Christian Union (Netherlands)

The Christian Union (Dutch: ChristenUnie [ˈkrɪs.tənˈy.ni], CU) is a Christian-democratic^[10] political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues^[11][12][13] while holding more socially conservative positions on issues such as abortion and euthanasia. The party describes itself as "social Christian".^[14]

The CU was founded in 2000 as a merger of the

The predecessors of the CU. the Reformed Political League and the Reformatory Political Federation

The Netherlands has a long tradition of small orthodox or conservative Protestant (i.e., mostly

(CDA).

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The RPF explicitly stated in its manifesto of principles that it sought to unite all reformed parties in the Netherlands. However, the GPV and SGP were somewhat less receptive. The GPV was only open to a specific current in reformed Protestantism, namely the Reformed Churches (Liberated), and did not wish to cooperate with non-'liberated' reformed: it had rejected on religious grounds the entry of the group that in the 1970s was to become the RPF. The SGP had rejected cooperation with these parties because they had female members; the SGP consistently rejected female suffrage until 2006. The RPF, GPV and SGP were testimonial parties, which chose to voice their concerns about government policy, while acknowledging that they were not big enough to force their opinion upon others.

In 1984, however, the three parties cooperated in the European election and presented a common list in order to enter the European Parliament. In the 1989 general election they formed an electoral alliance in order to enhance their chances of obtaining seats. In 1995 informal talks were opened between the three parties. The GPV had opened itself to non-liberated members, but the SGP not to women. The discussions with the SGP were broken off and the GPV and RPF continued together. For a long time the GPV was not willing to enter a major internal debate with the RPF, which also performed better electorally; it had won three seats in the 1998 election, while the GPV received only two. From 1998 the two parliamentary parties cooperated with each other, held common meetings and appointed common spokespersons. In 1999 a group called "Transformatie" (Transformation) was set up by young people from both parties in reaction to the slow cooperation process: they tried to intensify the debate about cooperation. In the same year the cooperation talks were formalised and intensified, leading to the foundation of the Christian Union.

2000–present

The Christian Union was founded in January 2000 as an alliance between the RPF and GPV. Later in that year, their youth organisations, GPJC and RPFJ, fused completely, presenting an example to their mother organisations. In 2001, they formed a common

In the

In October 2013, the Second Rutte cabinet (VVD and PvdA), lacking a majority in the Senate, reached a budgetary agreement with the CU, the Reformed Political Party (SGP) and Democrats 66 (D66). This occasional coalition is nicknamed "purple plus the Bible" (Paars met de Bijbel) as it includes the secular parties VVD, PvdA and D66 plus the religious-orientated parties Christian Union and SGP. The term "purple plus the Bible" had already been used in February that year, when the same parties reached an agreement on modernising the housing market. Although the cabinet is quite unpopular and the VVD and PvdA lost a lot of municipal seats during the municipal elections of 19 March 2014, the parties that give tactical support to the minority government of VVD and PvdA, D66, CU and SGP won a lot of seats.

After the

Following the 2019 European elections, the Christian Union left the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament (of which it had been a founding member) arguing that the ECR was moving too far to the right by including MEPs far-right parties such as the Dutch Forum for Democracy and the Sweden Democrats. The party instead joined the European People's Party Group.

In January 2023, Mirjam Bikker succeeded Segers as the party leader.^[15] During the 2023 Dutch general election the Christian Union lost two of their five seats, getting 2% of the votes.^[16]

Ideology

The CU describes itself as a Christian social party. The party has its roots in orthodox Protestant (i.e. mostly

• Facilitation by government of a one-earner model, allowing one parent, usually the wife, to stay at home and take care of the children.
• Society should cherish its collective moments of rest, and preferably leave Sunday a day of rest.
• Abortion and euthanasia-practices should be reduced and eventually replaced by alternatives, such as care of women with unwanted pregnancies and palliative care.
• The Dutch policy of toleration of soft drugs should be abandoned.
• Combatting child pornography and prostitution.
• Defending the freedom of education (that is, to found religious schools), because of sphere sovereignty.
• The Netherlands should remain an independent political entity within the European Union.
• Limiting the use of
  genetic manipulation
  .

More centre-left policies include:

• Public services of education, health care and social security should remain state run, but on a smaller scale than is presently the case.
• Increased budgets for
  poverty in the global south
  .
• A more open policy towards asylum seekers, especially those who are persecuted for religious reasons.
• A
  green energy, the Dutch branch of Greenpeace termed CU the greenest political party in 2006.^[18]

The party supports Dutch membership of the European Union to ensure peace and prosperity, and to counter the influence of Russia and China, while simultaneously being critical of several EU policies which it claims are undemocratic and "mainly benefits large companies and the upper middle classes." The CU instead calls for more transparency within the EU, for domestic decision making of EU member states to be respected and wants reforms made to the Eurozone. The CU is also against the accession of Turkey to the European Union.^[21]

Electoral results

This table shows the CU's results in elections to the House of Representatives, Senate, European Parliament and States-Provincial, as well as the party's political leadership: the fractievoorzitter is the chair of the parliamentary party and the lead candidate is the party's top candidate in the general election; these posts are normally taken by the party's leader. It also listed whether the CU was in government at the time. For further information the membership figure and the name of the party chairman of the CU are listed.

House of Representatives

Election	Lead candidate	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2002	Kars Veling	240,953	2.54 (#8)	4 / 150	1	Opposition
2003	André Rouvoet	204,649	2.12 (#8)	3 / 150	1	Opposition
2006		390,969	3.97 (#6)	6 / 150	3	Coalition
2010		305,094	3.24 (#8)	5 / 150	1	Opposition
2012	Arie Slob	294,586	3.13 (#8)	5 / 150		Opposition
2017	Gert-Jan Segers	356,271	3.39 (#8)	5 / 150		Coalition
2021		350,523	3.37 (#8)	5 / 150		Coalition
2023	Mirjam Bikker	212,532	2.04 (#13)	3 / 150	2	Opposition

Senate

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
1999			4 / 75	2
2003			2 / 75	2
2007			4 / 75	2
2011			2 / 75	2
2015	32		3 / 75	1
2019	33	5.03	4 / 75	1
2023	23	3.73	3 / 75	1

European Parliament

Election	List	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Notes
2004	List	279,880	5.87	2 / 27	New	In combination with Reformed Political Party[22]
2009	List	310,540	6.82	2 / 25		In combination with Reformed Political Party[23]
2014	List	364,843	7.67	2 / 26		In combination with Reformed Political Party[24]
2019	List	375,660	7.67	2 / 26		In combination with Reformed Political Party[25]
2024	List	180,060	2.89	0 / 31	1[note 2]	[26]

Provincial

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2015)

Since the

[27]

* result of combined CU/SGP lists; ** members of the CU in combined CU/SGP parliamentary parties.

Municipalities

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2015)

Eight of the 414

From 2007 to 2010 the CU supplied two ministers and one state secretary in the fourth Balkenende cabinet:

• André Rouvoet, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without portfolio for Youth and Family Affairs
• Eimert van Middelkoop, Minister of Defence
• Tineke Huizinga, State Secretary and Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning

Since 2017, the CU has once again supplied two ministers and one state secretary in the third Rutte cabinet:

• Carola Schouten, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
• Arie Slob, Minister for Primary Education, Secondary Education and Media
• Paul Blokhuis, State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sports

Members of the Fourth Rutte cabinet

Portrait	Name	Position	Assumed office
	Carola Schouten (born 1977)	Deputy Prime Minister	26 October 2017
		Civic Engagement • Pensions	10 January 2022
	Piet Adema (born 1964)	Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality	4 October 2022
	Maarten van Ooijen (born 1990)	State Secretary of Health, Welfare and Sport • Youth Care • Preventive Care	10 January 2022

Members of the House of Representatives

Members of the Senate

Members of the European Parliament

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After the

• Anja Haga

Electorate

The CU was supported by orthodox

The youth organisation of the party is PerspectieF which was formed as a fusion of the two youth organisations of the CU's predecessors the GPJC and RPFJ. The party publishes the HandSchrift (HandWriting) six times a year. The party's scientific institute is the Mr. Groen van Prinsterer Foundation, which publishes the DenkWijzer (ThoughtWiser). The women's organisation is Inclusief.

The CU participates in the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, a democracy assistance organisation of seven Dutch political parties.

International organisations

Internationally the CU is a member of the European Christian Political Movement. Its MEPs were seated in the European Conservatives and Reformists group. Until 2019 when the CU joined the EPP Group

Orthodox-Protestant (pillarised) organisations

The CU still has ideological strong links with so-called pillarised organisations. Together with conservative Protestant schools, papers like the Nederlands Dagblad and the Reformatorisch Dagblad, the Protestant broadcaster Evangelische Omroep, several Reformed churches they constitute the conservative or orthodox Reformed pillar (Dutch zuil). While all four of the traditional Dutch pillars (socialists, liberals, Protestants and Catholics) have broken down since the 1960s, the orthodox reformed pillar has actually strengthened in reaction to the process of secularisation.

Relationships to other parties

The Christian Union had been in the opposition until 2006. It has good relations with the orthodox

The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland is nearest to the Christian Union as a conservative Protestant party that is left wing in social matters, conservative in ethical matters and critical of the European Union.

Notes