Christian Social Party

The title of this article is ambiguous. For further meanings see Christian Social Party .

Christian Social Party (CSP Ostbelgien)
Party leader	Pascal Arimont
Headquarters	Parliament Square 1 4700 Eupen
Alignment	Christian Democracy Christian Social Conservatism
Colours)	orange
Belgian Chamber of Deputies	0/150
DG Parliament	6/25
MEPs	1/21
European party	EPP
EP Group	EPP
Website	www.csp-dg.be

The Christian Social Party (CSP) is a Christian Democratic party of the German-speaking Community of Belgium .

It sees itself as a party of the political center and focuses on the Christian image of man. Accordingly, the state or a group or “the community” should not be at the center of the community, but each individual should take responsibility for participating in society.

The CSP is the sister party of the Flemish CD&V and the French-speaking cdH . It sees itself as pro-European and is a member of the EPP .

For the legislative period 2009–2014, the CSP is represented with seven seats in the parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. It is thus the party with the highest percentage of votes in the German-speaking community. It is also the party with the most members in the German-speaking community.

Origins

The Christian Social Party, founded in June 1945, played a major role in shaping political life in the post-war period and the development in the Ostbelgien region through the political mandate of a broad section of the population.

Until 1971 the CSP was part of the national Christian Democratic PSC / CVP and worked closely with the Verviers PSC regional party. As a result, the CSP was able to represent the interests of the German-speaking people in the context of the emerging state reform at the national level and to realize claims for popular representation in the Chamber and Senate.

Precisely because of the key role played by the Christian Social in eastern Belgium and in the nine German-speaking communities, representatives of the CSP were able to hold a seat in the national parliament from 1946 to 1999. Deputies were Peter Kofferschläger (1946–1960), Willi Schyns (1961–1981), both from Kelmis , and Albert Gehlen from St. Vith (1981–1999). Senators were Joseph Baltus (1946–1950) and Hubert Chantraine (1995–1999), both from Eupen .

independence

Since June 1971 - since the first state reform - the CSP has been an independent regional association in order to express the identity of the population of the German-speaking area. The first president of the CSP was Albert Gehlen .

The chairmen of the CSP since 1971:

Albert Gehlen (1971–1976), Manfred Nussbaum (1976–1981), Johann Haas (1981–1999), Hubert Chantraine (1999–2004), Mathieu Grosch (2004–2010), Luc Frank , Pascal Arimont (since 2015)

Reforms and autonomy

Since the end of the Second World War, the CSP has made a decisive contribution to putting German-speaking Belgians on the same level as the other language groups in the state structure. The reforms of the Belgian state in 1970 created the three communities and three regions. Since then, Belgium has changed from a unitary state to a federal state.

From 1976 to 1983 the “Council of the German-speaking Cultural Community” (RdK) decided autonomously for the German-speaking area in Belgium. With the state reform, the decision-making area of ​​this council expanded noticeably. The first president of the RdK was Johann Weynand (CSP).

Since 1983 the German-speaking Community has had its own legislative body (initially called the "Council", then "Parliament") and its own government.

In the course of the state reform, the Christian Socials made significant contributions to the creation and expansion of the autonomy of the German-speaking community:

The takeover of the education system in 1989, the protection of monuments in 1994, employment in 2000 or the municipal supervision in 2004 are to be understood as essential stages in the expansion of autonomy that the CSP has pushed - also out of the opposition (from 1999).

Thanks to the close ties to the Christian democratic parties cdH (Francophone) and CD&V (Flemish), which are active at the federal level, the creation of a separate German-speaking judicial district (1988) and the refinancing, which is important for the DG, could be supported and realized.

The Christian Social are to this day the strongest political force in the German-speaking community.

responsibility

The CSP was a ruling party from 1983 to 1999 and provided the following government members in the German-speaking community:

• Joseph Maraite : Minister for Public Health and Family, Sport and Tourism (1983–1986) / Prime Minister (1986–1999)
• Mathieu Grosch : Minister for Youth, Sport, Adult Education and Social Affairs (1986–1990)
• Wilfried Schröder : Minister for Education, Culture, Scientific Research, Monuments and Landscapes (1995–1999)

CSP politicians held the chairmanship of the Parliament and Council of the German-speaking Community from 1983 to 1999:

• Johann Weynand (1973–1976),
• Albert Gehlen (1976–1981),
• Manfred Betsch (1981–1985),
• Kurt Ortmann (1985–1990),
• Mathieu Grosch (1990-1994),
• Manfred Schunck (1994–1999)

The following CSP mandataries have previously belonged to the Walloon Parliament:

• Albert Gehlen (1981–1995),
• Elmar Keutgen (1999-2004),
• Herbert Grommes (2004-2009)

The CSP has been represented in the European Parliament since 1994:

• Mathieu Grosch (1994-2014)
• Pascal Arimont (2014-present)

elections

For the elections to the parliament of the German-speaking community on May 25, 2014, the CSP nominated Robert Nelles as the top candidate. Colin Kraft was the top candidate in the elections on May 26, 2019.

The lead candidate for the European Parliament election was Pascal Arimont .

Election results

Results of the parliamentary elections of the German-speaking Community ¹

year	be right	proportion of	Mandates	space
1974	?	46.9%	12/25	1.
1977	?	39.9%	10/25	1.
1978	?	41.4%	11/25	1.
1981	?	34.7%	9/25	1.
1986	?	37.0%	10/25	1.
1990	13,178	33.6%	8/25	1.
1995	13,307	35.9%	10/25	1.
1999	12,822	34.8%	9/25	1.
2004	11,905	32.8%	8/25	1.
2009	10.122	27.0%	7/25	1.
2014	9,351	24.9%	7/25	1.
2019	9,069	23.1%	6/25	2.

Results in the European elections

year	be right	Share (regional)	Share (national)	Mandates	Place (regional)	Place (national)
1994	11,999	31.3%	0.2%	1/25	1.	19th
1999	13,456	36.5%	0.2%	1/25	1.	11.
2004	15,722	42.5%	0.2%	1/24	1.	10.
2009	12,475	32.3%	0.2%	1/22	1.	12.
2014	11,710	30.3%	0.2%	1/21	1.	11.
2019	14,247	34.9%	0.2%	1/21	1.	16.

¹from 1973 to 1984 Council of the German Cultural Community; from 1984 to 2004 Council of the German-speaking Community

Web links

• Christian Social Party CSP
• Mathieu Grosch - Member of the European Parliament for German-speaking Belgians

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ [2]
6. ↑ [3]
7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ [4] (PDF; 790 kB)
9. ↑ [5]
10. ↑ [6]
11. ↑ [7]
12. ↑ [8]
13. ↑ [9]
14. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.