Political Christian democratic organizations have a wide global network and close international cooperation and try to influence the state policy in order to give Christian morals and values to politics.
In Europe, theEuropean Christian Political Movement (ECPM) has become an influential international Christian structure, uniting political parties and organizations that share Christian values and adhere to the ideals of Christian democracy and conservatism. The movement was founded in 2002 when a number of political parties from more than 15 countries decided to strengthen the influence of Christian politics in Europe at the conference “For a Christian Europe.”
The European Christian Political Movement currently unites more than fifty Christian democratic parties of various denominations, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and individual politicians from more than twenty EU countries and the European continent. The organization also pays active attention to youth policy, in particular, youth Christian democratic movements are united in the structure of ECPYouth. The ECPM has adopted eight Guiding Principles in the Values for Europe Declaration, which declares a vision of the EU’s Christian perspectives. The European Christian Political Movement seeks to restore the Christian foundations of a united Europe, which were once laid down by the founders of the EU – Christian Democrats Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi, and from which modern Europe is now moving away.
In 2005, ECPM was officially registered in the Netherlands. And in 2010, it was officially recognized as a European political party, which in 2014 took part in the European elections for the first time. During 2014-2019, the ECPM had six members of the European Parliament who were members of the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) group. In July 2021, the ECPM won five seats in the European Parliament.
An influential international Christian democratic platform is the International Democratic Union, which was founded in London in 1983 and is now headquartered in Oslo.
The regional associations of the IDU include the Union of African Democrats with 14 members, the Latin American association Latinoamericanos Unión de Partidos (UPLA) with 19 members, and the Asia Pacific Democrats Union (APDU) with 14 members. Until 2002, the International Democratic Union (EDU) had its own European section, but it soon merged with the European People’s Party.
On the American continent, the most influential international association of Christian political parties is called the Christian Democratic Organization of America (Organización Demócrata Cristiana de América, ODCA). The ideological basis of the organization is based on the principles of Christian democracy and Christian humanism. The Association of American Christian Democrats covers the Catholic states of the Latin American region and is a branch of the Centrist Democratic International and a regional partner of the European People’s Party.
Today, the organization unites 34 political parties, both ruling and opposition, from 21 Latin American countries, representing about a third of voting age citizens in their countries. Under the jurisdiction of the Christian Democratic Organization of the Americas are the Youth Christian Democratic Organization of the Americas, Women Christian Democrats of the Americas, Workers’ Front – Christian Democrats of Latin America, and a number of political foundations and institutions.
The Christian Democratic Organization of the Americas was established in 1947 when a group of politicians from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay agreed on the need to form an international association of Christian democrats in Latin America. The Declaration adopted at the meeting proclaimed that the organization’s goal was to build a genuine political, economic, and cultural democracy based on the principles of Christian humanism, the dignity of the human person, the values of community development, and the debunking of totalitarianism. Later, representatives from Ecuador, Bolivia, and almost the entire Latin American region joined the organization. In 2000, at the XVIth Congress in Chile, the organization’s strategy was declared, which envisages expanding cooperation with humanist and centrist parties whose views are in tune with Christian democracy.
It is significant that it was in Santiago, the capital of Chile, that the World Christian Democratic Union, which today is called the Centrist Democratic International, was founded in 1961. This fact emphasizes the significant role of Latin America in the global community of Christian democracy.
Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk
