Union for French Democracy

The Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF; German " Union for French Democracy ") was a political party in France. It united Christian- democratic, liberal and centrist roots and occupied the center or center-right of the party system. The founding parties remained still exist, but you could also be directly a member of the UDF. In 1978 the UDF had been founded by the former Liberal President, Valéry Giscard d' Estaing. Despite first great electoral success - 1978 in the parliamentary elections 23.9 percent - not he succeeded, however, permanently establish a force of moderation, on the power of a president would have been able to establish. Giscard therefore also worked with the Gaullists, so the conservatives together.

In 1998 the party was renewed under the name Nouveau UDF after the Liberal Conservatives had left them. The last chairman of the UDF François Bayrou, founded in May 2007 a ​​new party, the Mouvement démocrate ( MoDem ). In addition to the UDF MoDem more socially liberal, Christian democratic and green parties belonged to small. Some representatives of the right wing of the party that support the Presidency of the Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, then formed the party Nouveau Centre. Other parliamentarians, especially senators, were non-party.

In the European Parliament the UDF was a member of the European People's Party (EPP). 2004 left the UDF, the EPP and founded the European Democratic Party ( EDP), or the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Founded in 1978

In the Fifth French Republic ( since 1958 until today ) the Gaullist was the decisive political force, right, conservative, nationalist collective movement of Charles de Gaulle. After de Gaulle his Prime Minister Georges Pompidou became the new President. He died in office in 1974. Successor to the Liberal Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d' Estaing was elected, which was more successful than the Gaullist candidate in the first ballot.

Between the Gaullists on the one hand and the Socialists on the other hand, there was in the center of the political spectrum a number of parties. They belonged in the broadest sense of liberalism or a Christian- democratic current. The parties of the center could in fact only a left or right support a presidential candidate, and also hung in the parliamentary elections, because of the majority electoral system, their own electoral success of a collaboration with the left or right.

The Christian Democrats united at the Centre of démocrates sociaux 1976, the right-wing Liberals in the Parti républicain 1977. However, both formations were not as strong as the initiators had hoped. Before the parliamentary elections in 1978 could not nichtgaullistische group compete with the Gaullists. So you founded on 1 February 1978, a new alliance with the inclusion of the left-liberal Parti républicain, radical et radical - Socialiste: the Union pour la Démocratie Française. The name refers to one of the books of Giscard, entitled Démocratie Française.

Soon after the clubs were added perspectives et réalités and the Mouvement Socialiste de France démocrate. In addition, kicked her in other people as members, without having first listened to any of these parties ( adhérents directs de l' UDF, UDF -AD).

Development to 1995

In the elections in March 1978, shortly after the founding, the Alliance Party made ​​an exceptionally good figure with 21.45 percent in the first round it was just behind the Gaullists with 22.62 percent. Even in later elections, the centrists were mostly back only slightly behind the Gaullists. Nevertheless, the Gaullists the dominant force on the right and in France were still at all, while the centrists might exist with them in parliamentary elections only in cooperation. Even in the government, both groups worked mostly together. In this respect, the establishment of the UDF changed little.

Within the UDF, the currents remained; a liberal and a radical had permanently different views on the state. The preservation of the old structures helped in the binding of voters on site. It was never a priority for the UDF to create a unified party program, so Alexis Massart, but made ​​the common -shows in elections that the ideological similarities was stressed. Republicans and Christian approached on the basis of a kind of socially -tinged liberalism, coupled with great Europafreudigkeit.

1981 Giscard was not re-elected, also because the Gaullists had only half-heartedly supported him. The new president, the Socialist Mitterrand, first collaborated with the Communists, but tried the latest on his re-election in 1988, to reach a wider potential voters. The Christian Democrats saw the opportunity to establish an independent and not join the right-wing opposition. While they remained in the UDF, but formed as Union de Centre (until 1993 ) an own group and worked together with the moderate Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard. In its government more radical socialists were represented. Because of the continuous link with the UDF, which went down election alliances with the Gaullists, but he failed to solidify the image of an independent Christian Democracy. This was all the more difficult because of the growing number of elections since France received more levels through decentralization. For the elected officials who were dependent on the right choice Alliance, an independent course was dangerous.

In 1995, the electoral alliance of the RPR and UDF was burdened by the candidacy of Edouard Balladur. This Gaullist Prime Minister resigned using the UDF to the presidential candidates, while the Gaullists with Jacques Chirac entered the race. In particular, the absence of a candidate from the UDF meant even a failure to position themselves in a presidential election, which was called due to the great importance of presidential elections to portray themselves as a subordinate power.

Transition to the new UDF 1995-1998

The Christian Democrats, so the CDS, merged in 1995 with a smaller partner in the UDF, the Social Democrats. The result was called Force démocrate. In June 1997, named the Republican Party, in Démocratie libérale around, went back to a traditional, right- liberalism. Because of the tensions between the two strongest movements in the UDF, FD and DL, the DL left the party alliance in May 1998. Soon afterwards sank the DL in the political insignificance.

In the Nouveau UDF from 1998 still remained some liberals who were not followed the DL ( Pôle Républicain Indépendant et Libéral ), and the clubs, the Parti Populaire pour la Démocratie now Française were called. In addition, the former Christian Democrats in the FD and the Radical Socialists gave the tone. The old UDF Alliance of Liberals and Christian Democrats had been strong enough to counterbalance the Gaullist in the right subsystem, so Massart, the new UDF, however, was far more vulnerable than second-class formation over the leadership of the RPR. François Bayrou, the chairman, tried after the departure of the liberals to make the UDF a normal party with uniform structures. Parts of the UDF but, as the radicals to such a loss of their own identity denied.

Umformierung the center-right UMP and the 2002

Soon expressed François Bayrou his intention to distance himself politically from the RPR and the UDF, presented its own list for the European elections in 1999, in competition with that of RPR -DL. However, this strategy stoked opposition within his own party and not a few MPs from the party opted for the 2002 presidential election to support rather Jacques Chirac's candidacy than that of François Bayrou.

Despite the relative success with the fourth best result and 7 % of the vote, it was no longer possible the establishment of the UMP on the initiative of Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé to ​​oppose François Bayrou is equal to the day following the first round of voting on April 21, 2002, in which all center-right parties should find.

A significant part of the members of the UDF left the party to instead join the UMP. Nevertheless, we succeeded the UDF in the elections to the National Assembly in the same year, with 29 deputies to preserve the status faction. This forum allowed the movement to make different views and claimed to occur on several occasions in opposition to the government of Jean -Pierre Raffarin.

In this way, the party succeeded, as some already foresaw their resolution, to win, to some degree back to influence and weight in the elections, as the first round of the 2004 regional elections and the 2004 European elections (12%) in June of the same year should confirm. This success is based on alternatives, which, particularly in social issues offers the party right-wing voters who are not satisfied with the policy of the government, but in addition also on their involvement in the field of European politics, which they reached voters outside its traditional sphere of influence.

After the European elections, the UDF is leaving the party alliance European People's Party, which they accused of too high a degree of skepticism in European core issues in order to start a new more centrally oriented alliance at European level - the European Democratic Party, the one with the Liberals in the European Parliament Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe arrives.

On 8 June 2005 after the speech Dominique de Villepin about the plans the overall orientation of his government's policies to the National Assembly, declined the fraction of the UDF for the first time since 2002 starting to cast their votes in the vote of confidence against the new government.

Dissolution of the party

After retiring in the first round of the presidential elections in 2007 (18.5%) refused Bayrou to support another candidate in the second ballot. A call to vote in favor of the Conservative candidate ( and favorite ) Nicolas Sarkozy would have corresponded to the tradition of the UDF. Thereupon several UDF MPs, including the board members Santini, Morin and Sauvadet for Sarkozy decided. It was the separation of the UDF, the majority of the members followed Bayrou's centrist line that démocrate the Mouvement rose, while the party rights, including the overwhelming majority of MPs, the Nouveau Centre joined under Hervé Morin. Some senators Jean Arthuis remained non-party and called today for the UDF. The joint parliamentary group in the Senate was retained, and Arthuis since tried with his alliance rassembler les Centristes - Alliance Centriste to unite both parties in a newly created UDF.

In the fall of 2009, the Nouveau Centre his name added to the additional L' UDF d' aujourd'hui ( " the UDF from today "). At the same time, the Alliance Centriste chose the slogan L' UDF de demain ( The UDF tomorrow ) as a motto. Then said the co-founder of the UDF and former Foreign Minister Hervé de Charette, who had moved to the UMP in 2002 with the majority of the liberal conservative wing that he left the party after the " shift to the right " of the UMP and joined the Nouveau Centre. Since he named Union pour la Démocratie Française several years ago had personally patented, and since these patents has been never disputed by the MoDem he says now, to hold this name, and allows the Nouveau Centre to claim the abbreviation UDF for itself. In the Committee of the Association UDF (UDF Club ), which consists of members of the party executive of the UDF on the day of their release, and that is provisionally responsible for the legacy of the party, but only MoDem, Alliance Centriste and non-party mandatories are represented. This committee has the NC project vehemently criticized, and threatened to challenge any attempt of this kind. But the founder of the UDF, former President Giscard d' Estaing, the Nouveau Centre pledged his support, so this is likely to compete in the future with the brand UDF.

Internal party structure

Chairman:

  • François Bayrou - Member of Parliament and member of the Council of the Pyrénées -Atlantiques

Deputy Agents:

  • Hervé Morin - Chairman of the UDF group in the National Assembly.
  • Michel Mercier - Chairman of the Party group of the UDF in the Senate
  • Marielle de Sarnez - Chairman of the Group of the UDF in the European Parliament
  • Jacqueline Gourault - chairman of the grouping of the carrier of choice mandates the UDF

Vice-Chairmen:

  • Pierre Albertini - Deputy Mayor of Rouen
  • Jean Arthuis - Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Chairman of the Council of the department of Mayenne
  • Bernard Bosson - Deputy Mayor of Annecy
  • Jean -Louis Bourlanges - MEP
  • Anne -Marie Comparini - deputy for the department of Rhône
  • Gilles de Robien - Education Minister
  • André Santini - Mayor of Issy -les -Moulineaux

Media Contact: François Sauvadet - deputy of the department of Côte- d'Or

List of party conventions

  • February 1979: 1st Congress of Paris
  • November 1982: Congress of Pontoise
  • November 1998: Congress of Lille
  • In December 2000 Congress of Angers
  • December 2001: Congress of Amiens
  • January 2003: 2nd Congress of Paris
  • 21 to 23 January 2005: 3rd Congress of Paris
  • 28 and 29 January 2006: an extraordinary party congress in Lyon
  • November 30, 2007: Extraordinary Congress of Villepinte, confirmed the association with the Mouvement démocrate

Chairman of the party

Election results in parliamentary elections

  • European elections 1999: 9.3 % - 9 seats
  • European elections 2004: 12.0% - 11 seats

Party youth

→ Main article: Jeunes UDF

The Jeunes UDF was founded in 1998, on the occasion of the union of the UDF by the members banded together between 16 and 35 years of age. In all organs of the party represented, they are actively involved, by providing their opinion on internal party debate and open to discussion. Each year, knows the life of the youth movement in the summer university a climax. In contrast to numerous other political youth movements, the organization is aware of their own structures and choose their representatives and leaders independently:

  • A national chairman - of the totality of the members elected for two years, from September 2004 Arnaud de Belenet;
  • To choose the same time as the President and tasked with the revival of the everyday work of the movement - a political office at the national level;
  • A national council - made ​​up of members assembled, selected by regional groups and meet regularly to thematic meetings.

With similar organizational structures, there is at the level of the departments of independent groupings of party youth:

  • The regional chairman - elected for two years by all the members of the regional grouping;
  • The regional political office - at the same time to select the chairman and charged with the revitalization of the work of the regional grouping.
Centrism Gaullism Jean Lecanuet Édouard Herriot Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber Jean-Pierre Fourcade Édouard Balladur Jean-Pierre Raffarin European Parliament election, 2004 List of education ministries Issy-les-Moulineaux 1986
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