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| website = | country = European Union }} The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party. Founded by Christian democratic parties in 1976, it has since broadened its membership to include conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives. The EPP has been the largest party in the European Parliament since 1999 and in the European Council since 2002. It is also by far the largest party in the current European Commission. The President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission are both from the EPP. Many of the Founding fathers of the European Union were also from parties that later formed the EPP. Outside the EU the party also controls a majority in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The EPP has alternated with its centre-left rival the Party of European Socialists (PES) as the largest European political party and parliamentary group. The EPP includes major parties such as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), The Republicans (LR) of France, People's Party (PP) of Spain, and it has member parties in all the EU Member States except for the United Kingdom. ==History== According to its website, the EPP is "the family of the political centre-right, whose roots run deep in the history and civilisation of the European continent, and () has pioneered the European project from its inception". The EPP was founded in Luxembourg on 8 July 1976 on the initiative of Jean Seitlinger; Leo Tindemans, then Prime Minister of Belgium, who became the first President of the EPP; and Wilfried Martens, who later became both President of the EPP and Prime Minister of Belgium. It had been preceded by the ''Secretariat International des partis démocratiques d'inspiration chrétienne'', founded in 1925,〔 the ''Nouvelles Equipes Internationales'', founded in 1946 (or 1948),〔("On the Road Towards Transnational Party Cooperation in Europe" by Steven van Hecke ) in "European View", Volume 3, 2006, from the (Centre for European Studies )〕 and the European Union of Christian Democrats, founded in 1965.〔 In the late 1990s the Finnish politician Sauli Niinistö negotiated the merger of the European Democrat Union (EDU), of which he was President, into the EPP. In October 2002 the EDU ceased its activities after being formally absorbed by the EPP at a special event in Estoril, Portugal. In recognition of his efforts Niinistö was elected Honorary President of the EPP the same year. The EPP has had five Presidents: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「European People's Party」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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