ChristenUnie

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Christian Union
ChristianUnion logo 2019.png
Gert-Jan Segers.jpg
Party leader Gert-Jan Segers
Party leader Piet Adema
Group Chairman, Second Chamber Gert-Jan Segers
Chairman of the First Chamber Roel Kuiper
EP Head of Delegation Peter van Dalen
founding March 15, 2001
Alignment Christian Democracy
Conservatism
Sit in the First Chamber
4/75
Sit in the second chamber
5/150
Seats in the European Parliament
1/29
Number of members 25,170 (2019)
European party European Christian Political Movement
EP Group European People's Party
http://www.christenunie.nl

The ChristenUnie (pronounced [krɪstən yni] ; abbreviation CU; German Christen-Union ) is a Christian-democratic political party with a strict Calvinist orientation in the Netherlands .

Structure and direction

The party is the eighth largest party in the Netherlands with more than 27,000 members at times. Most of their voters belong to more or less traditional Calvinist churches. The ChristenUnie has a youth organization , PerspectieF , and runs a scientific institute, the Mr. G. Groen van Prinsterer Stichting named after Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer .

The party describes itself as Christelijk-sociaal ("Christian-social"). This means that she takes conservative positions with regard to “ethical” issues such as abortion , euthanasia or same-sex marriage , but votes more progressively or left-wing when it comes to economic and socio-political issues and environmental protection . Classification in the classic left-right spectrum is therefore difficult. According to its own statements, the party derives its positions from the Bible . It places the rule of God over political life, but recognizes the separation of state and church .

history

The party was founded in 2001 as a merger of two parties, the Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond (GPV; founded 1948) and the Reformatorische Politieke Federatie (RPF; founded 1975, both emerged from the Anti-Revolutionaire Partij ). GPV and RPF ran individually until the 1998 election. The parties had a total of five (GPV 2, RPF 3) out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament before the 2002 election. Increases were expected, but the opposite happened, the ChristenUnie lost one seat and dropped to four seats.

The chairman was Kars Veling . After the 2002 election, it was argued that he was well able to hold together the party that was still divided under the old GPV-RPF line; but he was not an interesting candidate for the normal population. Thus André Rouvoet elected as the new chairman. In the 2003 election , the ChristenUnie lost one seat and only kept 3, in the 2006 election it was able to improve to 4% of the vote and 6 seats. In the early elections in June 2010 , the ChristenUnie lost one seat with 3.2% of the vote.

The CU won one seat in the 2004 European elections . In the 2009 European elections , in alliance with the evangelical-reformed Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, two seats were obtained, of which one seat was allocated to each of the two parties. Until 2009, the CU belonged to the Eurosceptic Group Independence / Democracy in the European Parliament , after which it was involved in the founding of the new Group of European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR). However, unlike the other ECR member parties, the CU does not belong to the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR), but to the European Christian Political Movement (ECPB). This was recognized as a political party at European level in early 2010 .

Election results

Election results for the First Chamber (indirect elections):

  • 2003: two seats
  • 2007: four seats
  • 2011: two seats

Election results for the Second Chamber :

Election results for the European Parliament (together with the SGP ):

Government participation

Since February 2007, the ChristenUnie has been the third partner in the governing coalition alongside the CDA and PvdA . She provided two ministers in the Balkenende IV cabinet: the party chairman Rouvoet took over the youth and family department and was one of the deputy prime ministers, while Eimert van Middelkoop headed the defense ministry. After the break of the coalition and the resignation of the PvdA ministers in February 2010, the CDA and CU formed an executive cabinet without a parliamentary majority.

Since October 2017, the ChristenUnie has provided Carola Schouten, one of the three Deputy Prime Ministers and the Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, and Arie Slob, the Minister for Education and Media, in the Rutte III cabinet .

Group leaders

First Chamber :

Second chamber :

Members

year Number of members
2002 27,250
2003 27,000
2004 25,074
2005 24,235
2006 24,156
2007 26,673
2008 27,683
2009 26,745
2010 26,441
2011 25,489
2012 24,776
2013 24,080
2014 23,631
2015 23,521
2016 23,398
2017 23,695
2018 25,071
2019 25,170

literature

  • Annette Birschel : Politics with the Bible. Orthodox Calvinists play an important role in Holland's new government. In: Zeitzeichen , August 2007. Issue 3, pp. 45–47.
  • Rob Nijhoff: The ChristenUnie - pluralistic on principle. In: Carla van Baalen et al. a .: A fragmented landscape. Contributions to the past and present of Dutch political parties. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2018, pp. 39–58.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b ChristenUnie ledentallen per jaar (2002-). In: Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen. University of Groningen , February 12, 2019, accessed on February 23, 2019 (Dutch).
  2. ^ Paul F. State: A brief history of the Netherlands . Facts On File, New York 2008, pp. 244 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. See Annette Birschel, Politics with the Bible . In “Zeitzeichen. Evangelical Commentaries on Religion and Society ”, Volume 3, pp. 45–47
  4. ^ Joop W. Koopmans: Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. 3rd edition, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham (MD) / London 2016, p. 71, entry ChristenUnie .
  5. Left and right. In: Parlement.com , accessed May 24, 2019.
  6. ^ ChristenUnie (CU). In: Parlement.com , accessed May 24, 2019.