Christian Social Party (Belgium, 1945)

Christian Social Party—Christian People's Party
Christelijke Volkspartij
Parti Social Chrétien
Historical leadersJean Duvieusart (first)
Jean-Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers (last)
FoundedAugust 18, 1945 (1945-08-18)
Dissolved1968 (1968)
Preceded byCatholic Block
Succeeded byChristelijke Volkspartij (CVP),
Parti social chrétien (PSC)
HeadquartersBrussels, Belgium
IdeologyChristian democracy
Pro-Europeanism
Political positionCentre[1][2]
European affiliationChristian Democrat group
International affiliationChristian Democrat International
Colours  Orange
  Black

The Christian Social Party (French: Parti Social Chrétien, or PSC; Dutch: Christelijke Volkspartij, CVP) was a major centre-right political party in Belgium which existed from 1945 until 1968.

Established as the successor to the pre-war Catholic Block, the PSC-CVP was established after the Liberation of Belgium with an explicitly "deconfessionalised" orientation in the Christian Democratic tradition.[3] It remained the largest party in Belgian politics throughout much of its existence and was the last party in Belgian history to gain an outright majority in the 1950 elections. It provided a number of influential prime ministers and participated in most coalition governments in combination with the Belgian Socialist Party and the Liberal Party or its successor the Party for Freedom and Progress.

Amid rising regionalist tensions, the PSC-CVP's regional parties split along linguistic lines in 1968 to form the Francophone Christian Social Party (Parti Social Chrétien, PSC) and Flemish Christian People's Party (Christelijke Volkspartij, CVP).

  1. ^ Keefe, Eugene K.; et al. (1974). Area Handbook for Belgium (1st ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 141.
  2. ^ Cerulus, Laurens (4 January 2017). "The party that's pulling the Belgian left to the left". Politico. …centrist Christian-Democrats all split into Flemish and French-speaking parties in the late 1960s and 70s.
  3. ^ Kees van Kersbergen; Philip Manow (6 April 2009). Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–. ISBN 978-0-521-89791-4. Retrieved 2 August 2013.