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The Similarities and the Differences in the Functioning of the European Right Wing: An Attempt to Integrate European Conservatives and Christian Democrats
Kire Sharlamanov, International Balkan University – Skopje
,
Aleksandar Jovanoski
University Kliment Ohridski - Bitola
Abstract— The text reviews the attempt of the European Conservative and Christian Democratic Parties to construct a common platform within which they could more effectively defend and develop the interests of the political right wing in the European Parliament. The text follows the chronological line of development of events, emphasizing the doctrinal and the national differences as a reason for the relative failure in the process of unification of the European right wing. The subcontext of the argumentation protrudes the ideological, the national as well as the religious-doctrinal interests of some of the more important Christian Democratic, that is, conservative parties in Europe, which emerged as an obstacle of the unification. One of the more important problems that enabled the quality and complete unification of the European conservatives and Christian Democrats is the attitude in regard to the formation of EU as a federation of countries. The weight down of the British conservatives on the side of the national sovereignty and integrity against the Pan-European idea for united European countries formed on federal basis, is considered as the most important impact on the unification of the parties from the right ideological spectrum on European land.
Key Words— Conservative Party, Christian Democratic Party, CDU European Union, European People’s Party.
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n European land, the trend of connection of political parties on the basis of ideology has been notable for a
long time. This trend has been caused by few causes, one of
which is considered as most important and it refers to the enlargement of the political subjects in the defense and af- firmation of the doctrinal interests on supranational level. The international government bodies, primarily the Euro- pean Union as such, are places where the unification of the common forces on ideological basis is considered as a pre- condition in the survival and the strengthening of the own political agenda. If one considers as expected the unifica- tion and the enlargement of the left political forces on the basis of one of their ideological-doctrinal postulates – the internationalism, then the emergence of a counterpart at the European right-wing politicians is completely expected as a counterbalance of this European left-wing enlarge- ment. However what distinguished this process, betoken in the right-wing, surely is the national commitment to the idea of having an own country as still the most important subject of the international politics and law. If it is expected that Socialist, Social Democrats and Communists have pro-
supranational attitudes in favor of the nation-the country, then the differences that exists in regard to the future of the EU should be emphasized in the camp of the European right-wing, primarily between the pro-European minded and Catholic postulated Christian Democrats, versus the Royalist and fiscal-nationalistic rooted conservatives. The following text contains a historical representation of the attempt to unite the European right wing and the problems that obstructed and hampered that process.
During the process of construction of the European institu- tions, a need emerged for cooperation to be established be- tween the political parties that lead this process, particular- ly the ones that show ideological closeness. In this regard, opposing the cooperation of the left-wing parties within the Socialist International and in the right wing there were at- tempts to coordinate the public policies. Few organizations
were created with the objective to coordinate the public
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policies of the right-wing parties. The two most important organizations were the European Democratic Union, EDU and the European People’s Party, EPP. These organizations were divided on ideological grounds. While the members within the EDU were mostly conservative parties, the members of the EPP were Christian Democratic parties.
The European Democratic Union (EDU) was created in
1978 and it was functioning on the basis of inter-party con- ferences [1]. The members of EDU were mostly Christian Democratic parties, such as the CDU.1 The goal of the EDU was to establish relations of cooperation and mutual sup- port of the member parties. Exchange of ideas for imple- mentation of public policies as well as electoral cooperation was encouraged within the EDU. In 1983 most of the mem- ber parties of the European Democratic Party formed the International Democrat Union (IDU) composed of 80 mem- ber parties. In 2002 the existence of the EDU was formally terminated and it became a part of the European People’s Party.
Although most member parties of the EDU were con-
servative, the name of this organization lacked the term conservative because the intention was to attract the Chris- tian Democratic Parties in the membership. However, most Christian Democratic parties, especially the Dutch, the Bel- gian and the Italian Christian Democratic Party, refused to join the EDU, since they considered it as competition of the EPP. Due to the membership in the EDU, the remaining Christian Democratic Parties accused the CDU for being unprincipled [2]. For the CDU on the other hand, the Euro- pean Democratic Union was not a rival of the European People’s Party. The CDU was working on making the Christian Democratic parties to become members of the EDU, and the Conservative parties to become members of the EPP. This policy of the CDU proved to be unsuccessful and after certain period of time it was abandoned.
The European People’s Party is a transnational party formed by the Christian Democratic parties that are func- tioning within particular countries on the European conti- nent. The objective of the European People’s Party is to be able to manage the public affairs in the process of Europe- an integrations through the majority of the European Par-
1 The CDU was also a member of the European People’s party as well as of the European
Democratic Union
liament [3].2 This party helps in the strengthening of the identity and the cohesion of the Christian Democracy.
The inter-party cooperation of the Christian Demo-
cratic parties has its predecessors in the International Secre- tariat for Democratic Parties with Christian Inspiration which acted before World War I. After World War II, the cooperation between the Christian Democratic parties was much closer. In 1948 the NEI (Nowelles Equipes Interna- tionals) was formed, which was the organizer of congresses and meetings not only for the Christian Democratic parties, but also for the intellectual elites close to Christian Democ- racy. The successor of the NEI is the “European Union of Christian Democrats, EUCD”, which was formed in 1965. The EUCD is a member of the Christian Democrat Interna- tional, CDI. The European Union of Christian Democrats helped a lot in 1976 for the formation of the European Peo- ple’s Party – EPP. Actually the Secretary General of the Eu- ropean Union of Christian Democrats, Leo Tindermans became the first president of the European People’s Party [4], [5], [3], [1].
Simultaneously, only the Christian Democratic par- liamentary group was acting in the European Parliament. Unofficially it was formed one day after the formation of the European Parliament, and formally it started to work in
1953 after the parliament assembly adopted a resolution
that provided the opportunity to form parliamentary groups [1].
The example of the European People’s Party once again shows the tensions between the Christian Democracy and the Conservatism as related public policies within the right-wing. The fact that the British Conservative Party is one of the last that qualified for the membership in the Eu- ropean People’s Party illustrates these tensions [4].
Maybe the best way to reflect the complexity of the cooperation between the Christian Democratic and the Conservative Parties is the issue of the selection of the name for the European People’s Party. The CDU preferred a name that will not be repulsive for the conservative par- ties, which according to the attitudes of this party were also supposed to be members of the new party in the European Parliament. The CDU wanted a creation of an alliance with parties that do not need to have so close attitudes with the Christian Democratic Parties. For this reason the CDU in- sisted not to use the adjective “Christian” since this could be interpreted as papism or clericalism by the conservatives
2 The European Parliament was formed on September 10th 1952. Since 1979 the members of the European Parliament are no longer delegated from the national parliaments, and they are elected by a direct vote for a term of five years.
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(the British and the Danish conservatives). The Dutch, the Belgian and the Italian Christian Democratic Parties were on the other side arguing that the name which is going to be the best expression of the identity of the parties must contain the word Christian. A compromise was achieved thereby making the Christian Democracy a part of the complete (longer) name if the European People’s Party. Ac- tually the complete name of the EPP is EPP-FCDPEC (Eu- ropean People’s Party-Federation of Christian Democratic Parties of the European Community). This compromise on one hand satisfied the requirement of the Dutch, the Bel- gian and the Italian Christian Democratic Party and on the other hand it left space for eventual future cooperation with the conservative parties [2], [4], [5]. In 1979 the name of the parliamentary group of the European People’s Party from “Christian Democratic Parliamentary Group” was changed into parliamentary group of the European Peo- ple’s Party. Something similar was also happening between the ranks of the conservatives. In 1979 the name of the par- liamentary group of the conservative parties in the Europe- an Parliament was also changed as well into “conservative parliamentary group”, and this was irritating for the Chris- tian Democrats in the European Democratic Group, EDG.
With the very admission of Great Britain in the EEC, the Conservative Party, together with the Danish Conservative Party formed a separate conservative parliamentary club in the European parliament and it did not join the parliamen- tary group of the Christian democratic parties, for which there were estimations that it has more centrist rather than right-wing orientation, but it also did not join the parlia- mentary group of the European Democrat Union where the Gaullists dominated, which according to the British Con- servative Party had too nationalist orientation [2], [1].3 One of the most important reasons for the establishment of the conservative parliamentary group in the European Parlia- ment and the reason why it was maintained for many years is that in this manner the conservatives were able to main- tain the independence of the public policies of their parties. After the elections for the European parliament in 1989, the Conservative Party of Great Britain submitted an appli- cation for membership in the EPP.4 This application was exposed to resistance by the Conservative Party itself.
3 The parliamentary groups of the Christian Democrats and the Conservatives within the Eu- ropean parliament had good cooperation which was strained in the period when the coordinator of the Christian Democratic group became Alfred Bertrand 1975-77, a member of the Belgian Christian Democratic Party and a syndicalist.
4 One of the reasons referred to the weakened positions of the “European Democratic Group”
in the European Parliament, since the British and the Danish conservatives had weaker electoral
results and less representatives in the European Parliament.
Hence, prominent members of the British Conservative Party such as Norman Tebbit opposed the idea for the rep- resentatives from the Conservative Party in the European Parliament to be full members of the Christian Democratic parliament group, due to the corporatist economic and fed- eralist European policies of the Christian Democratic par- ties [3]. At the same time the application surprised the Christian Democratic parties since the electoral platforms of the conservatives and the Christian Democrats at the European Elections in 1989 were very different. While the basic slogan of the Democratic Christians in these elections was “United European Countries”, the conservative party of Great Britain issued publications where it indicated that the party would strive that Great Britain never becomes part of the “United European Countries” and criticized the ideas for federal Europe. On 7th July 1989, the EPP decided to postpone the review of the application of the British con- servative Party.5 On 1st may 1992 however, the Conserva- tive Party became part of the EPP, and the representatives of the European democratic group became associate mem- bers of the parliament group of the European People’s Par- ty [1].
The very fact that from the reference of the request for alliance to the realization of the idea and the establishment of the alliance in May 1992, a period of three years passed, indicated that there were certain difficulties for the imple- mentation of the idea for an alliance of the Christian Demo- crats and the Conservatives. There were many reasons that hampered the admission of the conservatives in the EPP such as: the economic and the social policies and the pro- cess of European integrations. The economic and the social policy of the Christian Democrats insisted on the social chapter from the Maastricht Treaty and the social dimen- sion of the common European market, which was categori- cally refused by the conservatives, and in the process of European integrations the Christian democrats had the goal to form united European countries which is also unac- ceptable for the conservatives.
Ever since the announcement of the alliance between the Christian Democrats and the conservatives within the EPP there were great misunderstandings. The British con- servatives insisted to change the name of the parliament group of the EPP in order to symbolically show their sepa- rate identity from the Christian Democratic parties. For this reason in 1999 the name of the parliamentary group of the
5 Although the EPP was generally against the application, officially refusal is not served, but rather a delay of the consideration of the application
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EPP was changed into “parliament group of the APP and the European democrats” [1]. In 2004 the conservative par- ties once again negotiated for their membership in the EPP and announced separation from the EPP and formation of a conservative parliament group in the European parliament, after the European elections in 2009.
The European People’s Party has the image of a European Federalist Party. In the very program of the party it is indi- cated that the party strives for “United European countries”. At the congress of the EPP held in November 1995 in Ma- drid, a document was adopted where a commitment to build federal Europe was indicated. The Christian Demo- cratic commitment for federal Europe implied formation of a European Government which will be elected in direct elections. These attitudes of the EPP differ significantly from the Euro-skeptical position of the conservatives. Ac- tually as members of the EPP they voted against this doc- ument from the congress in Madrid which envisioned the construction of federal Europe [3].
Even during the submission of the application for membership of the Conservative party of Great Britain in the EPP, the party came up with an attitude that for the EPP the development of the European Community into a federal political union which will include both monetary and a security union, is a goal with the ultimate priority. In the speech from November 1991 the Secretary General of the EPP, Thomas Jansen indicated that “an alliance with the conservatives will be accepted, only if this does not imply retraction of the Christian democratic values, especially on the issue of construction of a European federation.” At the moment when in April 1991 the Conservative party was accepted as an associate member of the EPP, a resolution was adopted according to which the membership of the EPP was able to accept parties with different tradition if they accept Christian Democracy and the program on Eu- ropean federation as an important part of the party pro- gram [2].
Although the conservatives during their admission
in the EPP accepted the program about federal Europe, the doubts about their honesty remained, i.e. the tactical di-
mensions of the acceptance of the federal vision about Eu- rope. The common goal of the member parties of the EPP was to form federal Europe, but also the British conserva- tives emphasized only the economic aspects of the process of European integrations.
Reactions arrived within the Conservative Party about the acceptance of the program determination for EPP for federal Europe. Most of the members of the British Con- servative party considered that the party policy on the is- sue of the European integrations should be turned on its head. They considered that the Conservative Party is in a condition of schizophrenia, on one hand to become the biggest protector of the British identity and sovereignty, and on the other hand to lead a policy for federal Europe, which implies change of the identity and the sovereignty.
Soon it became clear that the acceptance of the
Christian Democratic policy for construction of federal Eu- rope is only a tactical move by the British conservatives. George Kourvetaris and Andreas Moschonas [5] noticed that there are serious differences between the Christian Democratic idea of federal united Europe and the con- servative Euro-skepticism that prefers the nation state. The attitudes of the leading people of the British Conservative Party went in the same direction. According to Margaret Thatcher, the Christian Democrats did not show the capaci- ty to deal with the issue of the relations between the nation states and the supranational institutions. There was a simi- lar opinion by Norman Tebbit, one of the most influential people in the Conservative Party, according to who the co- operation with the Christian Democrats on the issue of Eu- ropean integrations is problematic, since the EPP strives for the construction of centralized European country in which the nation states will be provinces. [2]. The successor of Margaret Thatcher, John Major (as well as Thatcher herself) distanced himself from the politics for construction of fed- eral Europe, which was also done by all future presidents of the Conservative party.
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[2] K.M. Johanson (1997) Transnational Party Alliances:Analysing the Hard- Won AllianceBetween Conservatives and Christian Democrats In the Euro- pean Parlament; Lund: Lund University Press
[3] J. Gaffney (1996) Political parties and the European union; London:
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[4] D. L. Hanley (1994) Christian Democracy in Europe: A Comparative
Perspective; London: Continuum International Publishing Group
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[5] A. Moschonas and G. Kourvetaris (1996) The Impact of European Integration: Political, Sociological and Economic Changes; Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group
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