On the 11th of May 2018, our 16th General Assembly was held in the city of Bratislava, Slovakia. It was a fruitful GA where a new ECPM Vision on EU and Europe was accepted, as well as three resolutions by two of our member parties and our youth organization.  

ECPM President and MEP Branislav Škripek opened the General Assembly with prayer and welcomed everyone in the city of Bratislava. In his opening speech he focused on the importance of speaking out the Christian message loudly and clearly in Europe, especially considering the upcoming elections next year. “I would like to also point out that I see as very important to defend and stand for people who are persecuted for their faith or are experiencing any form of oppression and criticism for Christian values,” Škripek continued. “We, as public figures, should urge and motivate people not to stay silent but to express their voice in public.”

A report of the activities of the Advisory Council was given by its President Heiner Studer. After the financial report of 2017 by ECPM Board member Stieneke van der Graaf, ECPM Vice President George Rukhadze shared ECPM’s vision on the upcoming 2019 elections where we hope to consolidate Christian votes across Europe, and mentioned that the ECPM campaign will focus on the needs of its member parties.

ECPM’s Relations and Communication Manager Maria van Oost then gave a presentation on the new rules for European political parties. After the break, this was followed by the introduction of three resolutions that were submitted to the General Assembly. The first resolution of member party Bundnis-C on “The reference to God and to the Jewish-Christian inheritance of Europe in the Lisbon Treaty”, presented by their President Karin Heepen, was accepted with only one abstention. ECPYouth submitted a resolution on “Human Trafficking”, presented by their board member Gabriela Urbanova, was accepted unanimously. The third resolution, “Climate Change”, was submitted by member party Christen Unie and FICDD and presented by Coordinator International Affairs Lisca van der Eijk. It was accepted with one abstention. The full text of all three accepted resolutions will be made available on our website soon. 

During the General Assembly, the ECPM Vision document on EU and Europe was also accepted with one amendment and one abstention. We are very glad with this ECPM Vision for the coming years that combines all our members’ voices and has been worked on extensively. The 16th GA of ECPM was concluded by a short presentation by ECPM’s Director of European Affairs Leo van Doesburg wherein he shared his activities of the last months in the Council of Europe.

Report Bratislava City Breakfast and Conference:

Our well-visited Prayer Breakfast was themed "Church on the move". The attendants were welcomed by ECPM President and MEP Branislav Škripek, who spoke about Mark 16 verse 15 where the Bible says "and he said to them, go into all the world, and give the good news to everyone" and Matthew 28 verse 19 and 20 where it says "Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". There were speeches, worship and prayers during the breakfast and opportunity for all participants to meet each other.

The conference "European policies and how they affect the lives of ordinary citizens" was held during the afternoon. The first of the three speakers was Anna Veresová MP, whose speech was titled "Did we forget the families?". The second was Eduard Heger MP who spoke about Slovak workers abroad and foreign workers in Slovakia. Lastly, Veronika Remisová MP explained to the participants about how corruption ruins the post-communist society in many countries and what we can do about it.