The Young Conservatives (, MK CZ) is a right-wing political youth organisation in the Czech Republic. It is the youth wing of the centre-right Civic Democratic Party (ODS), and shares that party's conservative and economical liberal ideology.
MK is open to young people within the ages of 15 to 35. The current chair of the Young Conservatives is David Vančík, since 2019.
History The founding congress was held on 8 December 1991, following preparations through the Charter of Young Conservatives by a group of students at the Brno University of Technology and the "Všehrd" Law Students' Association at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. David Částek was elected as first leader of the Young Conservatives.
Notable ODS politicians who started as members of Young Conservatives include Jan Zahradil, Jiří Pospíšil, Petr Sokol, Martin Baxa, Petr Gandalovič, Ivan Langer, Martin Novotný, and Pavel Drobil. Former Young Conservatives leader Petr Mach went on to found the Party of Free Citizens.
Ideology The original ideological course of the Young Conservatives was set out in the Charter of Young Conservatives, following basic conservative principles: democracy, nationhood, rule of law, liberty, free market, tradition, private ownership, family, and morality. Through its history, the Young Conservatives have closely cooperated with the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). The organization defines its approach towards the European Union as "Eurorealistic" or Euroskeptic.
Leaders
Name Years 1st David Částek 1991 – 1993 2nd Michal Špaňár 1993 – 1997 3rd Petr Mach 1997 4th David Rýc 1997 – 2001 5th Petr Sokol 2001 – 2007 6th Jiří Klindera 2007 – 2008 7th Jiří Fremr 2008 – 2017 8th Milan Vyskočil 2017 – 2019 9th David Vančík 2019 –
International Affiliation
European Young Conservatives European Democrat Students International Young Democrat Union Democrat Youth Community of Europe
Footnotes
External links Young Conservatives Official Website