Hi, we are the the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, the official think tank of the European People’s Party. Through our work, we inspire ideas for action and shape responses to European challenges.
During testing times for Europe, we believe these challenges deserve the best of our intellectual efforts and that is why we aim to be a leading and innovative catalyst of centre-right ideas and thinking.
political think tank worldwide
events a year
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Even if we are a young organisation (we were established in 2007), we share the same spirit as the European founding fathers. Just like Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schuman or Alcide De Gasperi, we envisage Europe as the biggest, most ambitious democratic project and want to make our contribution to it.
Through our work, the legacy of our founder, Wilfried Martens, European People Party’s long-standing President and former Prime Minister of Belgium lives on. He too was a visionary, yet pragmatic and responsible pro-European, as well as a freedom champion!
As a political think tank, we are a full part of the European policy-making ecosystem. Our mission is to offer decision makers and opinion leaders assistance in formulating new and effective policy options. These will help the European Union become a strong global player, a reliable transatlantic ally and a better democracy promoter.
What drives us forward? In the end, it all comes down to YOU!
We aim to influence and impact policy for the benefit of the European citizen. So go ahead, read our studies , take part in our events , participate in our campaigns. Come discuss, share and even challenge our ideas!
The members of the Executive Board draft the annual programme of the Centre based on agreed research priorities. They also ensure the legal representation and financial supervision of our activities, and steer the expansion of our network of member organisations.
The newly formed Honorary Board aims to reinforce the expertise of the Centre, not only for enhancing the think tank’s expert profile, but also in order to boost its intellectual capacity, enabling our experts to address the EU’s current and future challenges. The members of the board are all former prime ministers and former Heads of EU institutions belonging to the EPP family, with a successful track record of country and institutional reforms.
As esteemed academics and researchers, its members aim to increase the academic scope of the Centre and oversee the scientific standards of our research, studies and activities. They ensure that the Centre is always pursuing cutting-edge research, propose innovative projects and implement the highest standards of peer review.
They are politically like-minded senior level professionals active in European politics, European institutions and related organisations. They participate in the meetings of the General Assembly and offer their perspective on the overall strategy and goals of the Centre and how to attain them.