Christian Social People's Party

The Christian Social People's Party (, , , CSV or PCS) is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party follows a Christian democratic and conservative ideology and has been described as centre-right. Furthermore, akin to most parties in Luxembourg, it is strongly pro-European. The CSV is a member of the Christian Group, 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

thumb|[[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.

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.

As of 2023, CSV is against making Luxembourgish an official language in the european insititutions, citing that french and german already being official languages is enough for the needs of Luxembourg.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"

! rowspan=2 | Election

! rowspan=2 | List leader

! rowspan=2 | Votes

! rowspan=2 | %

! colspan=2 | Seats

! rowspan=2 | +/–

! rowspan=2 | Status

! Up

! Total

! 1945

| rowspan="3" | Pierre Dupong

| 907,601

| 44.7 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| New

! 1948

| 386,972

| 36.3 (#1)

| 2

! 1951

| 425,545

| 42.1 (#1)

| 1

! 1954

|Joseph Bech

| 1,003,406

| 45.2 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 5

! 1959

|Pierre Frieden

| 896,840

| 38.9 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 5

! 1964

| rowspan="4" |Pierre Werner

| 883,079

| 35.7 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 1

! 1968

| 915,944

| 37.5 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 1

! 1974

| 836,990

| 29.9 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 3

! 1979

| 1,049,390

| 36.4 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 6

! 1984

| rowspan="3" |Jacques Santer

| 1,148,085

| 36.7 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 1

! 1989

| 977,521

| 32.4 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 3

! 1994

| 887,651

| 30.3 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 1

! 1999

| rowspan=4 | Jean-Claude Juncker

| 870,985

| 30.1 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 2

! 2004

| 1,103,825

| 36.1 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 5

! 2009

| 1,129,368

| 38.0 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 2

! 2013

| 1,103,636

| 33.7 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 3

! 2018

| Claude Wiseler

| 999,381

| 28.3 (#1)

| colspan=2|

| 2

! 2023

| Luc Frieden

| 1,099,427

| 29.2 (#1)

| colspan=2|

ImageSize = width:700 height:150

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Colors =

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

DateFormat = yyyy

Period = from:0 till:30

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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

</timeline>

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PlotArea = width:600 height:125 left:25 bottom:20

AlignBars = justify

Colors =

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

DateFormat = yyyy

Period = from:0 till:500

TimeAxis = orientation:vertical

ScaleMajor = 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

</timeline>

European Parliament

{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"

! Election

! List leader

! Votes

! %

! Seats

! +/–

! EP Group

! 1979

| Pierre Werner

| 352,296

| 36.13 (#1)

| New

| rowspan=4 | EPP

! 1984

| rowspan=2 | Jacques Santer

| 345,586

| 34.90 (#1)

! 1989

| 346,621

| 34.87 (#1)

! 1994

| rowspan=3 | Jean-Claude Juncker

| 319,462

| 31.50 (#1)

| 1

! 1999

| 321,021

| 31.67 (#1)

| rowspan=2 | EPP-ED

! 2004

| 404,823

| 37.14 (#1)

| 1

! 2009

| rowspan=2 | Viviane Reding

| 353,094

| 31.36 (#1)

| rowspan=4 | EPP

! 2014

| 441,578

| 37.66 (#1)

! 2019

| rowspan=2 | Christophe Hansen

| 264,665

| 21.10 (#2)

| 1

! 2024

| 317,334

| 22.91 (#1)

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)
Michel Wolter (2009–2014)
Marc Spautz (2014–2019)
Frank Engel (2019–2021)
Claude Wiseler (2021–2023)
Elisabeth Margue (2022–2024)
Luc Frieden (2024–present)

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)
Marco Schank (2006–2009)
Marc Spautz (2009–2012)
Laurent Zeimet (2012–2019)
Félix Eischen (2019–2021)
Christophe Hansen (2021–2023)
Stéphanie Weydert (2022–2024)

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)
Marc Spautz (2023–present)

+ Died in office

Christian Social People's Party

History

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

European Parliament

Party office-holders

Presidents

General Secretaries

See also

References

Further reading

External links

History

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

European Parliament

Party office-holders

Presidents

General Secretaries

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

See also

References

Further reading

External links