality (Monaco), the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party of the United States.
In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The EPP is also present and active in the Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and forms the “EPP and Associated Members” Group there. It is led by the German CDU politician Karl Lamers, who is also the current President of the Assembly. The Group also includes members of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party of the United States.
Relations with the United States
The EPP has close relations with the International Republican Institute (IRI), an organisation funded by the U.S. government specially to promote democracy and democratisation. The EPP and the IRI cooperate within the framework of the European Partnership Initiative.
The EPP's President, Wilfried Martens, endorsed Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, in the presidential election in 2008 McCain is also Chairman of the IRI. In 2011 Martens and McCain made joint press statements expressing their concern about the state of democracy in Ukraine.
Global networks
The EPP is a member of two global centre-right organisations, the International Democrat Union (IDU) and the Christian Democrat International (CDI).
Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies
Following the revision in 2007 of the EU Regulation that governs European political parties, allowing the creation of European foundations affiliated to Europarties, the EPP established in the same year its official foundation/think tank, the Centre for European Studies (CES). The CES includes as members all the major national think tanks and foundations affiliated to EPP member parties: the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (CDU), the Hanns Seidel Foundation (CSU), the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (PP), the Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy (ND), the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation (MOD), the Political Academy of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and others. During the European Parliament election campaign in 2009 the CES launched a web-based campaign module, tellbarroso.eu, to support Jose Manuel Barroso, the EPP's candidate for re-election as Commission President.
In 2014, the CES changed its name to Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in honour of Wilfried Martens, the late President of the EPP who was also President of the CES.
The current President of the WMCES is former Slovak Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda.
The Budapest-based Robert Schuman Institute and the Luxembourg-based Robert Schuman Foundation are also affiliated with the European People's Party.
EPP associations
The EPP is linked to several specific associations that focus on specific groups and organise seminars, forums, publications and other activities.
Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Europe (SME Europe)
SME Europe is the official business organisation of the EPP, and serves as a network for pro-business politicians and political organisations. Its main objective is to shape EU policy in a more SME-friendly way in close cooperation with the SME Circle of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the DG Enterprise and the pro-business organisations of the EPP's member parties. Its top priorities are to reform the legal framework for SMEs all over Europe, and to promote and support the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises. SME Europe was founded in May 2012 by three Members of the European Parliament, Paul Rübig, Nadezhda Neynsky and Bendt Bendtsen.
European Democrat Students
European Democrat Students (EDS) is now the official students’ organisation of the EPP, though it was founded in 1961, 15 years before the EPP itself. Led by Eva Majewski, EDS has 40 member organisations, representing nearly 1,600,000 students and young people in 31 countries, including Belarus and Georgia. Every year EDS hosts Summer and Winter "universities", and several seminars. It also regularly publishes a magazine, Bullseye, and organises topical campaigns.
European Senior Union
Founded in Madrid in 1995 and led by Ann Hermans of the CD&V, the European Senior Union (ESU) is the largest political senior citizens’ organisation in Europe. The ESCU is represented in 26 states with 45 organisations and about 500,000 members.
European Union of Christian Democratic Workers
The European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW) is the labour organisation of the EPP, with 24 member organisations in 18 different countries. As the officially recognised EPP association of workers, the EUCDW is led by Elmar Brok, MEP. It aims at the political unification of a democratic Europe, the development of the EPP on the basis of Christian social teaching, and the defence of workers' interests in European policy-making.
Women of the European People’s Party
The Women of the European People’s Party (EPP Women) is recognised by the EPP as the official association of women from all like-minded political parties of Europe. EPP Women has more than 40 member organisations from countries of the European Union and beyond. All of them are women‘s organisations of political parties that are members of the EPP. EPP Women is led by Doris Pack.
Youth of the European People’s Party
The Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP), led by Konstantinos Kyranakis, is the EPP‘s official youth organisation. It has 51 member organisations, bringing together between one and two million young people in 38 countries.
Membership
Within the EPP there are three kinds of member organisations: full members, associate members and observers.
Full members are parties from EU states. They have absolute rights to vote in all the EPP's organs and on all matters.
Associate members have the same voting rights as full members except for matters concerning the EU's structure or policies. These associate membres are parties from EU candidate countries and EFTA countries.
Observer parties can participate in all the activities of the EPP, and attend the Congresses and Political Assemblies, but they do not have any voting rights.
A special status of "supporting member" is granted by the Presidency to individuals and associations. Although they do not have voting rights, they can be invited by the President to attend meetings of certain organs of the party. Three EU Commissioners, Dacian Cioloș, Kristalina Georgieva and Andris Piebalgs, are members of the EPP even though they do not belong to any national member party.
Full member parties
Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Associate members
Macedonia
Norway
Serbia
Switzerland
Observer members
Armenia
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Finland
Georgia
Italy
Moldova
Norway
San Marino
Kosovo
Ukraine
Former members
France
Italy
Spain
Turkey
Ukraine