European Democrat Students
European Democrat Students (EDS) is a Europe-wide association of Christian-democratic, conservative and liberal student associations and, according to its own statements, is the largest European umbrella organization of political student organizations. EDS is the statute-based student organization of the European People's Party (EPP).
EDS was founded in 1961, long before corresponding party alliances such as the European Democrat Union (EDU) or the European People's Party (EPP). EDS currently has more than 40 political student associations from 37 European countries whose ideological standpoints lie with Christian democracy or the center-right. According to its own statements, the association represents the interests of around 1.6 million young people in Europe. The German member of the European Democrat Students is the Ring of Christian Democratic Students (RCDS). The Austrian member is the AktionGemeinschaft (AG), in Switzerland this was the SLS ( Swiss Liberal Student Association ) until 2005 .
Chairpersons were u. a. the later Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt . From Germany the executive boards included u. a. Wulf Schönbohm , Gerd Langguth , Rudolf Henke , Friedbert Pflüger and Stephan Eisel . In July 2015, Giorgos Hadjigeorgiou (Cyprus) was elected as acting chairman.
EDS is associated with UNESCO and the Council of Europe . The association is based in Brussels .
history
EDS was founded in 1961 out of a student movement that had formed in the late 1950s and was originally based on a cooperation between Swedish and German students. The aim of this initiative was to react to the increasing activities of the communist movements and to establish a strengthened, internationally organized platform between conservative, liberal and Christian-democratic students and young people.
After the International Student Union (ISB), which at that time predominantly represented communist maxims, announced the 7th World Youth Festival in Vienna, the "New Life Working Group" was set up as a reaction from the conservative side. At its third conference in Vienna in 1961, the "International Union of Christian-Democrat and Conservative Students" was officially founded as the predecessor of EDS, of which the RCDS was one of the founding members. After the focus had been placed on the European level in the early 1970s, the organization was renamed "European Democrat Students" at the suggestion of the then chairman Carl Bildt.
In 1997, EDS was finally recognized as the official student organization of the European People's Party (EPP). In addition, the EDS are full members of the European Youth Forum (EYF), the youth organization of the International Democratic Union (IYDU) and the Robert Schuman Institute. The organization is also associated with UNESCO and the Council of Europe . The association organizes Europe-wide seminars, meetings and conferences at regular intervals and also cooperates with other student umbrella associations and European organizations.
Chairperson
- 1962–1964: Carl-Henrik Winquist (Sweden)
- 1964–1966: Dieter Ibilski (Germany)
- 1966–1968: Reginald E. Simmerson (UK)
- 1968–1970: Heikki S. von Hertzen (Finland)
- 1970–1971: Ian Taylor (UK)
- 1971–1972: Finn Braagaard (Denmark)
- 1972–1974: Tom Spencer (UK)
- 1974–1976: Carl Bildt (Sweden)
- 1976–1978: Scott Hamilton (UK)
- 1978–1979: Pierre Moinet (France)
- 1979–1981: Lars Eskeland (Norway)
- 1981–1982: Per Heister (Sweden)
- 1982–1984: Knut Olav Nesse (Norway)
- 1984–1985: Daniel Bischof (Switzerland)
- 1985–1986: George Anagnostakos (Greece)
- 1986–1988: Mattias Bengtsson (Sweden)
- 1988–1989: Bettina Machaczek (Germany)
- 1989–1991: Stavros Papastavrou (Greece)
- 1991–1993: Laura de Esteban (Spain)
- 1993–1994: Tim Arnold (Germany)
- 1994–1995: Fredrik Johansson (Sweden)
- 1995–1996: Andrew Reid (UK)
- 1996–1998: Günther Fehlinger (Austria)
- 1998–1999: Michalis Peglis (Greece)
- 1999–2000: Ukko Metsola (Finland)
- 2000–2001: Gustav Casparsson (Sweden)
- 2001–2003: Jacob Lund Nielsen (Denmark)
- 2003–2005: Alexandros Sinka (Cyprus)
- 2005–2006: Sven Henrik Häseker (Germany)
- 2006–2008: Ana Filipa Janine (Portugal)
- 2008–2009: Thomas Uhlen (Germany)
- 2009–2011: Bence Bauer (Hungary)
- 2011–2013: Juraj Antal (Slovakia)
- 2013–2015: Eva Majewski (Germany)
- Since 2015: Giorgos Hadjigeorgiou (Cyprus)
literature
- Thomas Jansen , Steven Van Hecke: "At Europe's Service. The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party", Brussels 2011, ISBN 978-3-642-19413-9
- Holger Thuss: Students on the Right Way. European Democrat Students 1961-2001. Norderstedt 2002, ISBN 3-8311-4129-0
Web links
- Official website (English)
- History of the EDS on the website of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Individual evidence
- ↑ Description of the organization ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2013 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. , European Democrat Students, accessed April 11, 2013.
