Christian Social People's Party Explained

Country:Luxembourg
Christian Social People's Party
Abbreviation:CSV
PCS
Native Name:Chrëschtlech-Sozial Vollekspartei
President:Luc Frieden
Leader1 Title:General Secretary
Leader1 Name:Françoise Kemp
Alex Donnersbach
Predecessor:Party of the Right
Ideology:Christian democracy
Conservatism
Pro-Europeanism
Position:Centre to centre-right
Youth Wing:Christian Social Youth
Slogan:Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: Kloer, no & gerecht. (Clear, close, and just.)
International:Centrist Democrat International
European:European People's Party
Europarl:European People's Party
Regional:Christian Group
Seats1 Title:Chamber of Deputies
Seats2 Title:European Parliament
Seats3 Title:Local councils
Seats4 Title:Benelux Parliament
Colours: Black
Light blue
Orange
White

The Christian Social People's Party (Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei, French: Parti populaire chrétien-social, German: Christlich Soziale Volkspartei; CSV or PCS), is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party follows a Christian democratic[1] [2] [3] [4] and conservative[5] [6] [7] ideology and has been described as centre[8] [9] to centre-right.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Furthermore, akin to most parties in Luxembourg, it is strongly pro-European.[15] The CSV is a member of the Christian Group,[16] European People's Party, and the Centrist Democrat International.

The CSV has been the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies since the party's formation, and currently holds 21 of 60 seats in the Chamber. Since the Second World War, every Prime Minister of Luxembourg has been a member of the CSV, with only two exceptions: Gaston Thorn (1974–1979), and Xavier Bettel (2013 - 2023). It holds two of Luxembourg's six seats in the European Parliament, as it has for 14 of the 44 years for which MEPs have been directly elected.

The party's President has been Prime Minister Luc Frieden since March 2024. A leading figure from the party is the former Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, who previously governed in coalition with the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) until the 2013 general election.

History

The earliest roots of the CSV date back to the foundation of the Party of the Right on 16 January 1914.

In December 1944, the Party of the Right was officially transformed into the Luxembourg Christian Social People's Party. "Luxembourg" was dropped from the name by late March 1945. The first elections after the Second World War took place in 1945; the party won 25 out of 51 seats, missing an absolute majority by a single seat.

From 1945 to 1974, the party was in government and gave Luxembourg the following Prime Ministers: Pierre Dupong, Joseph Bech, Pierre Frieden, and Pierre Werner. Mostly in coalition with the Democratic Party (DP), it gave Luxembourg a certain economic and social stability.

In the 1950s, the party structure underwent a certain democratisation: the party's youth section (founded in 1953) and women's section received representation in the party's central organs.[17]

The party went into opposition for the first time in 1974, when the Democratic Party's Gaston Thorn became Prime Minister in coalition with the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). In 1979, the party returned to government after its victory in the 1979 general election; Pierre Werner became PM.

In 1984, Jacques Santer became PM. He remained as such until 1995, when Jean-Claude Juncker became PM, with Santer meanwhile taking up the post of President of the European Commission.

Following the 2013 general election, the party went into opposition for the second time in its history as the Democratic Party's Xavier Bettel became Prime Minister in coalition with the LSAP and The Greens, making it the first time in Luxembourg's history that a three-party coalition government had been formed. This also marked the first time that The Greens were part of a governmental coalition. Despite remaining the largest party, the result of the 2018 general election represented the lowest public support in the party's history.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

ElectionVotes%Elected seatsSeats after+/–Government
1945907,60144.7 (#1)New
1948386,97236.3 (#1) 2
1951425,54542.1 (#1) 1
19541,003,40645.2 (#1) 5
1959896,84038.9 (#1) 5
1964883,07935.7 (#1) 1
1968915,94437.5 (#1) 1
1974836,99029.9 (#1) 3
19791,049,39036.4 (#1) 6
19841,148,08536.7 (#1) 1
1989977,52132.4 (#1) 3
1994887,65130.3 (#1) 1
1999870,98530.1 (#1) 2
20041,103,82536.1 (#1) 5
20091,129,36838.0 (#1) 2
20131,103,63633.7 (#1) 3
2018999,38128.3 (#1) 2
20231,099,42729.2 (#1) 0

ImageSize = width:700 height:150PlotArea = width:600 height:125 left:25 bottom:20AlignBars = justify

Colors = id:CSV value:rgb(0.999,0.5,0)

DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:0 till:30TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0

PlotData= bar:Seats color:CSV width:23 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1945 color:CSV from:start till:25 text:25 align:center bar:1948 color:CSV from:start till:22 text:22 align:center bar:1951 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1954 color:CSV from:start till:26 text:26 align:center bar:1959 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1964 color:CSV from:start till:22 text:22 align:center bar:1968 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1974 color:CSV from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1979 color:CSV from:start till:24 text:24 align:center bar:1984 color:CSV from:start till:25 text:25 align:center bar:1989 color:CSV from:start till:22 text:22 align:center bar:1994 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1999 color:CSV from:start till:19 text:19 align:center bar:2004 color:CSV from:start till:24 text:24 align:center bar:2009 color:CSV from:start till:26 text:26 align:center bar:2013 color:CSV from:start till:23 text:23 align:center bar:2018 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:2023 color:CSV from:start till:21 text:21 align:center

ImageSize = width:700 height:150PlotArea = width:600 height:125 left:25 bottom:20AlignBars = justify

Colors = id:CSV value:rgb(0.999,0.5,0)

DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:0 till:500TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0

PlotData= bar:Vote% color:CSV width:23 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1945 color:CSV from:start till:447 text:44.7 align:center bar:1948 color:CSV from:start till:363 text:36.3 align:center bar:1951 color:CSV from:start till:421 text:42.1 align:center bar:1954 color:CSV from:start till:424 text:42.4 align:center bar:1959 color:CSV from:start till:369 text:36.9 align:center bar:1964 color:CSV from:start till:333 text:33.3 align:center bar:1968 color:CSV from:start till:352 text:35.2 align:center bar:1974 color:CSV from:start till:276 text:27.6 align:center bar:1979 color:CSV from:start till:345 text:34.5 align:center bar:1984 color:CSV from:start till:349 text:34.9 align:center bar:1989 color:CSV from:start till:324 text:32.4 align:center bar:1994 color:CSV from:start till:303 text:30.3 align:center bar:1999 color:CSV from:start till:301 text:30.1 align:center bar:2004 color:CSV from:start till:361 text:36.1 align:center bar:2009 color:CSV from:start till:380 text:38.0 align:center bar:2013 color:CSV from:start till:336 text:33.6 align:center bar:2018 color:CSV from:start till:283 text:28.3 align:center bar:2023 color:CSV from:start till:292 text:29.2 align:center

European Parliament

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–
1979352,29636.1 (#1)
1984345,58634.9 (#1)
1989346,62134.9 (#1)
1994319,462 31.5 (#1) 1
1999321,02131.7 (#1)
2004404,82337.1 (#1) 1
2009353,09431.4 (#1)
2014441,57837.7 (#1)
2019264,66521.1 (#2) 1

Party office-holders

Presidents

General Secretaries

Presidents of Christian Social People's Party in the Chamber of Deputies

+ Died in office

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Luxembourg. Parties and Elections in Europe. Wolfram. Nordsieck. 2018. 10 April 2019.
  2. Book: Hans Slomp. Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. 2011. ABC-CLIO. 978-0-313-39182-8. 477.
  3. Book: Bale, Tim . Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis . 2021 . Cambridge University Press . . 978-1-009-00686-6 . Cambridge, United Kingdom . 34 . 1256593260.
  4. Web site: Nordsieck . Wolfram . 2018 . Luxembourg . 10 April 2019 . Parties and Elections in Europe.
  5. News: 28 May 2019 . EU elections 2019: Country-by-country full results . 6 May 2022 . Euronews . The liberal Democratic Party and the conservative Christian Social People's Party will both send two MEPs to the European Parliament having scored 21.44 and 21.1% respectively..
  6. Newton-Small . Jay . 28 July 2016 . An Italian Politician Campaigns for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia . 6 May 2022 . Time (magazine) . European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who belongs to the conservative Christian Social People’s Party, last week not-so-subtly said he’s supporting “a female candidate” for president of the United States..
  7. News: Banea . Andra . David An . Fengwei . Steenland . Robert . Brăileanu . Simona . 6 May 2019 . EU country briefing: Luxembourg . 6 May 2022 . EURACTIV . Over time, these parties have evolved and re-branded themselves as the social democratic Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and the conservative Christian Social People’s Party (CSV)..
  8. Web site: Terry . Chris . 6 May 2014 . Christian Social People's Party (CSV) . The Democratic Society.
  9. Web site: 6 October 2013 . All about the Lëtzebuerger Chrestlech Sozial Vollekspartei (CSV) . Luxembourg Times.
  10. Book: Josep M. Colomer . Josep Colomer . Comparative European Politics . Taylor & Francis . 2008 . 978-0-203-94609-1 . 221.
  11. News: 4 December 2020 . Social democrats gain in polls, Greens lose . 6 May 2022 . Luxembourg Times . Centre-right CSV is still the biggest party in the country, but keeps shrinking.
  12. News: Huberty . Martine . Hennebert . Jean-Michel . 9 October 2017 . Election results: focus on the capital . 6 May 2022 . Delano . The local elections showed an overall strengthening of the centre-right CSV in bigger towns across Luxembourg..
  13. News: Dallison . Paul . 8 January 2014 . The highs and the lows . 6 May 2022 . Politico . Juncker’s centre-right Christian Social People’s party (CVSP) won 23 seats in the 60-strong parliament but a coalition of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), the centre-left LSAP and the Greens meant Juncker’s days were numbered..
  14. News: Nisbet . Robert . 6 June 2014 . Juncker A Wily Politician Who Enjoys The Game . 6 May 2022 . Sky News . Juncker Jr. studied law at university but never practiced, honing his political skills by joining the centre-right Christian Social People's Party which fast-tracked him to a deputy's position (similar to a British MP) when he was just 30..
  15. Web site: Christian Social People's Party (CSV). 6 May 2014. Terry. Chris. The Democratic Society.
  16. Web site: Politieke fracties . 8 August 2023 . . nl.
  17. Web site: Geschicht. CSV.lu. 2015-12-16.
  18. Web site: François Biltgen. 18 July 2006. 7 June 2006. Service Information et Presse. https://web.archive.org/web/20060709185432/http://www.gouvernement.lu/gouvernement/membres/biltgen/cv_en/index.html . 9 July 2006.
  19. Web site: New leader for the CSV . 4 October 2010 . 26 May 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120526052850/http://hello.news352.lu/index.php?p=edito&id=8183 . dead .
  20. Web site: Perséinlechkeeten aus der CSV. 16 January 2009. Christian Social People's Party. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090126101655/http://csv.lu/lb/pages/personnalites.html. 26 January 2009. lb.
  21. Web site: Martine Hansen . . 27 September 2020 . fr.

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