The Republicans (German:Die Republikaner, REP) is a national conservative political party in Germany. The primary plank of the program is opposition to immigration. The party tends to attract protest voters who think that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) are not sufficiently conservative. It was founded in 1983 by former CSU members Franz Handlos and Ekkehard Voigt, and Franz Schönhuber was the party's leader from 1985 to 1994. The party has since been led by Rolf Schlierer. The Republicans had seats in the European Parliament in the 1980s, and in the parliament of the German state of Baden-Württemberg until 2001.