Nouvelles Equipes Internationales
The Nouvelles Equipes Internationales (NEI) was from 1947 to 1998 a European umbrella organization of the Christian-democratic and conservative-bourgeois European association for European integration . From 1965 the organization was named European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD). In 1998 the association merged with the European People's Party (EPP) founded in 1976 .
History and foundation
Among the Christian Democratic parties active when it was founded, the Swiss Conservative-Christian Social People's Party (KCVP), the French Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP) and the Belgian Parti Social Chrétien (PSC) and Christian People's Party (CVP) had already existed and had theirs during the war a continuous and fully trained organizational structure. The first discussions about the foundation took place at the end of 1945. After the end of the war, Christian Democrats such as René Courtin , André Siegfried and Konrad Adenauer built on their transnational cooperation in the period between world wars. Because of the experiences of the Second World War and its consequences, many who had lived in exile and fought in the resistance or survived the concentration camp , as Christian Democratic politicians, began to think more intensely about the future of Europe. The common goals and the connecting elements were intended as a new beginning and alternative to socialist or liberal values and communism , which was perceived as a "bugbear" .
In Switzerland, informal meetings between Christian democratic politicians from France and Germany have taken place since 1947. The so-called Geneva meetings were confidential.
The Nouvelles Equipes Internationales (NEI) was founded in the spring of 1947 as an institutionalized party federation with the aim of “ creating a union that has the appropriate instruments to make Christian democracy in Europe and in the world a real political force make that has a positive impact on the international level ”. The French and Belgian Christian Democrats did not want to join and the NEI was not officially approved until 1949. The founding members were: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands, individuals from Belgium and France, the Saarland, groups in exile from Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, the CSSR, Yugoslavia and the Basque Country. Many people from the NEI were also present and active when the European Movement was founded in 1948.
Activities and tasks
In 1948, high-ranking German Christian Democratic representatives such as Konrad Adenauer , Heinrich von Brentano and Jakob Kaiser took part for the first time. Until the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, the meetings had the character of “quasi-governmental contacts”. The association was a rallying movement of Christian democratic politicians. The German representation of interests was initially still severely restricted because of the occupation , but in the medium term the community of states wanted to be regarded as an equal partner again and used the organization for international contacts. On the other hand, France was able to unofficially influence the development of Germany and promote its integration into the Western community of states, and the Geneva meetings were a forum for improving mutual relations. The fight against communism played a special role in the objectives, which is why groups in exile from Soviet-occupied countries in Eastern Europe were also involved .
It turned out to be disadvantageous that the union was relatively loose, the resolutions were non-binding and that the French and Belgian Christian Democrats did not join until the 1960s.
In 1965, the NEI was reformed as part of the ongoing European unification process and renamed the “European Union of Christian Democrats” (EUCD) (Union européenne des démocrates-chrétiens) . With the European People's Party (EPP) founded in 1976 , the EUCD became less and less important and in 1983 both organizations were led by a common Secretary General . The full merger of the two organizations did not take place until 1998 for various reasons.
