Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement

Citizens' Movement for Change
Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement
PresidentGérard Deprez
Founded1998
Split fromChristian Social Party
HeadquartersRue de la Vallée 50-1000, Brussels
IdeologyChristian democracy[1]
Liberal conservatism[2]
Political positionCentre-right[3]
National affiliationReformist Movement
European affiliationEuropean Democratic Party
Colours  Turquoise
Chamber of Representatives
(French-speaking seats)
1 / 61
Senate
(French-speaking seats)
0 / 24
Walloon Parliament
0 / 75
Parliament of the French Community
0 / 94
Brussels Parliament
(French-speaking seats)
0 / 72
European Parliament
(French-speaking seats)
0 / 8
Website
http://www.lemcc.be

Citizens' Movement for Change (French: Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement, pronounced [muvmɑ̃ de sitwajɛ̃ puʁ lə ʃɑ̃ʒmɑ̃], MCC) is a Christian-democratic[1] political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez in 1998.

Deprez was the leader of the Francophone Christian Social Party (PSC) from 1982 to 1995. He left the PSC, because he had failed to carry through his idea of forging a confederation of the PSC with the Liberal Reformist Party (PRL). Moreover, he had been discontent with the election of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb as party leader.[4] The last trigger to form a new party was the popular outrage at the government's mishandling of the controversy around the pedophile serial killer Marc Dutroux.[5] The MCC immediately joined the alliance of the PRL and the regionalist Democratic Front of the Francophones (FDF) and ran on a joint PRL-FDF-MCC list for the elections in 1999. Deprez was elected to the European Parliament and sat with the group of the European People's Party (EPP-ED). The MCC supported the "purple-green" government coalition of Liberals, Socialists and Greens, while the PSC, for the first time in 50 years, was sent into opposition.[6] PRL, FDF and MCC became components of the Reformist Movement in 2002.[7]

In the 2004 European Parliamentary Election it elected one MEP (G. Deprez) on the MR ticket. This time, he chose to sit with his liberal allies in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group. The MCC became part of the pan-European European Democratic Party (EDP).[8]

  1. ^ a b Almeida, Dimitri (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. CRC Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-415-69374-5. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  2. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram. "Belgium". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 18 April 2003. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  3. ^ Spath, Christopher. "Die Themen populistischer Parteien aus rechts- und politikwissenschaftlicher Sicht – Länderstudie Belgien" (PDF). p. 52. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  4. ^ Beke, Wouter (2004). "Living Apart Together: Christian Democracy in Belgium". Christian Democratic Parties in Europe since the End of the Cold War. Leuven University Press. pp. 143–145. ISBN 90-5867-377-4.
  5. ^ Day, Alan John (2002), Political Parties of the World, John Harper, p. 48
  6. ^ Roberts, Geoffrey K.; Hogwood, Patricia (2003), The Politics Today Companion to West European Politics, Manchester University Press, pp. 170–171
  7. ^ Deschouwer, Kris (2004), "Political Parties and Their Reactions to the Erosian of Voter Loyalty in Belgium: Caught in a Trap", Political Parties and Electoral Change, SAGE, p. 199
  8. ^ Corbett, Richard; Jacobs, Francis; Shackleton, Michael (2005), The European Parliament, John Harper, p. 83