Content:

1. How everything started

1. How everything started

In July and August 1958 a group of Swedish students travelled to Vienna, Prague and Berlin. In Berlin the SKS-delegation attended the Annual Meeting of RCDS. A bilateral cooperation was initiated that was soon enlarged to a multilateral one with student organisations from the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Germany. The immediate impression of Germany’s division, the dangerous political heritage of Europe and the increasing activities of the communist organisation "International Union of Students" (IUS) was the motivation to get involved. The importance of international cooperation became obvious, when the IUS organised the "7th World Youth Festival" in Vienna in 1959. In response, centre-right students established the "Action Committee New Life" ("Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neues Leben", ANL), the first (temporary) organisation of centre-right students in Europe. Some thousand pins were distributed, with the slogan "Remember Hungary 1956!". Since ANL-activists established relations to students from Hungary and Poland, traumatising the communist organisers, which even had to separate the student-participants of the festival, since they had to be carryed from event to event in locked buses.

The Vienna-experience must have been encouraging. Soon it was decided to upgrade the centre-right student meetings (particularly in the divided Berlin) to regular International Student Conferences (ISC). The first ISC took place in Copenhagen and Stockholm in April 1960. Until 1970, 15 International Student Conferences and a couple of smaller events were organised. Topics of the conferences were covered almost all areas of politics. In order to institutionalise this cooperation, "The International of Christian-Democrat and Conservative Students" (ICCS) was founded at the 3rd International Student Conference in Vienna in 1961. ICCS defined itself as the "first avantgarde fighter for the protection of the principles of liberty and individualism" and supported European economic integration and programmes for student mobility. Five Western European political student organisations decided to sign the new constitution on May 13: Gerhard Brunner, host of the founding conference and President of the constituting Council Meeting, for Freie Österreichische Studentenschaft (FÖST, Austria), Ulf Hellners for DK (Denmark), Dieter Ibielski for RCDS (Germany), Halvor Bache-Halvorsen for DKSF (Norway), and Carl-Henrik Winquist for SKS (Sweden). Soon after, John Barnes from FUCUA (Britain, October 27, 1961) and Juan Roberti from ESC (Belgium, December 10, 1962) signed. From then on, an alternative to the Moscow-financed IUS existed. The student uprising in the late sixties showed, how important that was.

 

2. The Seventies [back to top]

The increasing importance of European politics and the difficulties in making the international approach a reality stirred up an intense debate on the future identity of the organisation, including a discussion of the name ICCS. "It was the general feeling at Vienna [1969] that the present name is the biggest obstacle in getting contacts," as Heikki von Hertzen, Finnish Secretary General, expressed. Hence the name "ECCS", suggested by Ian Taylor, was adopted in 1970. Neither did the new name account for much consent. Less than half a decade later, the Swede Carl Bildt proposed a more neutral name which would better emphasise the organisation's objective to establish a (centre-right) European Democrat Party: "European Democrat Students". The new name was finally adopted on 5 June 1975. It has remained with the organisation ever since.

However, the first thing to remember about the seventies is the political shift to the left. The students unrest of 1968 and beyond had lead to a crisis of centre-right politics. European politics was also still overshadowed by the division of the continent and the communist threat. This was the background of the Helsinki-negotiations on Security and Cooperation. The attempts of all major governments of the two blocks to end the Cold War, where reflected in student and youth politics as well. The ongoing East-West dialogue caused an international youth and student debate, in which the ECCS actively took part until 1980. Finally, European politics was more and more influenced by the political integration of Western Europe including that of political parties, affecting party-related student organisations such as EDS. The need to have a strong centre-right party including Christian Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals lead to the foundation of the European Democrat Union in 1978. With the adoption of a "Charter for a European Democrat Party" in 1972 in London, EDS belongs to the founding fathers of the EDU, since this was the starting point of a very intense European debate on this matter. In 1976 EDS adopted its first manifesto, supporting direct elections to the European Parliament, a common European foreign policy, economic and monetary union and a common European citizenship. The adoption of these joint policy documents and the integration of Liberal organisations were early proofs of the possibility of that co-operation. EDS also participated in the establishment of other European organisations, such as the European Youth Forum. These attempts of ECCS/EDS were much appreciated. In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II made former Chairman Ian Taylor a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). Chairman Tom Spencer was awarded with the Robert Schuman medal.

Other developments influenced the organisation as well. The transition of Southern Europe lead to new members from the Mediterranean region. In 1977, the first Summer University was organised in Nice (France). External contacts were maintained with COCDYC/ DEMYC, the IUYCD and its European wing EUYCD. Ideologically, ECCS/EDS was situated somewhere between traditional Conservatism of Edward Heath, Christian Values of German CDU and Liberal centre of Guiscard d’Estaing, and supported European integration most passionately. Thus, the seventies seemed to have been an exciting time for all ECCS/EDS-activists, or in the words of Tom Spencer, Chairman of 1972/74: "Throughout the year we have been hampered by the upheaval of elections, three-day weeks and general turmoil of our beloved continent. When you also consider the added joy of airline strikes and bomb threats, Europe can be seen as not the easiest place to run an international organisation." Many former activists of the decade stayed in the political arena. Not only Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden (1992-95), Ian Taylor, later minister in the government of John Major, Louis Galea, Minister for Education in Malta, and Tom Spencer, later MEP, undertook their first steps in international politics in ECCS/EDS.

 

3. The Eighties [back to top]

The first thing to remember about the eighties is it being a decade of transformation: Western Europe has transformed itself into the European Community, Christian-Democrat and Conservative forces have come to power in most Western European countries, the IT-revolution has begun and, at the turning point in the decade, the Eastern communist regime has begun to collapse and the whole continent is on the verge of reunification. The first thing to remember about EDS in the eighties is that it was - along with the rest of Europe - in a process of transformation. Past policies of the organisation were for the most part to be continued, but EDS had to look beyond for new horizons too. EDS continued organising the campaign in support of the persecuted Christian Democrats of Malta. However a new campaign was started supporting the struggle for democracy in Poland. Apart from this, there was also the involvement of EDS in various European structures, which had not existed in the early seventies. The most time-consuming and controversial of the new structures was the "All-European Youth and Student Framework", established in 1980, to support the disarmament-negotiations of governments, as well as the European Youth Forum and the European Coordination Bureau (ECB). However EDS had at least to rethink its relation to these organisations if found out that they work too closely with communist movements. Last but not least, EDS strongly advocated the economic reforms of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Nevertheless EDS had great difficulties meeting all these aims, since, for the first time, various member organisations had suspended its membership for political reasons. It speaks for EDS and its constitution, that all internal conflicts could be overcome by the end of 1986.

After 1986, one of the priorities was to search for contacts in Central and Eastern Europe. EDS had been since 1979 actively supporting opposition groups in Poland. Already in 1980, the Young Poland Movement (RMP) was accepted as associate member. In November 1988, one year before the Velvet Revolution, Chairman Bettina Machaczek together with Secretary General Knut Albert Solem visited "resistance-heroes" Vaclav Havel and Cardinal Tomasek in Prague, and discussed the role of the opposition and the church, at a time when the centre-left establishment of the West used to ignore such. They reported "people do not give up. New organisations are being formed to fight for human rights. When one person is arrested, another is ready to fill his position. People take to the streets to protest, despite the brutality of the police." In 1989, EDS could also establish relations to the Hungarian youth movement FIDESZ, which later on became the leading force in the centre-right government of Viktor Orban. Other successful projects were the regular publication of the "Taurus"-magazine by Stephan Eisel, one of the first political magazines on the European level, and the increase in relations with the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel.

 

4. Approaching the New Millennium [back to top]

In the years between the fall of the Iron Curtain and the beginning of the new millennium three trends can be identified: democratisation in the East, political integration in the West, slowly expanding to the East, and the IT-revolution. All three influenced the restructuring of the European centre-right. EDS itself was confronted with even more challenges: it had to look for new members, particularly in the new democracies, it had to renew its statutes, it had to integrate itself in the reshaped European People's Party, that more and more replaced other center-right party structures, and it had to redefine its relations to international organisations. The reform started in 1991 and it became irreversible, after a Memorandum on Higher Education and a new constitution were finally adopted in 1993. This including the integration of several new members made the associated membership in the European People’s Party (October 17, 1997) and stable relations to international organisations (e.g. UNESCO, 1997) possible. Due to the efforts of the Chairmen Andrew Reid, Guenther Fehlinger, Michalis Peglis and Ukko Metsola, EDS could increase its membership to 39 observer and full members and four associated members by 2001. Besides newly established relations, EDS continued to co-operate with organisations such as IYDU (full member since 1992), EDU, YEPP, DEMYC, and EYC. The aim was "to promote the idea of the pro-European centre-right and our concept of values and Higher Education wherever it seems useful." In March 2000, EDS finally became member of the "Union of the Robert Schuman Foundation".

The main activities in the nineties were in the fields of lobbying, training and information. Through its affiliations EDS promoted centre-right ideas in European structures and influenced the development of the E.U.-mobility schemes (SOKRATES). In front of the conference buildings EDS protested against the insufficient policies of the Socialist European leaders. In the field of training, EDS organised about 10 student conferences per year (1998/99: 900 participants), among them Summer Universities with up to 250 participants. The information policy of EDS included the EDS-webpage (www.edsnet.org) and the quarterly "Bullseye" (2000 copies). Through its campaigns and study trips EDS promoted the ideas of democracy and freedom in regions, where these are not yet secured, for example with the "Freedom for Belarus"-campaign since 1997.

 

5. The Decades to Come [back to top]

Since 1961 the basic aims of EDS have remained: to support the ideas of freedom, democracy, justice and reconciliation and to support new higher education-policies. The EDS-Annual Report of 1979/80 repeated objectives developed over many years: to "work for a united democratic Europe, to actively strengthen and support those ideals common to our members. EDS wishes to play its role in the building of a free and united Europe of the future. We believe that this task can best be facilitated through strong political organisations operating across the national borders of Europe, founded upon those occidental ideals of democracy, pluralism and freedom which raised Europe out of the ashes of the last World War." From its foundation, EDS also believed in the possibility of a close co-operation of Conservatives, Christian Democrats and like-minded political student-organisations. At the Council Meeting in March 1999, Chairman Michalis Peglis added the importance of training, lobbying and campaigning and he described Higher Education as the raison d'être of EDS.

And any new generation of EDS-activists will have to discover again, what EDS is about, to understand its role of a "social network for contacts", to discover that "Exchange through discussions with representatives from other countries sharpens own arguments as well as it -equally important - enlarges personal perspectives" as FMSF-member Susanne Enger explained in 1987 after having attended an EDS-seminar. EDS is not a political party, but an occasion to exchange views on politics, where new ideas emerge in political debates. If these were the reasons for making EDS 40 years long the strongest political student-organisation in Europe, it will be the task of upcoming generations to promote these ideas in the decades to come.