European Christian Political Youth Network

The European Christian Political Youth is a political youth organisation that brings together Christian, politically active young people from all over Europe to reinforce Christian politics in Europe. It is the independent youth organization of the Christian Political Party.

WWW ecpyouth.eu

Background

ECPYouth, until 2013 known as European Christian Political Youth Network was established in July 2004 in Kortenberg by PerspectieF, Youth of ChristenUnie and other European Christian political youth organisations, such as the Christian Peoples Alliance Youth. The founding of ECPYouth was one of the results of the International Summer School where young people from all over Europe participated.

Activities

Since the International Summer School in Kortenberg in 2004 summer schools are held annually around a specific theme or political issue and offers participants lectures, workshops and excursions. ECPYN/ECPYouth organized summer schools in 2005 in Lunteren,, in 2006 in Birštonas, in 2007 in Würzburg, in 2008 in Chişinău, in 2009 in Risan, in 2010 in Ohrid, in 2011 in Paris, in 2012 in Zagreb, in 2013 in Helsinki, in 2014 in Brussels, in 2015 in Cambridge, in 2016 in Bern, in 2017 in Odesa, in 2018 in Wrocław, in 2019 in Tbilisi, in 2021 in Kerns, in 2022 in Skopje, in 2024 in Bucharest and in 2025 in Lisbon.
ECPYouth started to organize winter schools in Lviv in 2011 followed by Esztergom in 2012; and Soest in 2013. The most recent winter school was the winter school that took place in February 2025 in Rome.
ECPYouth organises Regional Conferences as well in different parts of Europe. Regional conferences took place in:

Hellenthal, Germany in October 2008
Tbilisi, Georgia in October 2010
St. Vith, Belgium in October 2011
Amsterdam, Netherlands in December 2015
Tallinn, Estonia in April 2016
Tbilisi, Georgia in September 2016
Paris, France in April 2017
Madrid, Spain in early 2023.
Brussels, December 2023
Berlin, Germany in December 2024

Furthermore, ECPYouth organizes study visits. In 2012 a study visit went to Podgorica, Montenegro to study the situation of minorities, especially the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian groups.
In 2012 ECPYouth started an in-depth training program, the ECPYouth Academy, under the title 'Crossroads – Christian Democratic Political Academy'. The first round took place in Timișoara, Romania; Zagreb, Croatia; Kyiv, Ukraine; and Soest, Netherlands. The program rebranded to Christian Changemakers later on, and still runs nowadays while completing 3 successful editions.
In 2017 ECPYouth started holding bi-annual General Assemblies, instead of annual, one during the summer school and one in February, in the Netherlands. This was accompanied by political cafés, in 2018 on the topic of human trafficking.

History of Board Members

Name
Sylvana Bal	President	-
Valeriia Petrechkiv	Board Member Secretary	-
Victoria Meller	Board Member Treasurer	-
Jonathan de Koeijer	Board Member Politics	-

Name	Country	Position
Klariska TEN NAPEL		President
Jan Henric VAN VLIET		Vice-President, Treasurer and Lobby
Hanna STRETOVYCH		Board Member Events
Eduard ANDREEV		Board Member Communications
Magdalena VAKULOVA		Board Member Politics
Giorgi LABADZE		Board Member Secretary

Name	Country	Position
Erik-Jan HAKVOORT		President
Lizzie FRANCIS		Board Member Secretary
Ardjan BOERSMA		Board Member Communications
Dimitri BLUASHVILI		Board Member Relations
Blazej DUBER		Board Member Politics
Gabriela URBANOVA		Board Member Lobby

Name	Country	Position
Erik-Jan HAKVOORT		President
Lizzie FRANCIS		Board Member Secretary
Ardjan BOERSMA		Board Member Communications
Dimitri BLUASHVILI		Board Member Relations
Inna PANCHUK		Board Member Events
Gabriela URBANOVA		Board Member Lobby

Name	Country	Position
Denys DHIVER		President
Ardjan BOERSMA		Political Secretary
Andreea Gabriela GAVRILA		Director of Internal Communication
Gerrianne PENNINGS		Director of External Communication
Dimitri BLUASHVILI		Members Support
Inna PANCHUK		Director of Events, Vice-President

Name	Country	Position
Denys DHIVER		President
Iina MATTILA		Secretary, Vice-President
Eunice VATRAN		Director of Communication
Gerrianne PENNINGS		Campaign Manager
Daniel WIŚNIEWSKI		Political Secretary
Inna PANCHUK		Director of Events

Name	Country	Position
Denys DHIVER		President
Iina MATTILA		Secretary
Auke MINNEMA		Vice-President, Treasurer
Eunice VATRAN		Director of Communication
Daniel WIŚNIEWSKI		Political Secretary
Inna PANCHUK		Director of Events

Name	Country	Position
Denys DHIVER		President
Nutsa SHAVLADZE		Political Secretary
Auke MINNEMA		Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary
Maja PAŽIN		Director of Human Resources
Péter DANKU		Director of Communication
Elina FOINSKA		Director of Events

Member organisations

-
-
-
- SGP-jongeren
-
-
- Christian Democratic Union of Youth
Hungary - Jobbik Conservatives

The Brussels Breakdown

In October 2024, ECPYouth launched its own podcast: The Brussels Breakdown. Hosted by Jonathan de Koeijer and Dominic Potters, The Brussels Breakdown airs one time per month on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Every episode, the hosts discuss - together with a guest - current topics in European politics. The first season included several high profiled guests such as former MEP and former Jobbik leader Márton Gyöngyösi and former Deputy-Minister of Justice for Albania and current professor at SciencesPo Teuta Vodo. The first season streamed until June 2024 with 7 episodes in total. Currently, the second season is set to launch during the end of October 2025.