| Summary: | This book tells and analyzes the story of the foundation and evolution of the Christian Democratic "European People's Party" as an example for the emergence of a transnational party system within the European Union. The introduction lays the ground for understanding this process as a phenomenon of European integration. A historical part of the book recalls the different efforts undertaken by the Christian Democratic Parties since 1925 to organize their cooperation. This is followed by a report on the political, programmatic and organizational evolution of the EPP from its foundation in 1976 as a "federation of Christian Democratic Parties from the countries belonging to the European Community" until today. And finally certain structural problems such as the relationship between the European party and its national member parties, the role of the Euro-parliamentary group or the integration of the "conservatives" into the EPP structures are analyzed as well as the perspectives of the future development.
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