European People's Party

During its Congress in Bucharest in 2012, the EPP updated its political platform after 20 years (since its Congress in Athens in 1992) and approved a political manifesto in which it summarised its main values and policies.[14]

The manifesto highlights:

• Freedom as a central human right, coupled with responsibility
• Respect for traditions and associations
• Solidarity to help those in need, who in turn should also make an effort to improve their situation
• Ensuring solid public finances
• Preserving a healthy environment
• Subsidiarity
• Pluralist democracy and a social market economy

The manifesto also describes the EPP's priorities for the EU, including:

• European Political Union
• Direct election of the President of the European Commission
• Completion of the European Single Market
• Promotion of the family, improvements in education and health
• Strengthening of the common immigration and asylum policy, and integrating immigrants
• Continuation of enlargement of the EU, enhancement of the European Neighbourhood Policy and special relationship frameworks for countries that cannot, or do not want to, join the EU
• Defining a truly common EU energy policy
• Strengthening European political parties

As a central part of its campaign for the European elections in 2009, the EPP approved its election manifesto at its Congress in Warsaw in April that year. The manifesto called for:[15]

• Creation of new jobs, continuing reforms and investment in education, lifelong learning, and employment to create opportunities for everyone.
• Avoidance of protectionism, and coordination of fiscal and monetary policies.
• Increased transparency and surveillance in financial markets.
• Making Europe the market leader in green technology.
• Increasing the share of renewable energy to at least 20 percent of the energy mix by 2020.
• Family-friendly flexibility for working parents, better child care and housing, family-friendly fiscal policies, encouragement of parental leave.
• A new strategy to attract skilled workers from the rest of the world to make Europe's economy more competitive, more dynamic and more knowledge-driven.

At its Congress in Warsaw in 2009 the EPP endorsed Barroso for a second term as President of the Commission.

Concerns that the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz[note 1] and its leader Viktor Orbán were undermining the rule of law in Hungary caused a split in the EPP in the run-up of the 2019 European Parliament election.[19] On one hand, the EPP had been reluctant for years to address Fidesz's stance against the rule of law, expressed by the Article 7 proceedings of the European Parliament. On the other hand, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a prominent EPP-member, stated "I believe his [Fidesz's] place is not in the European People's Party".[20] Orbán's campaigns targeting billionaire George Soros[21] and Jean-Claude Juncker[22] carried wide reverberations for Europe questioning the EPP's effort to install its lead candidate Manfred Weber as the next President of the European Commission.[23]

After years of deferring a decision about the Fidesz issue,[24] the EPP was eventually compelled to address the problem two months before the 2019 European elections, as 13 outraged member parties requested the Hungarian party's exclusion from the EPP due to its billboard campaign featuring Jean-Claude Juncker. 190 of the 193 EPP delegates supported the common agreement with Fidesz on 20 March 2019 to partially suspend its membership. According to it, Fidesz was "until further notice" excluded from EPP meetings and internal elections, but remained in the European People's Party Group of the European Parliament. Fidesz did not deliver on its earlier promise to leave the EPP in case of a penalty.[25]

In February 2020, the EPP extended the suspension of Fidesz indefinitely.[26]

On 2 April 2020, thirteen parties within the EPP issued a joint statement aimed at Donald Tusk, asking him to expunge Fidesz from the party.[27] Three days before this, the Hungarian Parliament had passed a law, declaring a state of emergency within Hungary, granting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the right to rule by decree.[28]

On 3 March 2021, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that Fidesz would leave the EPP group after it changed its internal rules (to allow suspension and expulsion of multiple deputies and their groups), although Fidesz remained a suspended member of the EPP itself.[29] On 18 March 2021, Fidesz decided to leave the European People's Party.[30]

In April 2023, Belgian police and German investigators carried out a raid at the EPP headquarters in Brussels as part of an investigation in Germany.[31]

 Albania

• Democratic Party of Albania (PD)

 Iceland

• Independence Party (XD)

 North Macedonia

• Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO–DPMNE)

 Norway

• Conservative Party (H)

 Serbia

• Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)
• Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ/SVM)

  Switzerland

• The Centre

 Armenia

• Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
• Heritage

 Belarus

• Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD)
• United Civic Party of Belarus (AHP)
• За Свабоду (The Movement for Freedom; MFF)[32]

 Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Party of Democratic Action (SDA)
• Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH)
• Party of Democratic Progress (PDP)
• Croatian Democratic Union 1990 (HDZ 1990)

 Georgia

• United National Movement (UNM)
• European Georgia

 Kosovo

• Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK)

 Moldova

• Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM)
• Dignity and Truth Platform Party (PPDA)
• Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS)

 Montenegro

• Bosniak Party (BS)

 Norway

• Christian People's Party (KrF)

 San Marino

• Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party (PDCS)

 Ukraine

• European Solidarity[33]
• Batkivshchyna (since 2008)
• Self Reliance (since 2019)[34]
• Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR)

 Armenia

• Rule of Law (OEK), observer member

 Belarus

• Belarusian Popular Front (BNF), observer member until 2017

 France

• Centre of Social Democrats[35]
• Union for French Democracy[35]
• Rally for the Republic[35]
• Union for a Popular Movement[35]

 Croatia

• Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), member until withdrawal May 2019

 Hungary

• Fidesz, suspended from March 20, 2019.[36] Left EPP on March 18, 2021.[37]
• Hungarian Democratic Forum, member until 07.09.2009

 Italy

• Christian Democracy[35]
• Italian People's Party[35]
• Christian Democratic Centre[35]
• United Christian Democrats[35]
• Italian Renewal[35]
• Forza Italia[35]
• Union of Democrats for Europe[35]
• The People of Freedom[35]
• New Centre-Right

 Romania

• Democratic Party (PD)
• Democratic Liberal Party (PDL)
• Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD)

 Russia

• United Russia

 Slovakia

• Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ-DS)
• Most-Híd
• Party of the Hungarian Community

 Spain

• Basque Nationalist Party[35]
• People's Democratic Party[35]

 Turkey

• Justice and Development Party (observer)

 Ukraine

• People's Movement of Ukraine (observer)
• Our Ukraine (observer)

 United Kingdom

• Conservative Party (European Democrats subgroup)

The Presidency is the executive body of the party. It decides on the general political guidelines of the EPP and presides over its Political Assembly. The Presidency is composed of the President, ten Vice-Presidents, the Honorary Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer. The Chairperson of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the Presidents of the Commission, the Parliament and the Council, and the High Representative (if they are a member of an EPP member party) are all ex officio Vice-Presidents.

President of the EPP Manfred Weber

As of 1 June 2022 the Presidency[38] of the EPP is (Vice Presidents in the order of votes received at the EPP Congress in Rotterdam):

• Manfred Weber – President (MEP, also EPP Group Chairman, 2019 EPP Spitzenkandidat)
• Thanasis Bakolas – Secretary General
• Mariya Gabriel – Vice President (EU Commissioner)
• Esther de Lange – Vice President (MEP)
• Johannes Hahn – Vice President (EU Commissioner)
• Siegfried Mureșan – Vice President (MEP)
• Dubravka Šuica – Vice President (EU Commissioner)
• Petteri Orpo – Vice President (Leader of Kokoomus, former Finance Minister)
• David McAllister – Vice President (MEP, former Minister-President)
• Andrzej Halicki – Vice President (MEP)
• Antonio Tajani – Vice President (MEP, former European Parliament President, former Commission Vice President)
• Esteban González Pons – Vice President (MEP)
• Paulo Rangel – Treasurer (MEP)
• Ursula von der Leyen – Ex officio Vice-President (President of the European Commission)
• Roberta Metsola – Ex officio Vice-President (President of the European Parliament)
• Sauli Niinistö – Honorary President (President of Finland)

The Political Assembly defines the political positions of the EPP between Congresses and decides on membership applications, political guidelines and the budget. The Political Assembly is composed of designated delegates from EPP member parties, associated parties, member associations, and other affiliated groups. The Political Assembly meets at least three times a year.

The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the EPP. It is composed of delegates from member parties, EPP associations, EPP Group MEPs, the EPP Presidency, national heads of party and government, and European Commissioners who belong to a member party, with the numbers of delegates being weighted according to the EPP's share of MEPs, and individual delegates being elected by member parties according to member parties' rules.[39]

Under the EPP's statutes, the Congress must meet once every three years, but it also meets normally during the years of elections for the European Parliament (every five years), and extraordinary Congresses have also been summoned. The Congress elects the EPP Presidency every three years, decides on the main policy documents and electoral programmes, and provides a platform for the EPP's heads of government and party leaders.

EPP leaders meet for the EPP Summit a few hours before each meeting of the European Council in order to formulate common positions. Invitations are sent by the EPP President and attendees include, besides the members of the EPP's presidency, all Presidents and Prime Ministers who are members of the European Council and belong to the EPP; the Presidents of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council, as well as the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, provided that they belong to the EPP; Deputy Prime Ministers or other ministers in those cases where the Prime Minister of a country does not belong to an EPP member party; and, where no EPP member party is part of a government, the leaders of the main EPP opposition party.

Reunion Picture at 2011 Summit

Following the pattern of the EPP Summit the party also organises regular EPP Ministerial meetings before each meeting of the Council of the European Union, with ministers, deputy ministers, secretaries of state and MEPs in the specific policy field attending:

• General Affairs
• Foreign Affairs
• Economy and Finance
• Home Affairs
• Justice
• Defence
• Employment and Social Affairs
• Industry
• Agriculture
• Energy
• Environment[40]

The EPP also organises working groups on different issues on an ad hoc basis, as well as meetings with its affiliated members in the European Commission. It also invites individual Commissioners to the EPP Summit meetings and to EPP Ministerial meetings.

Following amendments to the EU Regulation that governs europarties in 2007, the EPP, like the other European political parties, is responsible for organising a pan-European campaign for the European elections every five years. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the parties must present candidates for President of the European Commission, but the EPP had already done this by endorsing José Manuel Barroso for a second term in April 2009.

The year 2014 saw the first fully-fledged campaign of the EPP ahead of the European elections of that year. The party nominated former Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as its candidate for President of the European Commission and led a pan-European campaign in coordination with the national campaigns of all its member parties.

Following EPP's victory in the 2019 European Parliament election, Ursula von der Leyen was nominated by the EPP as Commission President. She was endorsed by the European Council and elected by an absolute majority in the European Parliament. On 1 December 2019, the von der Leyen Commission officially took office. It includes 10 EPP officeholders out of 27 total Commissioners.

State	Commissioner	Portfolio	Political party	Portrait
Germany	von der LeyenUrsula von der Leyen	President	CDU
Latvia	DombrovskisValdis Dombrovskis	Executive Vice President – An Economy that Works for the People, Trade	Unity
Croatia	ŠuicaDubravka Šuica	Vice President – Democracy and Demography	HDZ
Greece	SchinasMargaritis Schinas	Vice President – Promoting the European Way of Life	ND
Austria	HahnJohannes Hahn	Commissioner for Budget and Administration	ÖVP
Ireland	McGuinnessMairead McGuinness	Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union	FG
Bulgaria	GabrielMariya Gabriel	Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth	GERB
Cyprus	KyriakidesStella Kyriakides	Commissioner for Health and Food Safety	DISY
Romania	VăleanAdina-Ioana Vălean	Commissioner for Transport	PNL
Hungary	VárhelyiOlivér Várhelyi	Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement	EPP (Independent on the national level, but affiliated with EPP at the EU level)

The EPP has the largest group in the European Parliament: the EPP Group. It currently has 182 Members in the European Parliament and its chairman is the German MEP Manfred Weber.

In every election for the European Parliament candidates elected on lists of member parties of the EPP are obliged to join the EPP Group in the European Parliament.

The EPP Group holds five of the fourteen vice-presidencies of the European Parliament.

The EPP has 10 out of the 27 EU heads of state or government attending the EPP summit meetings in preparation of the European Council (as of October 2021):

Member state	Representative	Title	Political party	Member of the Council since	Portrait
Austria	Karl Nehammer	Chancellor	ÖVP	6 December 2021
Croatia	Andrej Plenković	Prime Minister	HDZ	19 October 2016
Cyprus	Nicos Anastasiades	President	DISY	28 February 2013
Greece	Kyriakos Mitsotakis	Prime Minister	ND	8 July 2019
Latvia	Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš	Prime Minister	Unity	23 January 2019
Lithuania	Ingrida Šimonytė	Prime Minister	EPP	11 December 2020
Romania	Klaus Iohannis	President	PNL	21 December 2014
Sweden	Ulf Kristersson	Prime Minister	M	18 October 2022

Through its associate and observer parties the EPP has five head of state or government in non-EU countries:

State	Representatives	Title	Political party	In power since	Portrait
Serbia	Aleksandar Vučić	President	SNS	31 May 2017
Serbia	Ana Brnabić	Prime Minister	SNS	29 June 2017
Moldova	Maia Sandu	President	PAS	24 December 2020
Moldova	Natalia Gavrilița	Prime Minister	PAS	6 August 2021
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Borjana Krišto	Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers	HDZ BiH	25 January 2023

The Group of the EPP in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe defends freedom of expression and information, as well as freedom of movement of ideas and religious tolerance. It promotes the principle of subsidiarity and local autonomy, as well as the defence of national, social, and other minorities. The EPP/CD Group is led by Aleksander Pociej, a member of the Polish Civic Platform.

The EPP/CD group also includes members from parties that are not related to the EPP itself, including members of the Patriotic Union (Liechtenstein), the Progressive Citizens' Party (Liechtenstein), and the National and Democratic Union (Monaco).[41]

The "EPP and like-minded Group" in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the most active political group in that body. The Group meets regularly and promotes the EPP's positions. The members of the EPP Group also participate in the election-monitoring missions of the OSCE.

The Group is chaired by Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden), and its Vice-Presidents are Consiglio Di Nino (Canada), Vilija Aleknaitė Abramikiene (Lithuania), Laura Allegrini (Italy), and George Tsereteli (Georgia).

The Group also includes members of parties not related to the EPP, accounting for the "like-minded" part of its name. Among them are members of the Patriotic Union (Liechtenstein), the Union for the Principality (Monaco), the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party of Canada, and the Republican Party of the United States.

The EPP is also present and active in the Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and forms the "EPP and Associated Members" Group there. It is led by the German CDU politician Karl Lamers, who is also the current President of the Assembly. The Group also included members of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party of the United States, but now they're members of the Conservative Group

From left to right: López-Istúriz, McCain & Martens

The EPP has close relations with the International Republican Institute (IRI), an organisation funded by the U.S. government especially to promote democracy and democratisation. The EPP and the IRI cooperate within the framework of the European Partnership Initiative.[42]

The EPP's late President, Wilfried Martens, endorsed Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, in the presidential election in 2008.[43] McCain was also Chairman of the IRI. In 2011 Martens and McCain made joint press statements expressing their concern about the state of democracy in Ukraine.[44][45]

The EPP is the European wing of two global centre-right organisations, the International Democrat Union (IDU) and the Centrist Democrat International (CDI).

SME Europe is the official business organisation of the EPP and serves as a network for pro-business politicians and political organisations. Its main objective is to shape EU policy in a more SME-friendly way in close cooperation with the SME Circle of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the DG Enterprise and the pro-business organisations of the EPP's member parties. Its top priorities are to reform the legal framework for SMEs all over Europe and to promote and support the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises. SME Europe was founded in May 2012 by three Members of the European Parliament, Paul Rübig, Nadezhda Neynsky, and Bendt Bendtsen.

European Democrat Students (EDS) is now the official students' organisation of the EPP, though it was founded in 1961, 15 years before the EPP itself. Led by Virgilio Falco, EDS has 40 member organisations, representing nearly 1,600,000 students and young people[46] in 31 countries, including Belarus and Georgia. Every year EDS hosts Summer and Winter "universities", and several seminars. It also regularly publishes a magazine, Bullseye, and organises topical campaigns.

Founded in Madrid in 1995 and led by Ann Hermans of the CD&V, the European Seniors' Union (ESU) is the largest political senior citizens' organisation in Europe. The ESU is represented in 26 states with 45 organisations and about 500,000 members.

The European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW) is the labour organisation of the EPP, with 24 member organisations in 18 countries. As the officially recognised EPP association of workers, the EUCDW is led by Elmar Brok, MEP. It aims at the political unification of a democratic Europe, the development of the EPP based on Christian social teaching, and the defence of workers' interests in European policy-making.

The Women of the European People's Party (EPP Women) is recognised by the EPP as the official association of women from all like-minded political parties of Europe. EPP Women has more than 40 member organisations from countries of the European Union and beyond. All of them are women's organisations of political parties that are members of the EPP. EPP Women is led by Doris Pack.

The Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP), led by Lídia Pereira, is the EPP's official youth organisation. It has 64 member organisations, bringing together between one and two million young people in 40 countries.