Leo van Doesburg

Now it is up to the Romanian Voters to vote on the 6th or the 7th of October. More than two years ago, 3 million Romanians requested a referendum to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Finally, the hurdles for the organization of the referendum were removed. After the last vote in the Romanian senate with 107 votes in favour, 13 against and 7 abstentions and following the approval of the Romanian Constitutional Court, the Government set the date for the referendum: the 6th and the 7th of October. If there is a majority for YES with a minimum turnout of 6 million (30% of 18 million voters), then the constitution will be amended. Following Croatia and Slovenia, now also in Romania a Citizens’ Initiative has been established to request an amendment to the constitution so that marriage can be defined as a   union between one man and one woman. In both Slovenia and Croatia, the referendum took place and has resulted in amendments to the   constitution. The...

40 Members of the European Parliament sent a letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, to the President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea, and to the President of the Senate Calin Popescu Tariceanu. They asked them to respect the sovereignty of their own people and to organize without delay the referendum on the definition of marriage that was requested by 3 million Romanian citizens. The referendum is currently being postponed by more and more procedural delays.

On Friday, the 22 nd of May, the Irish citizens will vote in a referendum aimed at amending the Irish Constitution so as to redefine marriage as being between any of two persons, regardless of their sex. The promoters for the redefinition of marriage, are introducing the referendum as a grass root movement. The media mentions that no less than 80% of the Irish citizens will vote in the referendum for such an amendment in the constitution. It is proudly announced that the big majority for a YES vote would mark the first time that same-sex marriage legalization would be legalized by popular vote.  This would also “mark yet another defeat for the Catholic church and the political power it used to wield in Ireland ” (trying to unjustly frame marriage as a catholic and not a societal issue) However, increasing concerns have been raised by the question whether this is a “home-grown phenomenon” or rather a more carefully-orchestrated and massively well-funded assault on the nat...

On December 1, the people of Croatia voted in favour of the natural marriage. The outcome of the referendum in Croatia is clear: 65.8% of voters chose to preserve marriage as a union of a woman and a man, by asking their government to recognize this as such in the Croatian constitution, while 33,5% voted against. The referendum was called for by the Croatian Citizen initiative "In the Name of the Family" by collecting more than 700,000 signatures. On the 27th of November, the European Christian Political Foundation (ECPF) co-hosted a roundtable on this referendum in the Croatian Parliament. Maria Hildingsson (FAFCE) and Heiner Studer (President EVP, former MP Switzerland) addressed Croatian MP’s with their views on marriage (Hildingsson) and referenda (Studer). We are pleased with the choice of the majority of Croatian citizens and urges the Croatian government to facilitate this clear wish of the population as soon as possible. Please find below the press release of E...

Update 26 July, 2012 - The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) expresses its concern regarding the current political situation in Romania. The present crisis shows, in the view of ECPM, that there are some fundamental problems in the Romanian political landscape. Although the road towards EU integration brought Romania many positive changes, different governments have still not succeeded to achieve the necessary reforms in order to protect the separation of powers, to guarantee the Rule of Law and to create a democratic culture representing the Romanian people in its entirety. We understand all calls for deeper reform and as well as those who expressed their worries regarding the rapid institutional changes of the last few weeks. These institutional changes reveal, in our opinion, the existence of an underlying need for stronger institutions that must become independent from political party influences. Recent developments are worrying and show the need for deeper refor...

On 25 March 2012, Slovenia held a post-legislative referendum on the new Family Code that was adopted in the Slovenian parliament in June 2011. In a popular vote, 55% of voters rejected the new Family Code and 45% supported the law. Turnout was 30% on a sunny Sunday. The new Family Code had 309 articles and addresses many issues, but despite intense negotiations over the past two and a half years continued to include serious threats to the family and rights of children.