European People's Party–European Democrats

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European People's Party– European Democrats European Parliament group
EPP-ED logo
Name	European People's Party–European Democrats
English abbr.	EPP-ED[1] (20 July 1999[2] to present) EPP[1] (17 July 1979[3] to 20 July 1999[2]) CD[2] (23 June 1953[3] to 17 July 1979[3])
French abbr.	PPE-DE[4] (20 July 1999[2] to present) PPE[3] (17 July 1979[3] to 20 July 1999[2]) DC[3] (23 June 1953[3] to 17 July 1979[3])
Formal name	Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats[4][5] (20 July 1999[2] to present) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)[6][3][7] (17 July 1979[3] to 20 July 1999[2]) Christian Democratic Group (Group of the European People's Party)[3][7] (14 March 1978[3] to 17 July 1979[3]) Christian Democratic Group[2][7] (23 June 1953[3] to 14 March 1978[3])
Ideology	Christian democracy Conservatism Liberal conservatism
European parties	European People's Party
Associated organizations	European Democrats
From	11 September 1952 (unofficially)[8] 23 June 1953 (officially)[8]
To	present
Chaired by	Joseph Daul MEP (16 January 2007[9] to present)
MEP(s)	288 (3 May 2008)
Website	http://www.epp-ed.eu/

This article is about the current European Parliament Group and its predecessors dating back to 1952. For the europarty established in 1976, see the European People's Party.

The European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats (EPP-ED) is the current centre-right political group of the European Parliament, comprising the European People's Party and the non-party subgroup European Democrats.

EPP-ED is one of the three oldest Groups, dating its origin back to September 1952 and the first meeting of the Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly. Founded as an explicitly Christian Democrat Group, it declined at first but reversed its fortunes in the 80's/90's when it started to pick up members from other centre-right but non-Christian Democrat parties.

As a result, it has become the largest Group in the Parliament but does not have a majority. To guarantee the majorities required by the cooperation procedure, it is a member of the Grand Coalition with the Socialist Group (or the Liberals in the Fifth Parliament), and it is the Grand Coalition that holds a majority and the power in the Parliament. The Grand Coalition has held, although there have been occurences of a government-opposition dynamic, such as when the Group split with the Socialists to oppose the Santer Commission during the budget crisis.

EPP-ED's success has not been unalloyed: the tensions between the Europhile members (mostly Christian Democrat and mostly members of the European People's Party) and the Eurosceptic (mostly Conservative) members has led to the latter congregating within a subgroup called the European Democrats. This subgroup has a very different voting record to the wider Group. The members of the subgroup have threatened to leave EPP-ED after the 2009 elections, although they are not unanimous.

Contents 1 History 2 Structure 2.1 Subgroups 2.2 Organisation 3 Membership 3.1 Current membership by country 3.2 Current membership by party 3.3 Membership at formation 4 Activities 4.1 In the news 4.2 Parliamentary activity profile 4.3 Publications 5 Academic analysis 6 See also 7 Sources 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

The Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (the predecessor of the present day European Parliament) first met on 10 September 1952^[10] and the first Christian Democratic Group was unofficially formed the next day, with Maan Sassen as President^[11][8]. The Group held 38 of the 78 seats, two short of an absolute majority.^[8][12] On 16 June 1953 the Common Assembly passed a resolution^[13] enabling the official formation of political groups, and on 23 June 1953 the constituent declaration^[14] of the Group was published and the Group was officially formed.^[8][12]

The Christian Democrat Group was the biggest Group at formation, but as time wore on it lost support and was the second-biggest Group by the time of the 1979 elections. As the Community expanded into the Union, the centre-right in the new member states were not necessarily Christian Democrat and the EPP (European People's Party, the transnational political party founded in 1976 which many Group members were now affiliated to) feared being sidelined.^[15] To counter this, the EPP expanded its remit to cover the centre-right regardless of tradition and pursued a policy of integrating Conservative parties.^[15]

This policy bore fruit, with the Greek New Democracy and Spanish Partido Popular MEPs joining the Group.^[15] The British and Danish Conservatives tried to maintain a Group of their own called the European Democrats (ED), but lack of support and the problems inherent in maintaining a small Group forced ED's collapse in the 1990's, and its members crossed the floor to join the EPP Group^[15] (although not the party). This consolidation of the European centre-right continued throughout the 90's with the acquisition of members from the Italian Forza Italia and the Group reclaimed its position as the largest Group in the Parliament after the 1999 elections.

Size was not enough, however: the Group did not have a majority. It continued therefore to engage in the Grand Coalition (a coalition with the Socialist Group, or occasionally the Liberals) to generate the majorities required by the cooperation procedure under the Single European Act. This coalition has held, although occasionally the Group does adopt a government-opposition dynamic with the others, notably during the budget crisis when it opposed the Socialists and brought about the resignation of the Santer Commission.

[edit] Structure

[edit] Subgroups

EPP-ED is a coalition of MEPs from the European centre-right, but the European centre-right is split between the different Christian Democrat and Conservative traditions,^[15] with Euroscepticism providing the faultline. The Eurosceptic MEPs congregate within a subgroup within EPP-ED called the European Democrats (ED), the rest are members of the europarty called the European People's Party (EPP), with the latter functioning as a de-facto subgroup.

In 2006, the new leader of the British Conservatives, David Cameron, stated his intention to take his party out of ED and EPP-ED and form their own, more Eurosceptic, Group. At the time that would require 20 MEPs from six countries but his main ally, the Czech Civic Democratic Party indicated it would not leave until after the 2009 elections.^[16]

[edit] Organisation

EPP-ED is governed by a group of people, (referred to as the Presidency), who allocate tasks. The Presidency consists of the Group Chair and a maximum of ten Vice-Chairs, including the Treasurer. One Vice-Chair is reserved for the leader of the ED subgroup.^[17] The day-to-day running of the Group is performed by its secretariat, led by its Secretary-General. The Group runs its own think-tank, the European Ideas Network, which brings together opinion-formers from across Europe to discuss issues facing the European Union from a centre-right perspective.

The senior staff of EPP-ED as of 18 September 2008 are as follows:

Member	Position	Source
Joseph Daul	Chair	[17]
Marianne Thyssen	Vice-Chair	[17]
Othmar Karas	Treasurer	[17]
Struan Stevenson	Vice-Chair	[17]
Jaime Mayor Oreja	Vice-Chair	[17]
Vito Bonsignore	Vice-Chair	[17]
Gunnar Hökmark	Vice-Chair	[17]
József Szájer	Vice-Chair	[17]
Hartmut Nassauer	Vice-Chair	[17]
João de Deus Pinheiro	Vice-Chair	[17]
Marian-Jean Marinescu	Vice-Chair	[17]
Martin Kamp	Secretary-General	[18]

The chairs of EPP-ED and its predecessors from 1952 to 18 September 2008 are as follows:

From	To	Chair	Member State	National party
1953	1958	Maan Sassen	Netherlands	Katholieke Volkspartij (Catholic People's Party)
1958	1958	Pierre Wigny	Belgium	Parti Social-Chrétien (Social Christian Party)
1958	1966	Alain Poher	France	Mouvement Républicain Populaire (Popular Republican Movement)
1966	1969	Joseph Illerhaus	West Germany	Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union of Germany)
1969	1975	Hans Lücker	West Germany	Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union of Germany)
1975	1977	Alfred Bertrand	Belgium	Christelijke Volkspartij (Christian People's Party)
1977	1982	Egon Klepsch	West Germany	Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union of Germany)
1982	1984	Paolo Barbi	Italy	Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democracy)
1984	1992	Egon Klepsch	West Germany/ Germany	Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union of Germany)
1992	1994	Leo Tindemans	Belgium	Christelijke Volkspartij (Christian People's Party)
1994	1999	Wilfried Martens	Belgium	Christelijke Volkspartij (Christian People's Party)
1999	2007	Hans-Gert Pöttering	Germany	Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union of Germany)
2007	present	Joseph Daul	France	Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement)

[edit] Membership

[edit] Current membership by country

A December 2007 European Parliament document gave the percentage of MEPs for each Group and member state at that date. The results for EPP-ED are given on the diagram on the right.

The document shows that EPP-ED draws its MEPs from each member state. It has widespread support throughout the EU. Its smallest support is in Denmark, (where the right-wing vote is split between UEN,IND/DEM and EPP-ED), and only 7% of Danish MEPs sit with EPP-ED. Its stronghold is in Eastern Europe, with three of the four Visegrad Group member states having more than 50% of its MEPs sitting with EPP-ED. Member states which have 40% or over of its MEPs sitting with EPP-ED include Malta, Romania, Spain, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

[edit] Current membership by party

The national parties that are members of EPP-ED at 18 September 2008 are as follows:

Party name (local)	Abbr.	Party name (Eng.)	Member state	Subgroup	Date joined	Sources
Österreichische Volkspartei	ÖVP	Austrian Peoples Party	Austria	EPP	01995-01-01 1 January 1995	[19][20]
Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie	N-VA	New-Flemish Alliance	Belgium	ED	?	[20]
Christlich-Soziale Partei	CSP	Christian Social Party	Belgium	ED	01952-09-11 11 September 1952	[10][20]
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams	CD&V	Christian Democratic & Flemish	Belgium	EPP	01976-04-29 29 April 1976	[21][20]
Centre Démocrate Humaniste	CDH	Humanist Democratic Centre	Belgium	EPP	01976-04-29 29 April 1976	[21][20]
Sajuz na svobodnite demokrati	SSD	Union of Free Democrats	Bulgaria	ED	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	[22][20]
Demokrati za Silna Balgarija	DSB	Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria	Bulgaria	EPP	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	[22][20]
Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya	GERB	Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria	Bulgaria	EPP	02007-06-06 6 June 2007	[22][20]
Sajoez na demokratichnite sili	UDF	Union of the Democratic Forces	Bulgaria	EPP	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	[22][20]
Dimokratikós Sinayermós	DISY	Democratic Rally	Cyprus	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
SNK Evropští demokraté)	SNK	SNK European Democrats	Czech Republic	ED	02004-07 July 2004	[22][20]
Občanská demokratická strana	ODS	Civic Democratic Party	Czech Republic	ED	02004-07 July 2004	[22][20]
Krestanská a demokratická unie - Ceskoslovenská strana lidová	KDU-CSL	Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party	Czech Republic	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Det Konservative Folkeparti	KF	Conservative People's Party	Denmark	EPP	01995-01-01 1 January 1995	[19][20]
Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit	IRL	Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica	Estonia	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Kansallinen Kokoomus	KOK	National Coalition Party	Finland	EPP	01995-01-01 1 January 1995	[19][20]
Union pour un Mouvement Populaire	UMP	Union for a Popular Movement	France	EPP	02002-11-17 17 November 2002	[22][20]
Christlich Demokratische Union	CDU	Christian Democratic Union	Germany	EPP	01952-09-11 11 September 1952	[10][20]
Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern	CSU	Christian Social Union of Bavaria	Germany	EPP	01952-09-11 11 September 1952	[10][20]
Néa Dimokratía	ND	New Democracy	Greece	EPP	01983 1983	[23][20]
Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség	?	Hungarian Civic Union	Hungary	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Magyar Demokrata Fórum	MDF	Hungarian Democratic Forum	Hungary	EPP	02001-12-06 6 December 2001	[22][20]
Fine Gael	FG	The United Ireland Party	Ireland	EPP	01973-01-01 1 January 1973	[21][20]
Südtiroler Volkspartei	SVP	South Tyrolese People's Party	Italy	EPP	?	[20]
Partito Pensionati	PP	Pensioners' Party	Italy	ED	02004-07 July 2004	[22][20]
Forza Italia	FI	Italy Forward	Italy	EPP	01998-06 June 1998	[19][20]
Popolari-UDEUR	UDEUR	Democratic Union for Europe	Italy	EPP	02001-12-06 6 December 2001	[22][20]
Unione Democratici Cristiani di Centro	UDC	Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	Italy	EPP	01952-09-11 11 September 1952	[10][20]
Jaunais Laiks	JL	New Era	Latvia	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Tautas Partija	TP	People's Party	Latvia	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Tevynes sajunga - Lietuvos konservatoriai	TS-LK	Homeland Union - Lithuanian Conservative Party	Lithuania	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei	CSV	Christian-Social People's Party	Luxembourg	EPP	01952-09-11 11 September 1952	[10][20]
Partit Nazzjonalista	PN	Nationalist Party	Malta	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Christen-Democratisch Appèl	CDA	Christian Democratic Appeal	Netherlands	EPP	01976-04-29 29 April 1976	[21][20]
Platforma Obywatelska	PO	Civic Platform	Poland	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe	PSL	Polish Peasant Party	Poland	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Centro Democrático e Social / Partido Popular	CDS/PP	Democratic and Social Center / People's Party	Portugal	ED	02004-07 July 2004	[22][20]
Partido Social Democrata	PSD	Social Democratic Party	Portugal	EPP	01996-11-11 11 November 1996	[19][20]
Partidul Democrat-Liberal	PD-L	Democratic Liberal Party	Romania	EPP	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	[22][20]
Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség	UDMR	Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	Romania	EPP	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	[22][20]
Krestanskodemokraticke hnutie	KDH	Christian Democratic Movement of Slovakia	Slovakia	EPP	02002-03-14 14 March 2002	[22][20]
Slovenská demokratická a krestanská únia - Demokratická strana	SDKÚ-DS	Slovak Democratic and Christian Union - Democratic Party	Slovakia	EPP	02002-03-14 14 March 2002	[22][20]
Magyar Koalíció Pártja/Strana madarskej koalície	SMK	Party of Hungarian Coalition	Slovakia	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Nova Slovenija Kršcanska ljudska stranka	NSi	New Slovenia	Slovenia	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Slovenska demokratska stranka	SDS	Slovenian Democratic Party	Slovenia	EPP	02003-05-05 5 May 2003?	[22][20]
Partido Popular	PP	People's Party	Spain	EPP	01989-06-18 18 June 1989	[23][20]
Kristdemokraterna	KD	Christian Democrats	Sweden	EPP	01995-01-01 1 January 1995	[19][20]
Moderata samlingspartiet	M or MSP	Moderate Party	Sweden	EPP	01995-01-01 1 January 1995	[19][20]
Conservative Party/Ulster Unionist Party	?	Conservative Party/Ulster Unionist Party	United Kingdom	ED	01992-05-01 1 May 1992?	[19][20][24]

[edit] Membership at formation

The 38 members in the Christian Democratic Group on 11 September 1952 were as follows:

Member state	MEPs	Party	MEPs	Notes	Sources
Belgium	5	Social Christian Party	5	Théodore Lefevre Paul Struye Pierre Wigny Pierre De Smet Alfred Bertrand	[10][25]
France	5	Christian People's Party (Saar)	2	Franz Singer Erwin Mueller	[10][25]
		Republican People's Movement	3	François De Menthon Pierre Henri Teitgen Alain Poher	[10][25]
Germany	8	Christian Democratic Union Party and Christian Social Union Party	7	Günter Henle Eugen Gerstenmaier Heinrich Von Brentano Hermann Pünder Franz Josef Strauss Georg Pelster Hermann Kopf	[10][25]
		Federal Union Party	1	Helmut Bertram	[10][25]
Italy	12	Christian Democratic Party	12	Pietro Campilli Antonio Azara Lodovico Benvenuti Mario Cingolani Francesco Dominedo Lodovico Montini Angelo Giacomo Mott Italo Mario Sacco Vinicio Ziino Giuseppe Togni Antonio Boggiano-Pico Sabatini (Armando Sabatini?)	[10][25]
Luxembourg	2	Christian Social Party	2	Fernand Loesch Nicolas Margue	[10][25]
Netherlands	6	Anti-Revolutionary Party	2	J. A. H. J. S. Bruins Slot W. Rip	[10][25]
		Catholic People's Party	3	M. A. M. Klompé E. M. J. A. Sassen P. A. Blaisse	[10][25]
		Christian Historical Union	1	G. Vixseboxe	[10][25]

[edit] Activities

[edit] In the news

Activities performed by EPP-ED in the period between 1 June 2004 and 1 June 2008 that resulted in an entry on Google News include:

• monitoring elections in Palestine^[26] and the Ukraine;^[27]

• encouraging transeuropean rail travel,^[28] telecoms deregulation,^[29] energy security,^[30] a common energy policy,^[31] the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Union,^[32] partial reform of the CAP,^[33] and attempts to tackle illegal immigration;^[34][35][36]

• denouncing Russian involvement in South Ossetia;^{[37][38][39][40][41]}

• supporting the Constitution Treaty,^[42][43][44]and the Lisbon Treaty;^[45][46]

• debating globalisation,^[31][47] relations with China,^[48] and Taiwan;^[49]

• backing plans to outlaw Holocaust denial;^[50]

• nominating Anna Politkovskaya for the 2007 Sakharov Prize;^[51]

• expelling Daniel Hannan from the Group;^[52]

• the ongoing discussion about whether ED MEPs should remain within EPP-ED or form a Group of their own;^[53][54][55]

• criticisms of the Group's approach to tackle low turnout for the 2009 elections^[56] and the Group's use of the two-President arrangement.^[57]

[edit] Parliamentary activity profile

The debates and votes in the European Parliament are tracked by its website and categorized by the Groups that participate in them and the rule of procedure that they fall into. The results give a profile for each Group by category and the total indicates the Group's level of participation in Parliamentary debates. The activity profile for each Group for the period 1 August 2004 to 1 August 2008 in the Sixth Parliament is given on the diagram on the right. EPP-ED is denoted in blue.

The website shows EPP-ED as participating in 659 motions, making it the third most active Group during the period.

[edit] Publications

EPP-ED produces many publications, which can be found here on its website. Documents produced in 2008 cover subjects such as dialogue with the Orthodox Church, study days, its strategy for 2008-09, Euro-Mediterranean relations, and the Treaty of Lisbon. It also publishes a yearbook and irregularly publishes a presentation, a two-page summary of the Group.

[edit] Academic analysis

Main article: Academic studies of the political groups of the European Parliament

Along with the other political groups, EPP-ED has been analysed by academics on its positions regarding various issues. Those positions are summarized in this article. That article characterizes EPP-ED as a three-quarter male group that is only 80% cohesive and split between centre-right Europhiles (the larger EPP subgroup) and right-wing Eurosceptics (the smaller ED subgroup). That article characterizes EPP-ED as a whole as ambiguous on hypothetical EU taxes, against taxation, Green issues, social liberal issues (homosexual equality, abortion, euthanasia) and full Turkish accession to the European Union, and for a deeper Federal Europe, deregulation, the Common Foreign and Security Policy and controlling migration into the EU.

[edit] See also

• European People's Party
• Movement for European Reform
• Members of the European Parliament 2004-2009

[edit] Sources

• BBC News^[16][54]

• Deutsche Welle^[57]

• eGovMonitor^[30]

• EPP-ED website^{[8][21][23][19][22][12][17][18][20][25][15]}

• EurActiv.com^{[33][43][56][52]}

• Europe Politique^[3]

• European Parliament^{[4][6][7][5][9][26][51]}

• European Navigator^[10][13][14]

• European Commission^[32]

• Forbes^[44]

• The Independent on Sunday^[53]

• Institute of Netherlands History^[11]

• Konrad Adenauer Stiftung^[2]

• MaltaMedia Online Network^[34][35][36]

• The Parliament Magazine^{[27][28][29][37][38][39][40][41][45][46][49][50][47][42]}

• People's Daily^[48]

• Scoop.co.nz^[31]

• The Times^[55]

• University of California, Berkeley Department of Economics^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Democracy in the European Parliament
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Political Groups of the European Parliament
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} EPP-ED on Europe Politique
4. ^ ^{a b c} Political Groups Annual Accounts 2001-2006
5. ^ ^{a b} European Parliament archive entry for Hans-Gert Pöttering (incl. Membership)
6. ^ ^{a b} Group names 1999
7. ^ ^{a b c d} European Parliament archive entry for Egon Klepsch (incl. Membership)
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f} EPP-ED Chronology 02
9. ^ ^{a b} European Parliament archive entry for Joseph Daul (incl. Membership)
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Composition of the Common Assembly (10-13 September 1952)
11. ^ ^{a b} Sassen, Emanuel Marie Joseph Anthony (1911-1995)
12. ^ ^{a b c} Chronology of European Integration 1945-2006
13. ^ ^{a b} "Assemblée commune, Résolution insérant dans le Règlement une disposition relative à la constitution des Groupes politiques (16 juin 1953)", in Journal officiel de la CECA, 21 July 1953, S. 155
14. ^ ^{a b} Statement of formation of the Christian-Democratic Group (23 June 1953)
15. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Shaping Europe - 25 years of the European People’s Party" by Wilfried Martens, President of the European People's Party
16. ^ ^{a b} BBC News article 5169268
17. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} EPP-ED Group structure
18. ^ ^{a b} EPP-ED Staff
19. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} EPP-ED Chronology 06
20. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax} EPP-ED Parties
21. ^ ^{a b c d e} EPP-ED Chronology 04
22. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y}