Christian Social People's Party

This article is about the Luxembourgish political party. For the defunct Liechtensteiner political party, see Christian-Social People's Party (Liechtenstein).

Christian Social People's Party
Chrëschtlech-Sozial Vollekspartei
AbbreviationCSV
PCS
PresidentLuc Frieden
General SecretaryFrançoise Kemp
Alex Donnersbach
FoundedDecember 1944; 79 years ago (1944-12)
Preceded byParty of the Right
Youth wingChristian Social Youth
IdeologyChristian democracy
Conservatism
Pro-Europeanism
Political positionCentre to centre-right
Regional affiliationChristian Group
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
International affiliationCentrist Democrat International
Colours  Black
  Light blue
  Orange
  White
SloganKloer, no & gerecht. (Clear, close, and just.)
Chamber of Deputies
21 / 60
European Parliament
2 / 6
Local councils
192 / 722
Benelux Parliament
2 / 7
Website
www.csv.lu
Politics of Luxembourg
Constitution
Monarchy
Executive
Legislature
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

The Christian Social People's Party (Luxembourgish: Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei, French: Parti populaire chrétien-social, German: Christlich Soziale Volkspartei; CSV or PCS) is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party follows a Christian democratic[1][2][3][4] and conservative[5][6][7] ideology and has been described as centre[8][9] to centre-right.[10][11][12][13][14] Furthermore, akin to most parties in Luxembourg, it is strongly pro-European.[15] The CSV is a member of the Christian Group,[16] European People's Party, and the Centrist Democrat International.

The CSV has been the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies since the party's formation, and currently holds 21 of 60 seats in the Chamber. Since the Second World War, every Prime Minister of Luxembourg has been a member of the CSV, with only two exceptions: Gaston Thorn (1974–1979), and Xavier Bettel (2013–2023). It holds two of Luxembourg's six seats in the European Parliament, as it has for 14 of the 44 years for which MEPs have been directly elected.

The party's President has been Prime Minister Luc Frieden since March 2024. A leading figure from the party is the former prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, who previously governed in coalition with the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) until the 2013 general election.

  1. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Luxembourg". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  2. ^ Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 477. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8.
  3. ^ Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.
  4. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Luxembourg". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  5. ^ "EU elections 2019: Country-by-country full results". Euronews. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2022. The liberal Democratic Party and the conservative Christian Social People's Party will both send two MEPs to the European Parliament having scored 21.44 and 21.1% respectively.
  6. ^ Newton-Small, Jay (28 July 2016). "An Italian Politician Campaigns for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia". Time (magazine). Retrieved 6 May 2022. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who belongs to the conservative Christian Social People's Party, last week not-so-subtly said he's supporting "a female candidate" for president of the United States.
  7. ^ Banea, Andra; David An, Fengwei; Steenland, Robert; Brăileanu, Simona (6 May 2019). "EU country briefing: Luxembourg". EURACTIV. Retrieved 6 May 2022. Over time, these parties have evolved and re-branded themselves as the social democratic Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and the conservative Christian Social People's Party (CSV).
  8. ^ Terry, Chris (6 May 2014). "Christian Social People's Party (CSV)". The Democratic Society.
  9. ^ "All about the Lëtzebuerger Chrestlech Sozial Vollekspartei (CSV)". Luxembourg Times. 6 October 2013.
  10. ^ Josep M. Colomer (2008). Comparative European Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-203-94609-1.
  11. ^ "Social democrats gain in polls, Greens lose". Luxembourg Times. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2022. Centre-right CSV is still the biggest party in the country, but keeps shrinking
  12. ^ Huberty, Martine; Hennebert, Jean-Michel (9 October 2017). "Election results: focus on the capital". Delano. Retrieved 6 May 2022. The local elections showed an overall strengthening of the centre-right CSV in bigger towns across Luxembourg.
  13. ^ Dallison, Paul (8 January 2014). "The highs and the lows". Politico. Retrieved 6 May 2022. Juncker's centre-right Christian Social People's party (CVSP) won 23 seats in the 60-strong parliament but a coalition of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), the centre-left LSAP and the Greens meant Juncker's days were numbered.
  14. ^ Nisbet, Robert (6 June 2014). "Juncker A Wily Politician Who Enjoys The Game". Sky News. Retrieved 6 May 2022. Juncker Jr. studied law at university but never practiced, honing his political skills by joining the centre-right Christian Social People's Party which fast-tracked him to a deputy's position (similar to a British MP) when he was just 30.
  15. ^ Terry, Chris (6 May 2014). "Christian Social People's Party (CSV)". The Democratic Society.
  16. ^ "Politieke fracties". Benelux Parliament (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 August 2023.