European Young Conservatives
# European Young Conservatives

The European Young Conservatives (EYC) is a grouping of youth wings of conservative and centre-right political parties in Europe.

As of 2014, the group has a membership of 25 political youth organisations from 22 countries and territories, in addition to four associated members. The EYC is independent and not affiliated with any European political party, but maintains a non-exclusive relationship with the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (formerly known as the European Conservatives and Reformists).

The EYC is a full member of the International Young Democrat Union.

## History

The EYC was founded in August 1993 by the youth wings of the British Conservative Party, Danish Conservative People's Party, and Icelandic Independence Party, under the leadership of Andrew Rosindell, then-chairman of the UK's Young Conservatives.

It emerged from a split in the centre-right Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC), which separated into two factions: the larger part, following a broadly Christian democratic philosophy; and the smaller part, led by Rosindell, following a broadly conservative philosophy. Two crucial points of disagreement were the scope of economic liberalisation and the desirability of a federal Europe.

From 1993 to 1997, the group was led by Rosindell. The group gave training to newly established democratic political parties in Russia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. It was refounded much later by Oliver Cooper.

The EYC generally holds three conference events per year, with the largest being the autumn Freedom Summit.

### Freedom Summit

* Cambridge, United Kingdom - 2014
* Cambridge, United Kingdom - 2015
* Porto, Portugal - 2016
* Warsaw, Poland - 2017

### Summer Camp

* Stockholm, Sweden - 2014
* Tbilisi, Georgia 2016
* Prague, Czech Republic - 2017
* Leptokarya, Greece - 2018
* Leptokarya, Greece - 2019

### Annual Congress

* Warsaw, Poland - 2012
* Prague, Czech Republic - 2013
* Istanbul, Turkey - 2014
* Prague, Czech Republic - 2015
* Brussels, Belgium - 2016
* London, United Kingdom - 2017
* Warsaw, Poland - 2018
* Amsterdam, Netherlands - 2019

Since 2016, an internal conflict between civic and ethnic nationalists has emerged within the EYC. The ethnic nationalists were opposed to the membership of Turkish and Israeli parties and claimed the EYC has "replaced anti-immigration politics with free market capitalism". Resulting from the dispute, the Finns Party Youth announced its withdrawal on May 18, 2017, with its leader Samuli Voutila saying: "We cannot be members in the same organization as the new Turkish sultan’s youth wing, when it acts against European values." On June 12, the Estonian movement Blue Awakening sent a letter to the EYC demanding the expulsion of the Turkish AK Party Youth within seven days. The letter was later published on Richard B. Spencer's website Altright.com.

## Membership

The EYC has twenty-five member organisations:

| Country | Organisation | Mother party | European party |
| - | - | - | - |
| Armenia | Prosperous Armenia Youth | Prosperous Armenia | ACRE |
| Belarus | BPF Youth | BPF Party | ACRE |
| Belgium | Jong N-VA | N-VA | EFA |
| Bulgaria | YBWC | - | None |
| Czech Republic | Young Conservatives | Civic Democratic Party | ACRE |
| Faroe Islands | Huxa | People's Party | ACRE |
| Georgia | Young Conservatives | Conservative Party of Georgia | ACRE |
| Germany | Young Reformer | Alliance for Progress and Renewal | ACRE |
| Iceland | Young Independents | Independence Party | ACRE |
| Italy | Conservatives and Reformists | Conservatives and Reformists | ACRE |
| Italy | National Youth | Brothers of Italy | ACRE |
| Italy | Youth for Freedom | - | None |
| Israel | Likud Youth | Likud | ACRE (regional partner) |
| Latvia | For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK Youth Club | For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK | None |
| Liechtenstein | Junge FBP | Progressive Citizens' Party | None |
| Lithuania | Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania Youth Organisation | Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania | ACRE |
| Luxembourg | adrenalin, déi jonk adr | Alternative Democratic Reform Party | ACRE |
| The Netherlands | Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie | Forum for Democracy | None |
| Norway | Progress Party's Youth | Progress Party | None |
| Poland | Law and Justice Youth Forum | Law and Justice | ACRE |
| Portugal | People's Youth | Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party | EPP |
| Romania | New Republic Youth | New Republic | ACRE |
| Sweden | Young Swedes SDU | Sweden Democrats | None |
| Switzerland | Young SVP | Swiss People's Party | None |
| United Kingdom | Young Conservatives | Conservative Party | ACRE |
| United Kingdom ( Scotland) | Conservative Future Scotland | Scottish Conservative Party | ACRE |
| United Kingdom | Young Unionists | Ulster Unionist Party | ACRE |

### Associate members

| Country | Organisation | Mother party |
| - | - | - |
| Australia | Young Liberals | Liberal Party of Australia |
| Canada | Young Conservatives | Conservative Party of Canada |
| New Zealand | New Zealand Young Nationals | New Zealand National Party |
| United States | Young Republicans | Republican Party |
| North Macedonia | United Youth for Macedonia | United for Macedonia |

### Former members

| Country | Organisation | Mother party |
| - | - | - |
| Estonia | Blue Awakening | Conservative People's Party of Estonia |
| Finland | Finns Party Youth | Finns Party |
| Turkey | AK Party Youth | Justice and Development Party |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Mercer, Paul (1994). Directory of British Political Organisations. London: Longman. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-582-23729-2.
* ↑ "Andrew Rosindell". Parliament. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
* ↑ "After the Campaign Rush". BBC News. 7 June 2001.
* ↑ "BBC Three - Free Speech, Series 2 - Oliver Cooper".
* 1 2 Lyons, Charles (12 June 2017). "Estonian Blue Awakening Gives European Young Conservatives 7 Days To Stop Their Cuckish Ways". AltRight.com. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
* ↑ The Finns Party Youth leaves European Young Conservatives. 18.05.2017.
* ↑ "EKRE's youth organization thrown out of European Young Conservatives". 19 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
* ↑ "Members". European Young Conservatives. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
* ↑ "ОММ стана придружен член на Европските млади конзервативци". 20 March 2021.
* ↑ "Никола Дујовски".
