Christian Social People's Party

This article is about the Luxembourgish political party. For the defunct Liechtensteiner political party, see Christian-Social People's Party (Liechtenstein).

The Christian Social People's Party (Luxembourgish: 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.

Christian Social People's Party Chrëschtlech-Sozial Vollekspartei
Abbreviation	CSV PCS
President	Luc Frieden
General Secretary	Françoise Kemp Alex Donnersbach
Founded	December 1944; 79 years ago (1944-12)
Preceded by	Party of the Right
Youth wing	Christian Social Youth
Ideology	Christian democracy Conservatism Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre to centre-right
Regional affiliation	Christian Group
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	European People's Party
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
Colours	Black   Light blue   Orange   White
Slogan	Kloer, no & gerecht. (Clear, close, and just.)
Chamber of Deputies	21 / 60
European Parliament	2 / 6
Local councils	192 / 722
Benelux Parliament	2 / 7
Website
www.csv.lu
Politics of Luxembourg Political parties Elections

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

Jacques Santer (1984–1995), Luc Frieden (2023–) and Jean-Claude Juncker (1995–2013), the three living prime ministers of Luxembourg from the CSV.

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

Election	Votes	%	Elected seats	Seats after	+/–	Government
1945	907,601	44.7 (#1)	25 / 51		New	Coalition
1948[lower-alpha 1]	386,972	36.3 (#1)	9 / 26	22 / 51	2	Coalition
1951[lower-alpha 1]	425,545	42.1 (#1)	12 / 26	21 / 52	1	Coalition
1954	1,003,406	45.2 (#1)	26 / 52		5	Coalition
1959	896,840	38.9 (#1)	21 / 52		5	Coalition
1964	883,079	35.7 (#1)	22 / 56		1	Coalition
1968	915,944	37.5 (#1)	21 / 56		1	Coalition
1974	836,990	29.9 (#1)	18 / 59		3	Opposition
1979	1,049,390	36.4 (#1)	24 / 59		6	Coalition
1984	1,148,085	36.7 (#1)	25 / 64		1	Coalition
1989	977,521	32.4 (#1)	22 / 60		3	Coalition
1994	887,651	30.3 (#1)	21 / 60		1	Coalition
1999	870,985	30.1 (#1)	19 / 60		2	Coalition
2004	1,103,825	36.1 (#1)	24 / 60		5	Coalition
2009	1,129,368	38.0 (#1)	26 / 60		2	Coalition
2013	1,103,636	33.7 (#1)	23 / 60		3	Opposition
2018	999,381	28.3 (#1)	21 / 60		2	Opposition
2023	1,099,427	29.2 (#1)	21 / 60		0	Coalition

1. Partial election. Only half of the seats were up for renewal.

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
1979	Pierre Werner	352,296	36.13 (#1)	3 / 6	New	EPP
1984	Jacques Santer	345,586	34.90 (#1)	3 / 6	0
1989		346,621	34.87 (#1)	3 / 6	0
1994	Jean-Claude Juncker	319,462	31.50 (#1)	2 / 6	1
1999		321,021	31.67 (#1)	2 / 6	0	EPP-ED
2004		404,823	37.14 (#1)	3 / 6	1
2009	Viviane Reding	353,094	31.36 (#1)	3 / 6	0	EPP
2014		441,578	37.66 (#1)	3 / 6	0
2019	Christophe Hansen	264,665	21.10 (#2)	2 / 6	1
2024		317,334	22.91 (#1)	2 / 6	0

Party office-holders

Presidents

• Émile Reuter (1945–1964)
• Tony Biever (1964–1965)
• Jean Dupong (1965–1972)
• Nicolas Mosar (1972–1974)
• Jacques Santer (1974–1982)
• Jean Spautz (1982–1990)
• Jean-Claude Juncker (1990–1995)
• Erna Hennicot-Schoepges (1995–2003)
• François Biltgen (2003–2009)^[18]
• Michel Wolter (2009–2014)^[19]
• Marc Spautz (2014–2019)
• Frank Engel (2019–2021)
• Claude Wiseler (2021–2023)
• Elisabeth Margue (2022-2024)
• Luc Frieden (since 2024)

General Secretaries

• Nicolas Hommel (1944–1946)
• Lambert Schaus (1945–1952)
• Pierre Grégoire (1952–1960)
• Nicolas Mosar (1960–1972)
• Jacques Santer (1972–1974)
• Jean Weber (1974–1977)
• Jean-Pierre Kraemer (1977–1984)
• Willy Bourg (1984–1990)
• Camille Dimmer (1990–1995)
• Claude Wiseler (1995–2000)
• Jean-Louis Schiltz (2000–2006)^[20]
• Marco Schank (2006–2009)
• Marc Spautz (2009–2012)
• Laurent Zeimet (2012–2019)
• Félix Eischen (2019–2021)
• Christophe Hansen (2021–2023)

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

• Tony Biever (1959–1974)
• Pierre Werner (1974–1979)
• Nicolas Mosar (1979–1984)
• François Colling (1984–1995)
• Lucien Weiler (1996–2004)
• Michel Wolter (2004–2009)
• Jean-Louis Schiltz (2009–2011)
• Lucien Thiel (2011)+
• Marc Spautz (2011–2013)
• Gilles Roth (2013)
• Claude Wiseler (2014–2018)
• Martine Hansen (2018–2023)^[21]
• Marc Spautz (2023-present)

+ Died in office

See also

• Conservatism portal

• List of political parties in Luxembourg

References

1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Luxembourg". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
2. Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 477. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8.
3. Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.
4. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Luxembourg". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
5. "EU elections 2019: Country-by-country full results". Euronews. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2022. 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". Time (magazine). Retrieved 6 May 2022. 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. Banea, Andra; David An, Fengwei; Steenland, Robert; Brăileanu, Simona (6 May 2019). "EU country briefing: Luxembourg". EURACTIV. Retrieved 6 May 2022. 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. Terry, Chris (6 May 2014). "Christian Social People's Party (CSV)". The Democratic Society.
9. "All about the Lëtzebuerger Chrestlech Sozial Vollekspartei (CSV)". Luxembourg Times. 6 October 2013.
10. Josep M. Colomer (2008). Comparative European Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-203-94609-1.
11. "Social democrats gain in polls, Greens lose". Luxembourg Times. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2022. Centre-right CSV is still the biggest party in the country, but keeps shrinking
12. Huberty, Martine; Hennebert, Jean-Michel (9 October 2017). "Election results: focus on the capital". Delano. Retrieved 6 May 2022. The local elections showed an overall strengthening of the centre-right CSV in bigger towns across Luxembourg.
13. Dallison, Paul (8 January 2014). "The highs and the lows". Politico. Retrieved 6 May 2022. 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. Nisbet, Robert (6 June 2014). "Juncker A Wily Politician Who Enjoys The Game". Sky News. Retrieved 6 May 2022. 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. Terry, Chris (6 May 2014). "Christian Social People's Party (CSV)". The Democratic Society.
16. "Politieke fracties". Benelux Parliament (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 August 2023.
17. "Geschicht". CSV.lu. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
18. "François Biltgen". Service Information et Presse. 7 June 2006. Archived from the original on 9 July 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2006.
19. "New leader for the CSV". Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
20. "Perséinlechkeeten aus der CSV" (in Luxembourgish). Christian Social People's Party. Archived from the original on 26 January 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
21. "Martine Hansen". Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg (in French). Retrieved 27 September 2020.

Further reading

• Poirie, Philippe (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard (eds.). At the Centre of the State: Christian Democracy in Luxembourg | Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War. Leuven University Press. pp. 179–195. ISBN 90-5867-377-4.
• Schaus, Émile (1974). Ursprung und Leistung einer Partei: Rechtspartei und Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei 1914-1974. Luxembourg : Sankt-Paulus-Druckerei.
• Trausch, Gilbert, ed. (2008). CSV Spiegelbild eines Landes und seiner Politik? Geschichte der Christlich-Sozialen Volkspartei Luxemburgs im 20. Jahrhundert. Luxembourg: Éditions Saint-Paul.

External links

Media related to Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website