European People's Party

This article is about the political party. For the parliamentary group, see European People's Party Group.

European People's Party
AbbreviationEPP
PresidentManfred Weber (DE)
Secretary-GeneralThanasis Bakolas (GR)
Founded8 July 1976; 48 years ago (1976-07-08)
HeadquartersRue du Commerce—Handelsstraat (Q69872011) 10,
1000 Brussels,
European Quarter, Belgium
Think tankWilfried Martens Centre
Student wingEuropean Democrat Students
Youth wingYouth of the
European People's Party
Women's wingWomen of the
European People's Party
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party Group
Renew Europe (PMP)
International affiliation
Colours
  •   Dark blue
  •   Selective yellow
  •   Sky blue (customary)
European Parliament
182 / 720
European Council
11 / 27
European Commission
11 / 27
European
Lower Houses
1,687 / 6,312
European
Upper Houses
463 / 1,498
Website
epp.eu Edit this at Wikidata

The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democratic,[4] liberal-conservative,[4] and conservative[5][6] member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. 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.[6][7][8][9][10] On 31 May 2022, the party elected as its President Manfred Weber, who was also EPP's Spitzenkandidat in 2019.

The EPP has been the largest party in the European Parliament since 1999 and in the European Council since 2002. It is also the largest party in the current European Commission. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola are from the EPP. Many of the founding fathers of the European Union were also from parties that later formed the EPP.

The EPP includes major centre-right parties such as the CDU/CSU of Germany, ÖVP of Austria, CD&V of Belgium, PNL of Romania, Fine Gael of Ireland, National Coalition Party of Finland, New Democracy of Greece, the Moderates of Sweden, the People's Party (PP) of Spain, the Civic Platform of Poland, the Social Democratic Party of Portugal and the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria.

  1. ^ "Macron, Merkel say ready to change EU treaties if needed". www.usatoday.com. 15 May 2017.
  2. ^ "IDC-CDI". Centrist Democrat International. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Members". International Democracy Union. February 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "European Union". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  5. ^ Slomp, Hans (26 September 2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  6. ^ a b Maushagen, Peter (4 September 2018). "German conservative seeks to front center-right in EU elections". Reuters. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  7. ^ José María Magone (2006). The New World Architecture: The Role of the European Union in the Making of Global Governance. New York: Transaction Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-7658-0279-8.
  8. ^ Vít Hloušek; Lubomír Kopeček (2010). Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties: East-Central and Western Europe Compared. London: Ashgate Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7546-7840-3.
  9. ^ Josep Maria Colomer (2008). "The European Union: A Federal Democratic Empire?". In Josep Maria Colomer (ed.). Comparative European Politics. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-415-43755-4.
  10. ^ Karl Magnus Johansson (2009). "The Emergence of Political Parties at European Level: Integration Unaccomplished". In Sverker Gustavsson; Lars Oxelheim; Lars Pehrson (eds.). How Unified Is the European Union?: European Integration Between Visions and Popular Legitimacy. Springer. p. 160. ISBN 978-3-540-95855-0.