European Democrat Students (EDS) is a pan-European

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

student and youth political association, and the official student organisation of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily ...

. Founded in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

by Scandinavian,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

students in 1961, it represents over 1,600,000 students and young people in 40 member organisations from 35 countries in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and is the largest youth organisation in Europe. Its stated goal is to promote a free, democratic and united Europe through a greater student mobility and comprehensive education policies across the continent. European Democrat Students has been always a frontrunner in integration, fighting for open borders, united Europe and European debate in European politics. The three pillars of EDS originally stood for

conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...

and

Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

. Today, EDS grew into a large family which has an outlook that is various, rich and unique, represented by the name 'Democrat'; here, student organisations, political youth organisations and other centre-right organisations come together to shape modern centre-right policies for Europe.

History

In 1958, a group of Swedish students, members of the Conservative Student League of Sweden, travelled to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, where they attended the annual meeting of the

Association of Christian Democratic Students The Association of Christian Democratic Students (german: Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in tot ...

. A cooperation between the Swedish and West German students was initiated, that was soon extended to include student organisations from the rest of

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. In response to increasing activities of communist organisations, the liberal-conservative and christian democratic student organisations from these countries saw a need for stronger international cooperation among democratic student organisations in Europe. When the communist International Union of Students organised the "7th World Youth Festival" in Vienna in 1959, christian democratic and liberal-conservative students established the organisation ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neues Leben'' (Action Committee New Life), the first international organisation of centre-right students in Europe. The new organisation distributed pins with the text "Remember Hungary 1956!" Carl Bildt under nationaldagsfirande vid Skansen 2009

Carl Bildt under nationaldagsfirande vid Skansen 2009

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neues Leben quickly evolved into the International Student Conferences, that took place in Copenhagen and Stockholm for the first time in 1960. At the third conference, in Vienna in 1961, the International of Christian-Democrat and Conservative Students, the predecessor of the European Democrat Students, was founded. The organisation considered itself to be the "first avantgarde fighter for the protection of the principles of liberty and individualism," and supported European integration and programmes for student mobility. The founding member organisations were the Freie Österreichische Studentenschaft (Austria), the Conservative Students (Denmark), the

(West Germany), the Students' League of the Conservative Party (Norway), and the Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students (FMSF). A few months later, the Federation of University Conservative and Unionist Associations (UK) and ESC (Belgium) joined. The current name of the organisation, European Democrat Students, was adopted in 1975, after it was proposed by

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...

. Since 1997, EDS has been the official student organisation of the European People's Party (EPP). Full members status is held to the

European Youth Forum The European Youth Forum (from french: Youth Forum Jeunesse, YFJ) is an international non-profit association and serves as a platform and advocacy group of the national youth councils and international non-governmental youth organisations in Euro ...

(YFJ), the

International Young Democrat Union The International Young Democrat Union (IYDU) is a global alliance of centre-right political youth organisations and the youth wing of the International Democrat Union. The IYDU in its current form was founded in March 1991 in Washington, D.C ...

(IYDU) and the Robert Schuman Institute. EDS is also recognised as a member association of the

European Peoples Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...

(EPP), where EDS is one of the six EPP associations - in addition to recognition as an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

at the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

. Organising seminars, summer and winter universities, publications, campaigns and political resolutions, EDS connects like-minded students from all over the continent and shapes European student policies as well as the debates within the EPP. In 2011, the celebrations of the 50th anniversary have been conducted in Brussels and Vienna, attracting several hundreds of members, alumni, politicians and partners. An important shift towards a more wide vision of the world was introduced during the working year 2017-2018 with the first Study Mission organized in Latin America under the title of "Caja Política". A second edition was held in 2019 in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

and Quito (

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

) and it successfully gathered young leaders from a dozen Latin American countries with representatives of the EDS Bureau and Member Organizations. After these events EDS became a pioneer in the center right becoming the first European organization regularly active in Latin America, Europe and Middle East.

Current Executive Burreau (21/22) http://www.edsnet.eu/executive-bureau/

Chairman ''Beppe Galea (Malta)'' Sec gen ''Ivan Boutocharov (United Kingdom)'' Vice-chairs: ''Ramon Riera (Spain)'' ''Edvardas Lukosius (Lithuania)'' ''Dora Hidas (Hungary)'' ''Icovous Iacovou (Cyprus)'' ''Rayno Stoyanov (Bulgaria)'' ''Rodolfo Biancheri (Italy)'' ''Kristjan Uhtid (Estonia)'' ''Eleni Koufali (Greece)''

Chairmen

* 1962–1964: Carl-Henrik Winquist (Sweden) * 1964–1966: Dieter Ibielski (Germany) * 1966–1968: Reginald E. Simmerson (UK) * 1968–1970: Heikki S. von Hertzen (Finland) * 1970–1971: Ian Taylor (UK) * 1971–1972: Finn Braagaard (Denmark) * 1972–1974: Tom Spencer (UK) * 1974–1976:

(Sweden) * 1976–1978: Scott Hamilton (UK) * 1978–1979: Pierre Moinet (France) * 1979–1981: Lars Eskeland (Norway) * 1981–1982: Per Heister (Sweden) * 1982–1984: Knut Olav Nesse (Norway) * 1984–1985: Daniel Bischof (Switzerland) * 1985–1986: George Anagnostakos (Greece) * 1986–1988: Mattias Bengtsson (Sweden) * 1988–1989: Bettina Machaczek (Germany) * 1989–1991: Stavros Papastavrou (Greece) * 1991–1993: Laura de Esteban (Spain) * 1993–1994: Tim Arnold (Germany) * 1994–1995: Fredrik Johansson (Sweden) * 1995–1996: Andrew Reid (UK) * 1996–1998: Günther Fehlinger (Austria) * 1998–1999: Michalis Peglis (Greece) * 1999–2000: Ukko Metsola (Finland) * 2000–2001: Gustav Casparsson (Sweden) * 2001–2003: Jacob Lund Nielsen (Denmark) * 2003–2005: Alexandros Sinka (Cyprus) * 2005–2006: Sven Henrik Häseker (Germany) * 2006–2008: Ana Filipa Janine (Portugal) * 2008–2009: Thomas Uhlen (Germany) * 2009–2011: Bence Bauer (Hungary) * 2011–2013: Juraj Antal (Slovakia) * 2013–2015: Eva Majewski (Germany) * 2015–2017: Georgios Chatzigeorgiou (Cyprus) * 2017-2019: Virgilio Falco (Italy) * 2019-2021: Carlo Angrisano Girauta (Spain) * Since 2021: Beppe Galea (Malta)

Members

EDS has four categories of membership: Full members, observers, and additionally affiliate and associate members. The full members are (founding members in bold) *: AktionsGemeinschaft * : Forumi Rinor i Partise Demokratike *: Etudiants Démocrates Humanistes *: Christen Democratische Studenten *: Youth Association of the

Party of Democratic Action The Party of Democratic Action ( bs, Stranka demokratske akcije; abbr. SDA) is a Bosniak nationalist, conservative political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. History The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) was founded on 26 May 1990 in Sarajevo, ...

*: Federation of Independent Student Societies *: Млади Граждани за Европейско Развитие на България (МГЕРБ) *: University Organisation of the

Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...

*: FPK Protoporia *: Conservative Students *:

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica Isamaa is a Christian-democratic and national-conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publi ...

Youth *: Student Union of National Coalition Party Tuhatkunta *:

Union Nationale Inter-universitaire Union Nationale Interuniversitaire (UNI) or "Inter-University Union" is the largest French right-wing union of university students, created in February 1969 to promote freedom of expression in reaction to the student crisis of May 68 and to suppo ...

*: Young Student Organization Graali *: UYNM *:

Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten The Association of Christian Democratic Students (german: Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in tota ...

*: Dimokratiki Ananeotiki Protoporia – Nea Dimokratiki Foititiki Kinissi *: Fidelitas *: StudiCentro *: Nuovo Centrodestra *: Forumi Rinor i Lidhjes Demokratike te Kosoves *: Young Conservative League *: Youth Forces Union of VMRO-DPMNE *: Studenti Demokristjani Maltin *: Youth of the

Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova ( ro, Partidul Liberal Democrat din Moldova, PLDM) is a conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Moldova, political party in Moldova. The party is led by Tudor Deliu. Until 2016, PLDM was led ...

*: Students' League of the Conservative Party *: Stowarzyszenie „Młodzi Demokraci” *: Liberal Student Clubs *: Hungarian Romanian Christian-Democrat Students of Romania *: Občiansko Demokratická Mládež *: Slovenian Academic Union *:

New Generations of the People's Party of Spain New Generations of the People's Party ( es, link=no, Nuevas Generaciones, NNGG) is the youth wing of the People's Party. It operates in all Spain and also has structures in other countries. They share the same ideological platform of the PP: a c ...

Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students The Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students ( sv, Fria moderata studentförbundet, ''FMSF'', "Free Moderate Student League") is a Swedish student organisation. It considers itself to be non-partisan, but is politically close t ...

*: Ukrainian Students Association *: Youth of

Petro Poroshenko Bloc European Solidarity ( uk, Європейська солідарність, Yevropeis'ka solidarnist', YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in va ...

*: Young Conservative European Forum *: Youth for Innovation The Affiliate Members are: *: Youth of the Republican Party of Armenia *: Lebanese Forces Students Association The Observer Members are: *: Belarusian Student Network *: Tinerii Partidului Popular European din Moldova The Associated Member is: *: Young Conservatives (Czech Republic)

Policies

In a 2009 resolution, the organisation expressed its support for the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

, calling for the condemnation of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

, and adopted the declaration's content as part of its general policy. "Communism as a totalitarian regime ..can only distinct itself from Fascism and Nazism by a more recent expiry date and the consequent damage over time it was able to cause," the resolution said.

''BullsEye'' magazine

From 1977 to 1997 EDS had an official magazine under the name of ''Taurus''. In the year 1997 the magazine was reshuffled and a new name was adopted. Since then it became ''The BullsEye'' magazine and every Council Meeting counted with an issue of the magazine, with an editorial team that enlarged year after year reaching in 2019 the largest number of applicants. The magazine currently covers the European political present, the EU Agenda 2019-2024 and key topics of the future of Education. In the year 2019 it reached its 77th issue, published during the EPP Congress in Zagreb.

Literature

* Holger Thuss and Bence Bauer, Students on the Right Way. European Democrat Students 1961-2011, Brussels 2012,

References

External links

Official EDS websiteThe BullsEye Magazine
{{Authority control Democrat Students, European Student political organizations Student wings of political parties International Young Democrat Union Anti-communist organizations