Editing Christian Union (Netherlands) (section)

==History==

===Precursors===
{{multiple image
| align = left
| image1 = Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond logo (1996).svg
| width1 = 130
| alt1 = 
| caption1 = 
| image2 = Reformatorische Politieke Federatie logo (1992).svg
| width2 = 120
| alt2 = 
| caption2 = 
| footer = The predecessors of the CU. the [[Reformed Political League]] and the [[Reformatory Political Federation]]
}}
Along with the larger [[Anti-Revolutionary Party]] (ARP), the Netherlands has a long tradition of small orthodox or conservative Protestant (i.e., mostly [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]]) parties in parliament, including the [[Reformed Political Party]] (SGP), founded in 1918. After a group of [[Reformed Churches in the Netherlands|Reformed Churches]] members formed the [[Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated)|Reformed Churches (Liberated)]] over a religious disagreement, the [[Reformed Political Alliance]] (GPV) split off from the ARP in 1948.<ref name="rd">{{Cite news |last=Vroegindeweij |first=Gerard |date=4 January 2025 |title=Een kwarteeuw ChristenUnie: van de marge naar de macht en weer terug |trans-title=A quarter century Christian Union: From the fringes to power and back |url=https://www.rd.nl/artikel/1090693-een-kwarteeuw-christenunie-van-de-marge-naar-de-macht-en-weer-terug |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 January 2025 |work=[[Reformatorisch Dagblad]] |language=nl}}</ref> It took until [[1963 Dutch general election|1963]] for the party to enter parliament. In the [[1981 Dutch general election|1981 election]], the [[Reformatory Political Federation]] (RPF) entered parliament. It had split off from the ARP six years earlier over the formation of the [[Christian Democratic Appeal]] (CDA).

{{Politics of the Netherlands}}
The RPF explicitly stated in its manifesto of principles that it sought to unite all reformed parties in the Netherlands.<ref name="rd"/> However, the GPV and SGP were somewhat less receptive. The GPV was only open to a specific current in reformed Protestantism, namely the Reformed Churches (Liberated), and did not wish to cooperate with non-'liberated' reformed: it had rejected on religious grounds the entry of the group that in the 1970s was to become the RPF. The SGP had rejected cooperation with these parties because they had female members; the SGP consistently rejected female suffrage until 2006. The RPF, GPV and SGP were [[Testimonial party|testimonial parties]], which chose to voice their concerns about government policy, while acknowledging that they were not big enough to force their opinion upon others.

In 1984, however, the three parties cooperated in the [[1984 European Parliament election in the Netherlands|European election]] and presented a common list in order to enter the [[European Parliament]]. In the [[1989 Dutch general election|1989 general election]] they formed an [[electoral alliance]] in order to enhance their chances of obtaining seats. In 1995 informal talks were opened between the three parties. The GPV had opened itself to non-liberated members, but the SGP not to women. The discussions with the SGP were broken off and the GPV and RPF continued together. For a long time the GPV was not willing to enter a major internal debate with the RPF, which also performed better electorally; it had won three seats in the [[1998 Dutch general election|1998 election]], while the GPV received only two. From 1998 the two parliamentary parties cooperated with each other, held common meetings and appointed common spokespersons. In 1999 a group called "Transformatie" (Transformation) was set up by young people from both parties in reaction to the slow cooperation process: they tried to intensify the debate about cooperation. In the same year the cooperation talks were formalised and intensified, leading to the foundation of the Christian Union.

=== Establishment ===
[[File:Vicepremier-en-minister-André-Rouvoet.jpg|thumb|right|[[André Rouvoet]], Leader of the Christian Union from 2002 to 2011]]
The Christian Union was founded in January 2000 as an alliance between the RPF and GPV. Later in that year, their youth organisations, GPJC and RPFJ, fused completely, presenting an example to their mother organisations. In 2001, they formed a common [[Fractie|parliamentary party]] in both the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|House of Representatives]] and [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]]. In [[2002 Dutch general election|2002]] the alliance entered the election for the first time. The party obtained four seats, one seat less than in the 1998 election when they campaigned separately. It had polled much better, with some polling stations predicting seven or eight seats. The party's leader [[Kars Veling]] stepped down. He had been good at keeping the peace internally in a party still somewhat divided between the old GPV and RPF memberships, but had not appealed well enough to the population at large. With [[Open list|preference votes]] a woman, [[Tineke Huizinga]] (positioned seventh on the CU candidate list) was elected into parliament for the CU, becoming the first woman to enter parliament for the party or its predecessors. Because of her election, prominent party figure [[Eimert van Middelkoop]], who was no. 4 on the candidate-list, had to leave parliament.

In the [[2003 Dutch general election|2003 general election]] the party lost an additional seat, and was left with three seats. Again Huizinga (now no. 4 on the list) was elected with preference votes and this time former RPF leader [[Leen van Dijke]] (no. 3) had to leave parliament. The decline of the CU in 2003 was probably due to party supporters voting for the Christian democratic CDA, which was competing with the social democratic [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (PvdA), to become the largest party. The Christian Union was heavily involved in the formation of the [[second cabinet Balkenende]], along with the SGP. However, the liberal [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (VVD) vetoed the formation of a cabinet that included the two conservative Reformed parties, and so the progressive liberal [[D'66|D66]] became a part of the governing alliance instead. In 2004 the two organisations RPF and GPV officially ceased to exist, making final the fusion into the CU.

=== Cabinet participation ===
In the [[2006 Dutch general election|2006 election]] the party doubled its seat count and joined the [[fourth Balkenende cabinet]]. CU leader [[André Rouvoet]] became [[Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands|Deputy Prime Minister]] and [[minister without portfolio]] for [[Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport|family and youth]], while Middelkoop became Minister of Defence and Huizinga junior minister (''staatssecretaris'') of Transport and Water management. Since the party has entered government, there has been some controversy about the conservative Christian ethical views of some of its members. In 2007 [[Yvette Lont]], a CU municipal council member for [[Amsterdam]], expressed the view that homosexuals should not be admitted to representative functions within the party. Also in 2007, municipal council member Monique Heger decided to resign from office, because she had recently discovered that she was a lesbian, and she and her (female) partner moved in together.

After the collapse of the Balkenende cabinet, the Christian Union no longer had representatives in government; Rouvoet returned to parliament as leader of the CU parliamentary group until he left politics in April/May 2011. Arie Slob succeeded him as the party leader.

[[File:Gert-Jan Segers 2018 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Gert-Jan Segers]] Leader of the Christian Union from 2015 to 2023]]

In October 2013, the [[second Rutte cabinet]] (VVD and PvdA), lacking a majority in the [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]], reached a budgetary agreement with the CU, the [[Reformed Political Party]] (SGP) and the [[Democrats 66]] (D66). This occasional coalition was nicknamed "purple with the Bible" (''Paars met de Bijbel'') as it included the secular parties VVD, PvdA and D66 plus the religiously-oriented parties Christian Union and SGP. The term "purple with the Bible" had already been used in February that year, when the same parties reached an agreement on modernising the housing market. Although the cabinet was quite unpopular and the VVD and PvdA lost many municipal seats during the [[2014 Dutch municipal elections|municipal elections of 19 March 2014]], the parties that provided tactical support to the government won many seats.

After the [[2017 Dutch general election|2017 general election]], the Christian Union became part of the [[third Rutte cabinet]], as a minor coalition partner to the VVD, CDA and D66. The party has three representatives in the current cabinet: minister [[Carola Schouten]] for the [[Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality]], [[Arie Slob]], [[Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Netherlands)|Minister for Primary Education, Secondary Education and Media]] and [[Paul Blokhuis]], [[Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (Netherlands)|State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sports]].

Following the [[2019 European Parliament election in the Netherlands|2019 European Parliament election]], the Christian Union left the [[European Conservatives and Reformists Group]] in the [[European Parliament]] (of which it had been a founding member) arguing that the ECR was moving too far to the right by including MEPs of far-right parties such as the Dutch [[Forum for Democracy]] and the [[Sweden Democrats]]. The party instead joined the [[European People's Party Group]].

In January 2023, [[Mirjam Bikker]] succeeded Segers as the party leader.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-13 |title=Wie is Mirjam Bikker, de nieuwe ChristenUnie-leider? 'Slim en betrouwbaar' |url=https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/politiek/artikel/5359143/wie-mirjam-bikker-de-opvolger-van-gert-jan-segers-bij-christenunie |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=RTL Nieuws |language=nl}}</ref> During the [[2023 Dutch general election]] the Christian Union lost two of their five seats, getting 2% of the votes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NOS - Uitslagen Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 2023 |url=https://app.nos.nl/nieuws/tk2023/ |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=app.nos.nl |language=nl}}</ref>