Project
Dear Friend,
New Direction is proud to have been a part of the Working Group on European Conservatism. This year long project has brought together a diverse range of views and opinions from across Europe, to discuss what it truly means to be conservative today.
Representatives from think tanks working in Spain, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, and the European Union itself have all contributed towards this process. After more than nine consultive meetings between these foundations, we are pleased as New Direction to present the statement of the working group. This is a living document that will be added too in the future as more meetings are held.
We hope this document will act as a common point of reference for conservatives across Europe, and demonstrate that despite our small differences we have much more in common as the heirs of this tradition.
- Tomasz Poręba MEP, President of New Direction
The Working Group on Conservatism in Europe
The Working Group on Conservatism in Europe is a partnership of institutes, which have been working together since 2022 to identify and define European conservative ideas and traditions, as a starting point for a wider conversation that could draw out common principles.
The term “conservative” has become widespread in politics. However, the meanings now ascribed to the term are so varied, that among those labeled as “conservatives”, one can find anything from radical libertarians to anti-democratic authoritarians, imperiling the very term with a loss of meaning. It is our belief that conservatism has a substantive meaning, as well as a role in history—and in the future of Europe.
In order to better understand this term and its meaning, the Working Group held the following meetings with more planned in the future:
Principles
Europe's conservative movement is as diverse as the continent itself, reflecting variations in language, culture, society, religion, and history. A range of historical and geographical factors have contributed to the emergence of conservative traditions in Europe. These traditions are much more varied—and fractured—than in the Anglosphere. Nevertheless, the development of strong, coherent conservative traditions has sustained many European nations through difficult times. It is our contention that these discrete strands together compose the fabric of a common European conservative tradition.
The working group is rediscovering a common understanding of conservatism in Europe and have thus far settled on the following principles.
European Values
Any meaningful European conservatism must be founded upon acknowledging Judeo-Christian values and their understanding of human nature. They form the indispensable framework for public morality, freedoms, tolerance, subsidiarity and constitutional democracy. This principle should be explicitly enshrined in every national and European constitutional document and declaration.
Integrity of the National State
Conservatives believe that each sovereign national state has a unique role in ensuring its prosperity, independence, and security, and fostering its own customs, traditions, and values. Conservatives recognize that there is value in shared endeavors, like confederal arrangements, regional or international cooperation, economic or cultural integration efforts, but these must not come at the expense of individual sovereign national states, their integrity or their national interests. Conservatives additionally hold that free nations have a responsibility to defend international norms and the recognised sovereignty of other nations.
National Interest
States exist to maintain and nurture the nation and its integrity. It is, therefore, just to advance policies primarily according to national interests and traditions and not according to abstract universal notions. Specific histories and particular traditions define every nation. These are, therefore, to be learned, cherished, and taught – the successes as well as the failures, as components of a country's national identity; they should be addressed openly and honestly, without erasing, canceling, or destroying it.
Religion in the Public Square
Every country has a public religion, underpinning transcendental truth. Where traditional religion is removed, it is replaced by useless simulacra like a political worship or a patchwork of superstitions. It is, therefore, desirable for every country to assign a place in the public square to the religious traditions rooted in its history as a whole, with adequate provisions made for respect and tolerance of minority religious traditions.
Family
Conservatives believe in and promote the traditional European family in preference to other models. While there is no interest in the state interfering in the private lives of citizens as long as they are conducted lawfully, the standard public model of education, and general policies regarding family, marriage, and sexuality should remain traditional ones. Moreover, governments should adopt policies intended to fortify and reward traditional families in order to pursue a beneficial demographic future.
Economy and Social Relief
Conservatives support a market economy and property rights. Tariffs and defensive economic measures may be necessary to defend local producers and traditions against unfair trading practices by foreign countries, but always openly and explicitly, so that there can be public scrutiny and real calculation of costs and benefits. As for social and welfare policies, the preference should be to empower and foster social groups, associations and institutions to take upon themselves greater responsibilities and challenges, while recognizing a legitimate role for the state.
Education
A conservative view of education regards it necessary to impart to pupils the core national languages, values and traditions, while also exposing them to the wider world of ideas. We value a diversity of educational traditions and options, preferring educational institutions that draw from the local and communal experiences composing the national tradition. Education begins in the family home, and families have the right to ensure that their children’s education respects their philosophical and religious convictions, while conforming to the national laws and values.
Migration
A country has the right to set lower or higher rates of immigration, and it is not a natural right of anyone to immigrate to a country of their choice. A country that admits immigration may set quotas, or preferential admission for people of similar national or religious heritage, as well as define integration standards for immigrants it wants to admit as citizens. Countries have a duty to assist genuine refugees, without it becoming a back door for uncontrolled immigration.
Stewardship of the Natural World
Conservatives believe in the stewardship and conservation of the natural world. Humans are the custodians of a world rich in resources and beauty, and have a responsibility to protect nature, while utilizing its resources for the benefit of mankind with due consideration for those who shall inherit them in the future.
Foundations
Erasing the past and denying a future in the name of radical progress are the twin evils of our time. Both propose a vision of self-obsessed hedonism and cultural philistinism at the price of demographic collapse. And both are, by now, well ensconced in the cultural, social, and political spheres of the West. Neither liberalism nor socialism can effectively counter these dangerous trends since they share some of these principles, such as extreme individualism or a denial of the authority of the wisdom of the past.
Conservatism offers an alternative to these trends because it is founded on a respect for tradition, received wisdom, and institutional memory. It seeks a balanced approach that wishes to learn new things while retaining old ones. Instead of completely abandoning the past in the face of inevitable change, conservatism aims at both restoration and reformation—at restoring old traditions while ensuring necessary reforms—so that both stability and change can be part of the future.
In practice, this means recognizing that there is a great European heritage, that it is in danger of being abandoned or even destroyed, and that it needs to be reinforced and transmitted to younger generations. It is a heritage that is both spiritual and material, consisting of a canon of cultural, literary, and moral texts—starting with the Bible and classical antiquity. It is also a tradition consisting of the material heritage of our civilization and the love of home and country.
Unfortunately, new generations are now growing up in Europe that know little to nothing about the Bible, let alone the classics, whose ignorance is so colossal that they see Renaissance art or modern statues only as targets for anti-Humanist or anti-Western protests, rather than as the very fabric of national and European identity. Moreover, new generations are not only being encouraged to reject the past but also their nature – by rejecting, mutilating, and even destroying their bodies or genders, seeing them simply as oppressive constructs. Combined with other alarming societal changes, the collective results have devastated the willingness to start families, beget children, enter constructive employment, or lead a healthy and fruitful way of life or contribute to social or cultural cohesion.
Democracy itself is also in danger of becoming an empty term, with courts and administrative measures neutralizing the capabilities and competencies of elected officials, and with politicians and public opinion captured by social media. It is, therefore, necessary to concentrate more on the idea of representative government and reject the arbitrary rule of unelected bureaucrats or the bullying tactics of radical mobs.
The established channels by which cultural knowledge, tradition, and the wisdom of the ancients were imparted and reinforced – e.g., schools and universities, heritage institutions, and the mainstream media, public as well as private – have not only stopped fulfilling their original role, but have become active agents of disruption and chaos. They now aggressively disseminate abstruse and self-hating ideologies to the public in a way that makes many of those who would otherwise reject these new ideologies unable to counteract their influence.
It is therefore not only at the political level but also at the cultural level, that conservatism has to address what is becoming an existential challenge to the future of several European countries, as well as Europe as a whole.
It must be stressed that Europe is not only the European Union. It would be ridiculous to think of Europe without including Switzerland or Britain. Moreover, Europe is to a great degree the cradle of Western civilization and can be considered to a great extent synonymous with it, which means that the sphere of European civilization includes not only European countries but other countries like the United States of America, Israel, Brazil, and Australia, as well as many more.
The first stage, then, is to identify and clearly state a set of basic broad principles to which conservatives from different European traditions agree on, in order to eventually engage society in a long-term social, political, and cultural discussion. The objective should be nothing less than the rediscovery and restoration of that intellectual and spiritual path that would rescue Europe from the current road that leads to loss of all hope, back to “the straight way that was lost”.
