Who we are
The EPP is led by the Presidency, the executive body of the EPP. The Presidency is elected every three years by the EPP Congress. The last election was held during 2022 Rotterdam Congress.
Our history
Today
The EPP strives for a democratic, transparent and efficient Europe that is close to its citizens. The EPP wants a prosperous Europe through the promotion of a free market economy with a social consciousness.
The EPP is the EU’s centre-right party and its largest and most influential political family. The EPP currently includes 84 parties and partners from 44 countries, the President of the European Commission, President of the European Parliament, 12 EU and 3 non-EU heads of state and government, 10 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.
2009 - 2019
In 2009 the EPP conducted – in close cooperation with its national member-parties – its first Europe-wide campaign for the June 2009 European elections and reinforced its leading position in the European Parliament.
In the following years, the EPP conducted two further European elections campaigns in 2014 and 2019. Next to that, the EPP has started a partnership program with parties from the Middle-East and North Africa region, such as Lebanon and Morocco.
2004 - 2008
In the second part of the decade, the EPP’s enlargement efforts have focused on supporting centre-right, reformist national parties in their efforts to consolidate democracy and the rule of law.
The development of the EPP has reflected that of the EU itself; the inclusion of centre-right parties from accession countries in Central and Eastern Europe has been particularly successful. The new members have brought a new dimension to the EPP and consolidated it as the pre-eminent European force of the centre-right.
1999 - 2002
With the prospect of Central and Eastern European countries joining the European Union, the previous arguments supporting EUCD membership lost relevance – this led to the merger of the EUCD with the EPP in 1999.
And since the EPP had accepted most European conservative parties from the EU and beyond, the EDU also lost relevance, leading to its merger with the EPP in 2002.
1991
In April 1991, party and government leaders of the EPP decided that, while the party would be open to the British and Nordic conservative parties, Christian Democracy would be preserved as the cornerstone of the EPP’s identity.
The EPP needed to integrate like-minded forces in order to achieve the majority needed to make ideas and concepts a reality.
1986
The EPP soon politically outweighed the EUCD.
The issue of merging the two organisations re-surfaced when Spain and Portugal joined the European Community in 1986, but the revolutionary events which took place in Moscow and in other Eastern European capitals delayed the idea of a “big” EPP.
1980
Once the EPP had been founded, a degree of pressure to establish formal links between Christian Democratic and conservative forces was exerted by EUCD parties in countries that were not European Community members.
Yet the EPP’s strong insistence on the federal model of European integration led to the formation of the European Democratic Union (EDU), a broader pan-European organisation. Thus three parallel political organisations of Christian Democrats and conservatives were now in place.
1976
The formal establishment of the European People’s Party (EPP) took place in 1976 in Luxembourg, with member parties from the following EEC countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with Belgian PM Leo Tindemans as its first president.
The platform was the result of considerable consensus and expressed a common intention to promote integration in the context of the European Community, leading to a political union equipped with federal and democratic institutions.
1950 - 1975
With the European Coal and Steel Community and the foundation of the European Economic Community (EEC), practical cooperation among Christian Democrats gradually shifted in favour of the framework presented by the Common Assembly and the European Parliament.
The organisation revitalised itself by changing its name to the European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD) and revising the key aims of the organisation. The EUCD forged a closer relationship with the Parliamentary group of European Christian Democrats and the national member parties, and steadily grew more ambitious in its vision for Europe. With the decision to organise direct elections for the European Parliament in 1979, the need for a truly European party became evident.
1925 - 1946
The lessons and experiences of cooperation between 1925 and 1939 were key when leaders of the re-established or newly founded Christian Democratic parties in Europe formed the New International Teams (Nouvelles Équipes Internationales, NEI) in 1946 after World War II.
1920
Political formations of the centre-right can be tracked back to the early 1920s.
The first attempt at cooperation between like-minded Christian Democrats was made in 1926, when the International Secretariat of Democratic Parties of Christian Inspiration (Secrétariat International des Partis Démocratiques d’Inspiration Chrétienne, SIPDIC) was founded.
Leaders:
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Nikos
Christodoulides
Heads of state and government
Cyprus
Independent
Nikos Christodoulides was born on 6 December 1973 in Paphos.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Economics, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies from the City University of New York, Queens College, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from New York University. He holds a doctorate from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens.
He was a career diplomat between 1999 and 2018. During this time, he served, inter alia, as Consul General at the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus in the United Kingdom, as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Cyprus in Greece and as Spokesperson of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU at the Permanent Mission of Cyprus in Brussels.
He also served as Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President of the Republic of Cyprus (2013-2018) and as Government Spokesman (2014-2018). On 1st March 2018 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position which he held until his resignation on 11 January 2022.
Between 2007 and 2010 he was a Lecturer and Research Associate at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus in the subject of History of the Postwar World. He is the author of the books Plans for Solution of the Cyprus Problem 1948-1978 (2009), Relations between Athens and Nicosia and the Cyprus Problem, 1977-1988 (2013), and Geopolitical Realities in the Plans for Solution of the Cyprus Problem 1948-1978 (2021).
On February 12, 2023, he won the Presidential Elections with a percentage of 51.97% and assumed his duties as the 8th President of the Republic of Cyprus.
Michel
Barnier
Heads of state and government
France
Les Républicains
Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is the Prime Minister of France since 5 September 2024.
He was the EU's chief negotiator on Britain's exit from the European Union from 2016 to 2021 and served as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services from 2010 to 2014.
He held several cabinet positions in the French government: Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 2007 to 2009, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2005, Minister Delegate for European Affairs from 1995 to 1997; Minister of the Environment from 1993 to 1995.
He was first elected in 1978, aged 27, to the French National Assembly as deputy for the department of Savoie until 1993.
Luc
Frieden
Heads of state and government
Luxembourg
CSV
Luc Frieden (born 16 September 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer who serves as the current and 23rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 2023. A member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), he held cabinet positions in the Luxembourgish government between 1998 and 2013. Frieden was president of the Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce and Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In early 2023, he was elected to be the lead candidate of the CSV for the general elections in October. He led his party to victory, slightly increasing its vote share and maintaining its 21 seat. He was appointed on 9 October 2023, by Grand Duke Henri to form a government.
Simon
Harris
Heads of state and government
Ireland
FG
Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and formerly served as a minister of state from 2014 to 2016.
Born in Greystones, County Wicklow, Harris first became involved in politics during his teenage years. He was elected to Wicklow County Council in the 2009 local elections and then elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2011 general election. He was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Finance in 2014. Following the formation of a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016, he was appointed Minister for Health. On the formation of the coalition government in June 2020, he was appointed Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
Harris was elected leader of Fine Gael on 24 March 2024 and appointed Taoiseach on 9 April. At age 37, he became the youngest Taoiseach in the history of the state.
Klaus
Iohannis
Heads of state and government
Romania
PNL
Klaus Iohannis (born 13 June 1959) is the President of Romania since 2014.
He became leader of the National Liberal Party in 2014, after having served as leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania from 2001 to 2013.
Iohannis was first elected mayor of the city of Sibiu in 2000, representing the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania. On February 20, 2013, he joined the PNL, announcing this during a press conference.
At an extraordinary PNL congress, he was elected First Vice President of the Party. On 28 June 2014, he was elected President of PNL with 95% of the votes.
Ulf
Kristersson
Heads of state and government
Sweden
MOD
Ulf Kristersson (born 29 December 1963) is the Prime Minister of Sweden and leader of the Moderate Party.
He has been a member of the Riksdag for Södermanland County since 2014 and previously from 1991 to 2000 for Stockholm County. He previously served as Minister for Social Security from 2010 to 2014 and Chairman of the Moderate Youth League from 1988 to 1992.
On 11 December 2014, he was appointed Shadow Finance Minister of the Moderate Party and economic policy spokesperson. On 1 September 2017, Kristersson announced he was running for the party leadership of the Moderate Party after Anna Kinberg Batra stepped down. After the 2022 Swedish general election, the coalition led by Kristersson got a majority in the Riksdag, leading to Kristersson's election as PM.
Kyriakos
Mitsotakis
Heads of state and government
Greece
ND
Kyriakos Mitsotakis is a Greek politician who is currently the Prime Minister of Greece and the President of New Democracy.
He has been a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Lasithi since 2004. He has been a Member of the Hellenic Parliament (MP) for Athens B since 2004, and served from 2013 to 2015 as the Minister of Administrative Reform and e-Governance in the Cabinet of Antonis Samaras.
On July 7, 2019, his party won the 2019 National Elections - securing 158 seats to form a majority government and Mitsotakis to be elected Prime Minister.
Luís
Montenegro
Heads of state and government
Portugal
PSD
Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves (born 16 February 1973) is a Portuguese politician and lawyer currently serving as the 14th Prime Minister of Portugal, of the Third Portuguese Republic. He is the President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and won the 2024 Portuguese legislative election, and is head of the 24th Constitutional Government.
Education and local politics
Montenegro was born in Porto and raised in Espinho in the Aveiro District. He graduated in Law from the Catholic University of Portugal (the same profession as his father and grandfather), and was president of the Social Democratic Youth in Espinho from 1994 to 1996. He served on the city's council from 1997 to 2001.
Assembly of the Republic
In 2002, 29-year-old Montenegro was elected to the Assembly of the Republic for the Aveiro District. He became the PSD parliamentary group's deputy leader to Miguel Macedo in 2010, and he received 86% of the votes to lead the group in June 2011, after PSD member Pedro Passos Coelho had been elected prime minister.
Karl
Nehammer
Heads of state and government
Austria
ÖVP
Karl Nehammer (born 18 October 1972) is the Federal Chancellor of Austria as of 6 December 2021.
The politician of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) has served as Minister of the Interior since January 2020 until his appointment as Federal Chancellor. He was previously general-secretary of the ÖVP from 2018 to 2020, and a member of the National Council from 2017 to 2020.
Petteri
Orpo
Heads of state and government
Finland
KOK
Petteri Orpo (born 3 November 1969) is the Prime Minister of Finland and the party leader of Kokoomus.
He is a Vice President of the European People's Party. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from June 2017 to June 2019, and was the Economic and Financial Affairs Minister of Finland from June 2016 to June 2019.
He was the Finnish Minister of Interior from 2015 until 2016. From 2014 to 2015 he was the Minister for Agriculture and Forestry in Prime Minister Alexander Stubb's cabinet.
He was elected as party leader of Kokoomus in June 2016.
Andrej
Plenković
Heads of state and government
Croatia
HDZ
Andrej Plenković (born 8 April 1970) is the Prime Minister of Croatia and the President of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Plenković was elected Prime Minister following the parliamentary elections which took place on 11 September 2016. Plenković has also served as Member of the European Parliament from 1 July 2013 until his election as Prime Minister of Croatia.
Evika
Siliņa
Heads of state and government
Latvia
Vienotība
Evika Siliņa is a Latvian lawyer and politician who has served as the prime minister of Latvia since 15 September 2023, becoming the second woman in that position. She previously served as Minister of Welfare in the second cabinet led by Krišjānis Kariņš.
Ingrida
Šimonytė
Heads of state and government
Lithuania
Independent
Ingrida Šimonytė (born 15 November 1974) is a Lithuanian politician and economist who is the current Prime Minister-designate of Lithuania, expected to take office in November 2020. She will be the second woman to hold the office, following Kazimira Prunskienė. Šimonytė has additionally served as a member of the Seimas for the Antakalnis constituency since 2016, and was minister of finance in the second Kubilius cabinet from 2009 until 2012. She was a candidate in the 2019 presidential election. Šimonytė is an independent politician, although she has been affiliated with the Homeland Union.
Born in Vilnius, Šimonytė graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in business in 1996, later receiving a master's degree as well in 1998. She began her career as an economist and public servant, working as chief of the tax division within the Ministry of Finance until 2004. She remained within the ministry's tax division until being nominated to serve as finance minister in 2009, tasked with stimulating the Lithuanian economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession. She resigned from the position in 2012, and afterwards was appointed deputy chairperson of the board of the Bank of Lithuania, while also becoming a professor of economics at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, and of public finance at ISM University of Management and Economics.
Šimonytė returned to politics in 2016, when she ran as an independent candidate in the 2016 parliamentary election to represent Antakalnis constituency in Vilnius, ultimately winning a seat in parliament. In 2018, Šimonytė announced her campaign in the 2019 presidential election, and won the nomination of the political party Homeland Union. She narrowly won the first round of the election on 12 May 2019, before placing second behind Gitanas Nausėda in the run-off on 26 May.
Donald
Tusk
Heads of state and government
Poland
PO
Donald Tusk was born on 22 April 1957 in Gdańsk, Poland. His father worked as a carpenter on the railway, his mother as a secretary at a hospital. When Tusk was 14 years old, his father died.
In 1976 he started studying history at Gdańsk University, where he became involved in illegal activities against the Communist regime. At the time he cooperated inter alia with the underground Free Trade Unions and met the future Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa. In 1980 Donald Tusk founded an Independent Students' Association, NZS, which was part of the 'Solidarity' movement. He became the leader of 'Solidarity' at his place of work and a journalist on a newspaper published by 'Solidarity'.
After martial law was imposed in December 1981 by General Jaruzelski, he remained in hiding for some time. He then worked as a bread seller and later, between 1984 and 1989, he earned his living as a manual labourer specialising in work at high altitudes with the aid of climbing equipment. At the same time he was an activist in the underground Solidarity movement. After being arrested for a short time, he was set free following an amnesty for political prisoners announced by General Jaruzelski. In 1983, Donald Tusk founded an illegal monthly 'Political Review', propagating economic liberalism and rules of liberal democracy. An informal think-tank supporting Lech Wałęsa was centred around the periodical. After the collapse of communism, think-tank members known as 'Gdańsk liberals' formed a government after the first free presidential elections in Poland.
Simultaneously they founded the first pro-business and pro-Europe party in Poland, the Liberal Democratic Congress, with Donald Tusk as its leader. He was also responsible for de-monopolising and privatising the former communist state-owned press concern. In the 1990s, Donald Tusk was a Member of Parliament, inter alia deputy Speaker of the Senate. In the same years he published a series of books on the history of Gdańsk, some of which turned out to be bestsellers. In 2001, Donald Tusk was one of the initiators of the new centrist party called the Civic Platform and in 2003 he became its leader.
In 2007, after a tough campaign he defeated the ruling rightist party and became Prime Minister. He was in office for seven years, which made him the longest-serving Prime Minister in democratic Poland, and the first one to be re-elected. During his seven-year term, Poland continued to maintain economic growth, and in the time of crisis the Polish economy grew by almost 20%, a record performance in Europe. In 2014, Donald Tusk was elected to the position of President of the European Council and in 2017 re-elected for the second mandate of 2.5 years. His term ended on 30 November 2019.
In December 2019, he published a diary “Szczerze”, based on his five-year-term as President of the European Council, which became a bestseller in Poland. On December 2019, Donald Tusk assumed office of the President of the European People’s Party, and he stayed in office until May 2022. Since October 24, 2021 he is the Chairman of the Civic Platform (PO).
In December 2021, a book on contemporary politics “Wybór” was published, written by Donald Tusk and a Pulitzer-winning author Anne Applebaum.
Viola
Amherd
Heads of state and government
Switzerland
CVP
Viola Amherd, born June 7, 1962 in Brig-Glis, is a Swiss politician, member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). She has served as one of the seven members of the Swiss Federal Council since 1 January 2019. She is head of the Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports.
She began her political life as a member of the City Council of Brig-Glis in 1992 and became Vice-President in 1996 and President in 2000. From 1994 till 2006, she was also a part-time judge of the Federal Appeals Board.
National Councilor since May 31, 2005 where she succeeded Jean-Michel Cina, she was a member of the steering Committee and the Presidential Committee of the PDC of Upper Valais.
On 24 October 2018, following the withdrawal of Doris Leuthard, Amherd announced her candidacy to succeed her to the Federal Council. On 5 December, she was elected by the Federal Assembly with 148 votes out of 240 in the first round, becoming the first female representative of the canton Valais to be elected to the Federal Council.
Bjarni
Benediktsson
Heads of state and government
Iceland
Independence Party
Bjarni Benediktsson (born 26 January 1970), is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from January to November 2017. He has been the leader of the Icelandic Independence Party since 2009, and served as Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs from 2013 to 2017, a post he later retained under Katrín Jakobsdóttir and held until his resignation in October 2023. After serving briefly as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bjarni became the current Prime Minister of Iceland on 9 April 2024.
Hristijan
Mickoski
Borjana
Krišto
Heads of state and government
Bosnia and Herzegovina
HDZ BIH
Borjana Krišto (born 13 August 1961) is the 11th Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She previously served as the 8th president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2007 to 2011. She was the first woman to hold the position.
Krišto holds a degree in law from the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka.
Maia
Sandu
Heads of state and government
Moldova
PAS
Maia Sandu (born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician and the President of Moldova. She is the current leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), and former Prime Minister of Moldova (from 8 June 2019 until 14 November 2019).
Sandu was Minister of Education from 2012 to 2015 and member of Parliament of Moldova from 2014 to 2015 and in 2019. Sandu was selected as the joint candidate of the pro-European PPDA and PAS parties for President of Moldova in the 2016 election, however she was defeated in the subsequent runoff by the pro-Russian PSRM candidate, Igor Dodon, losing the popular vote by a margin of 43%-57%. In a rematch between Dodon and Sandu in the 2020 election she came as the winner, flipping the results of the previous elections by a margin of 58%-42%. She is Moldova's first female president.
Aleksandar
Vučić
Heads of state and government
Serbia
SNS
Aleksandar Vučić (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician and lawyer who has been the President of Serbia since 31 May 2017. He is also the leader and president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Before his tenure as his country's president Vučić served as the Prime Minister of Serbia in two terms from 2014-2016 and from 2016 until 2017, as well as Minister of Information from 1998 to 2000, Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2013, and later as First Deputy Prime Minister from 2012-2014. He is a graduate of the Belgrade Law School.
Antonio
Tajani
Deputy prime ministers and ministers
Italy
Forza Italia
Antonio Tajani (born 04 August 1953), is a Vice President of the EPP, Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and the President of Forza Italia.
In 1994 he was elected for the first time as Member of the European Parliament and in that capacity he was member of the European Convention that drafted the European Constitution project in the early 2000s.
In 2008 he was appointed as European Commissioner for Transport and after the 2009 European elections he was re-appointed for the Industry and Entrepreneurship portfolio, taking over in 2010 and becoming also a Vice President of the Commission until he took his Parliament seat in 2014.
In January 2017 he was elected President of the European Parliament and he completed his mandate on July 3rd, 2019.
On October 21 he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation.
Vincent Van
Peteghem
Deputy prime ministers and ministers
Belgium
CD&V
Vincent Van Peteghem (born 28 October 1980 in Gent) is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Belgium since October 2020.
In 2019 he was elected as Member of the Belgian Parliament. He is a member of Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V).
Marian
Jurečka
Deputy prime ministers and ministers
Czechia
KDU-ČSL
Marian Jurečka (born 15 March 1981) is a Czech politician who served as the Minister of Agriculture in the government of Bohuslav Sobotka from 2014 to 2017. He sits in the Chamber of Deputies for the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL). In January 2020, he was elected chairperson of KDU-ČSL.
Zsolt
Semjén
Deputy prime ministers and ministers
Hungary
KDNP
Zsolt Semjén (born 8 August 1962) is a Hungarian politician and has been Deputy Prime since 2010.
Semjén has been the leader of the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) since 2003.
In 1989, during the political transition, he was among the founders of the Christian Democratic People's Party. He was a member of the executive committee and employee of the National Assembly. From 1990 to 1994 he served as district councilor. In 1994 he obtained a parliamentary seat in 1997, he was the deputy leader of KDNP. In 2003 he became chairman of this KDNP.
Ervin
Ibrahimović
Mariya
Gabriel
Deputy prime ministers and ministers
Bulgaria
GERB
Mariya Gabriel is a Vice-President of the European People's Party.
She is serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria and Minister of Foreign Affairs since June 2023.
Mariya Gabriel served as European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. For her productive work as Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel has been honoured with numerous awards. Among them is the award “Women of Influence 2018” in the category “Talent in Politics”, the most prestigious Italian prize “Golden Apple” for highest achievements for women, the Beaumarchais Medal for her contribution in the protection of the interests of European artists.
Since 2012 Mariya Gabriel has been Vice-President of EPP Women.
In May 2009 she has been elected as Member of the European Parliament from the list GERB/EPP. She has been re-elected as Member of the European Parliament in 2014 and became head of the Bulgarian delegation of GERB in the EPP Group. From 2014 to 2017 she was Vice-President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. She was responsible for the EU’s external policy in the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean. Mariya Gabriel has been two times elected Member of the European Parliament of the year: in 2016 in the category “Development” and in 2013 in the category “Gender equality”.
Friedrich
Merz
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Germany
CDU
Friedrich Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer and politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1994 and as a member of the Bundestag from 1994 until 2009, where he chaired the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2000 to 2002. He returned to the Bundestag in 2021.
Merz joined the CDU's youth wing in 1972 and is reputed to be a member of the Andean Pact, a powerful network formed by members of the CDU youth wing in 1979 during a trip to the Andes. After finishing law school in 1985, he worked as a judge and corporate lawyer before entering full-time politics in 1989 when he was elected to the European Parliament. After serving one term he was elected to the Bundestag, where he established himself as the leading financial policy expert in the CDU.
Friedrich Merz has been elected the new Chairman of CDU in December 2021, and took official function in January 2022, following the party Congress that ratified the election.
Alberto Núñez
Feijóo
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Spain
PP
Alberto Núñez Feijóo (born 10 September 1961) is the President of Partido Popular (PP). He has served as the President of the Regional Government of Galicia since 2009.
Formerly a civil servant, Feijóo was secretary general of Galicia's ministries of agriculture and health before moving to the same role at the national Ministry of Health, and for three years he was President of the State Society of Mail and Telegraphs. Having officially joined Partido Popular of Galicia (PPdeG), he entered the Parliament of Galicia in 2005 and succeeded Manuel Fraga as party president the following January.
In the 2009 Galician regional election, the PPdeG won a majority and Feijóo became regional president. He won further terms in 2012, 2016 and 2020. On April 2, 2022, he was elected as the president of the Partido Popular.
Boyko
Borissov
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Bulgaria
GERB
Boyko Borissov (born 13 June 1959) is the leader of GERB since January 2010. He served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria since 2017 until May 2021.
From 1985 to 1990 he worked as a lecturer at the Higher Institute for Police Officers Training and Scientific Research of the Ministry of Interior. He received a PhD for his dissertation thesis "Psycho-Physical Training of the Operational Staff".
On 1 September 2001 he was appointed Secretary General of the Interior Ministry by Decree 194/2001 of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria. He was promoted to 'Colonel' pursuant to an ordinance of the Minister of Interior and was awarded the rank of 'Major General' by Decree 32/2002 of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria.
On November 10 2005 he was elected Mayor Bulgaria’s Capital City Sofia by virtue of a Sofia Municipal Council Decision. From May 2013 until July 2014, he served as a Member of Parliament in the GERB Parliamentary Group in the 42nd National Assembly.
He served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria from 27 July 2009 to 21 February 2013 and from 7 November 2014 to 27 January 2017. Then since May 2017 until May 2021.
Eduard
Heger
Miroslav
Kollár
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Slovakia
SPOLU
Miroslav Kollár (born 13 August 1969, in Slovakia) is the chairman of SPOLU, elected on the 25th of September 2021.
He is a former journalist, activist, analyst, chairman of both the STV and RTVS councils, the executive director of the Institute for Public Affairs and the general director of SITA. He is the co-author and editor of several publications, including the Summary Reports on Slovakia, the National Report on Cultural Policy, and the Vision of the Development of the Slovak Republic until 2020.
Bernard
Grech
Urmas
Reinsalu
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Estonia
Isamaa
Urmas Reinsalu (born 22 June 1975) is an Estonian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2023 and previously from 2019 to 2021. Before that, Urmas has served as the Minister of Defence between 2012 and 2014, and Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2019.
Reinsalu is a member and current leader of the Isamaa ("Fatherland") political party.
Janez
Janša
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Slovenia
SDS
Janez Janša (born 17 September 1958) is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2022. Since 1993, Janša has led the Slovenian Democratic Party, which has emerged as the pre-eminent Slovenian conservative party.
Janša served as Minister of Defence from 1990 to 1994, a post he had also held during the Slovenian War of Independence. Janša served as prime minister from 2004 to 2008, and again became prime minister in 2012, following an early election in December 2011. Despite his party winning a plurality of votes in the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election, Janša was initially passed over as a prime minister, after spending years in opposition, Janša was selected as prime minister-designate in March 2020 following the resignation of prime minister Marjan Šarec. His third term as a prime minister ended on 13 May 2022.
Yulia
Tymoshenko
Erna
Solberg
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Norway
Hoyre
Erna Solberg (born 24 February 1961) is the President from Høyre and was the Prime Minister of Norway from 2013 to October 2021.
First elected to the Parliament in 1989, Solberg went to serve as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development in the Government of the Christian Democrat Kjell Magne Bondevik between 2001 and 2005.
In 2002 she became deputy leader of Høyre and two years later she succeeded Jan Petersen at the helm of the party. After the 2013 parliamentary elections, Solberg negotiated an agreement to build a new Government with the support of other centre-right parties ending eight years of socialist rule.
Serzh
Sargsyan
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Armenia
HHK
Serzh Sargsyan (born 30 June 1954) was the President of Armenia between 2008 and 2018.
He has held several political positions in his country since independence. Between 1993 and 1995 he was Minister of Defence and after that, Minister of Interior until 1999, being reappointed to the Defence portfolio between 2000 and 2007.
In 2006 he was elected president of his Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and the following year he became Prime Minister.
In 2008 he ran and won the presidential elections, being re-elected for a second term in 2013.
Lumir
Abdixhiku
Leaders of the opposition and party leaders
Kosovo
LDK
Lumir Abdixhiku (born 22 April 1983) is a member of Assembly of Kosovo and the president of Democratic League of Kosovo. He served as Kosovo's former Minister of Infrastructure and Environment under Kurti cabinet. Prior to that, Abdixhiku served as Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee in Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo between 2017-2019. In elections of 2019, Abdixhiku was 9th most voted politician in Kosovo and started his second term as Member of Parliament.
Igor
Matovič
Annita
Demetriou
Ursula von
der Leyen
Germany
CDU
Ursula von der Leyen (born 8 October 1958) is the President of the European Commission and as such, an ex officio Vice-President of the EPP.
Von der Leyen served in the federal government of Germany from 2005 to 2019 as the longest-serving member of Angela Merkel's cabinet.
She was born and raised in Brussels, where her father Ernst Albrecht was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French, and is of German and British American descent. She moved to Hanover in 1971, when her father entered politics to become Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating as a physician from the Hanover Medical School in 1987, she specialized in women's health. In 1986 she married fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen of the noble von der Leyen family of silk merchants. As a mother of seven children, she was a housewife during parts of the 1990s and lived for four years in Stanford, California, while her husband was on faculty at Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.
In the late 1990s, she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet, first as Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from 2005 to 2009, then as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013, and finally as Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2019, the first woman to serve as German defence minister. When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Angela Merkel's cabinet since Merkel became Chancellor. She has been deputy leader of the CDU since 2010.
von der Leyen is the first woman to become President of the European Commission.
Roberta
Metsola
Malta
PN
Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas (born 18 January 1979) is a Maltese politician who has been the president of the European Parliament since 18 January 2022. Metsola was first elected as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2013, representing Malta. She was elected as the first vice president of the European Parliament in November 2020.
Olgierd
Geblewicz
Poland
PO
Olgierd Geblewicz (born 15 October 1972 in Goleniów) is the President of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions and the marshal of the West Pomeranian voivodeship (from 2010). In the years 2008–2010 he was a chairman of the West Pomeranian Regional Assembly.
On 2 December 2008 Geblewicz became a chairman of the West Pomeranian Regional Assembly (he obtained 16 of 30 votes).He has replaced Michał Łuczak, who resigned on the prosecution's charge of possession of a small amount of drugs. In the 2010 local elections, he was reelected to the Regional Assembly (obtaining 10 721 votes). On November 29, 2010 he was appointed marshal by 21 voivodship councilors. He began his office on December 7 of the same year. From 2010 to 2011 he was a president of Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC). Also in 2010, he became a member of the National Council of the Civic Platform.
In 2011 he became a member of the EU Committee of the Regions. In 2013 he became the president of the Szczecin Civic Platform section. In 2014 he was reelected to the regional council, on December 1 of the same year he was reelected for the office of Marshal of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship for the second time. On 4 March 2016 he became the president of the Association of Voivodships. In 2018, he retained the mandate of a regional councilor for another term, this time he obtained 42 494 votes (23.14%). On November 23, 2018, he was once again appointed the marshal of the voivodeship.
In January 2020, he was elected chairman of the European People's Party faction in the Committee of the Regions. In regional assembly he is a member of Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Committee on Budget and Local Government Affairs, Committee on Health, Social Affairs and Public Safety, The Temporary Commission for Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation and the Temporary Commission for the Honorary Badge of the West Pomeranian Griffin.
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Manifesto 2012
The EPP Manifesto, also adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, outlines the basic principles of the Party summary.
The EPP Manifesto, also adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, outlines the basic principles of the Party summarising who we are, what our values are, what challenges are we facing and what vision we have for the future. The Manifesto was developed in parallel to the EPP Platform document within the EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy”.
Platform
The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The Party Platform was developed in EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy” chaired by EPP President Wilfried MARTENS ?and EPP Vice President Peter HINTZE. The Working Group consists of delegates of EPP member parties who prepared and worked?on this document for more than two years and received input?from the drafting committee as well as senior and young experts. The document was adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, thus replacing the Basic Programme of Athens from 1992.
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