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Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

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Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands
CDU logo
Leader Angela Merkel (Chancellor)
Founded 1945
Headquarters Klingelhöferstraße 8
10785 Berlin
Political Ideology Christian democracy and Conservatism
International Affiliation Centrist Democrat International and International Democrat Union
European Affiliation European People's Party
European Parliament Group European People's Party
Colours Black, Orange
Website http://www.cdu.de
See also Politics of Germany

Political parties
Elections

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU; Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands) is a christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany.

Along with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, the CDU forms the CDU/CSU grouping in the Bundestag.

The leader of the party, Angela Merkel, is also the incumbent Chancellor of Germany. In the European Parliament, the CDU is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), and internationally it is a member of the International Democrat Union (IDU). The CDU is the largest political party in Germany, followed by the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Contents

[edit] History

Party convention, Düsseldorf 1965

CDU was founded after World War II by members of the former Catholic Centre Party, but with the goal to include not only Catholics but also Protestants in a common conservative party. Other CDU members came from a number of other parties, including the German Democratic Party, the German National People's Party and the German People's Party.

The CDU was the dominant party in West Germany for the first two decades following its establishment in 1949. Until 1963, it remained under the leadership of Konrad Adenauer. That year, Ludwig Erhard, the former minister of economics, succeeded Adenauer. A recession in 1966 caused the CDU to wane in power and consequently form a grand coalition with the SPD. Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) then took power as chancellor of West Germany.

However, the SPD gained popularity and formed a coalition with the FDP after the general election in 1969, and the CDU thus went into opposition until 1982. It was during this time in opposition that the CDU developed new conservative economic and foreign policies. The FDP formed a coalition with the CDU in 1982 after withdrawing from the social-liberal coalition. The CDU came back to power with Helmut Kohl as the new Chancellor for West Germany. The CDU prospered in 1990 when the Berlin Wall fell and the CDU gained further popularity.

East German CDU leader Lothar de Maizière (left) with West German CDU leader Helmut Kohl, September 1990

After the downfall of East Germany's government, West German chancellor Kohl, with the strong support of France, the United Kingdom and the United States, called for the reunification of Germany. On October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic was abolished and its territory reannexed to Germany. The East German CDU merged with its West German counterpart. The same year, elections were held for the reunified country. Although Kohl was reelected, the party lost much of its popularity thereafter because of an economic recession in the former GDR and a tax increase in the west. He won, however, by a narrow margin in the 1994 election.

Helmut Kohl served as chairman until the party's electoral defeat in 1998, when he was succeeded by Wolfgang Schäuble; Schäuble resigned in early 2000 as a result of a party financing scandal and was replaced by Angela Merkel. In the 1998 general election, the CDU polled 28.4% and the CSU 6.7% of the national vote. In 2002, CDU reached 29.5% and the CSU 9.0%.


In 2005 early elections were called after the CDU dealt the governing SPD a major blow, winning more than ten state elections, mostly with a landslide victory. A Grand Coalition between the CDU/CSU and SPD faced the challenge that both parties demanded the chancellorship. However, after three weeks of negotiations, the two parties reached a deal whereby Merkel would become Chancellor and the SPD would hold 8 of the 16 seats in the cabinet and receive a majority of the most prestigious cabinet posts.[1][2] The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on November 14.[3] Merkel was elected Chancellor by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag on 22 November.[4]

[edit] Policies

The CDU is non-denominational, Christian-based, applying the principles of Christian Democracy and emphasizes the "Christian understanding of humans and their responsibility toward God." All confessions and non-confessional people are allowed to be a member of the CDU. The CDU's policies encompass derivatives from Political Catholicism and Catholic social teaching, political protestantism, as well as neoliberalism, fiscal conservatism and national conservatism. The CDU was the first proponent of the social market economy and has followed a neoliberal approach since Helmut Kohl's term in office as the Chancellor of Germany (1982-1990). In terms of foreign policy, the CDU commits itself to European integration and a strong relation with the USA. Domestically, the CDU emphasizes bureaucracy reform and the preservation of cultural traditions.

Opponents of the CDU are the social democratic SPD, the socialist The Left and the center-left, environmentalist Bündnis'90/Die Grünen. The liberal FDP is the preferred partner of any CDU government since the CDU and FDP have most in common in terms of fiscal policy. However, the CDU and FDP have opposing views in terms of social policy. The CDU has also governed with the SPD in grand coalitions and in coalitions with the Bündnis'90/Die Grünen. The CDU rejects coalitions with The Left and right-wing extremist parties.

[edit] Internal Structure

[edit] Members

The CDU currently has 530,755 members (As of: July 28, 2008)

25.4 % of members are female and 74.6 % male. The female proportion is higher in the new East Germany states with 29.2 % compared to the former states in West Germany with 24.8 %.

Before 1966 membership totals in CDU organization were only estimated. The numbers after 1966 are based on the total from December 31 of the previous year.

[edit] Data about state party group

Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, headquarters of the CDU, in Berlin
State group Chairman Members
CDU state party group of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger 79,000
Berlin Frank Henkel 13,000
Brandenburg Johanna Wanka 7,000
Bremen Bernd Neumann 3,340
Hamburg Michael Freytag 9,920
Hessen Roland Koch 48,950
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Jürgen Seidel 7,000
Lower Saxony David McAllister (politician) 55,752
North Rhine-Westphalia Jürgen Rüttgers 185,000
Rhineland-Palatinate Christian Baldauf 51.187
Oldenburg Manfred Carstens 13,600
Saarland Peter Müller 22,000
Saxony Stanislaw Tillich 15,000
Saxony-Anhalt Thomas Webel 9,000
Schleswig-Holstein Peter Harry Carstensen 30,000
Thuringia Dieter Althaus 13,000

[edit] Party strongholds

The traditional strongholds of the party are concentrated in rural and Catholic regions such as the Eifel, Münsterland, Sauerland, Fulda district, Schwaben, Emsland, Nordfriesland, Vorpommern as well as areas in Saxony, the Thuringia Eichsfeld, Taunus, and smaller cities such as Baden-Baden, Konstanz, and Pforzheim. There is less support in Bremen, Brandenburg, and East Berlin.

[edit] Relationship with the CSU

Germany Day of Junge Union in Cologne, 1986

Both the CDU and the CSU originated after World War II and had the Christian perspective of humankind in common. In the Federal Parliament (Bundestag), the CDU is represented in a common faction with the CSU. This faction is called CDU/CSU or (informally) "the Union"; its basis is a binding agreement known as a Fraktionsvertrag between the two parties.

The youth organisation for CDU and CSU is common: Junge Union.

On issues of federal policies the CDU and CSU don't differ, but they remain legally and organizationally separate parties. The differences between the CDU and the somewhat more socially conservative CSU has sometimes led to conflicts in the past. The most notable and serious such incident was in 1976, when the CSU under Franz Josef Strauß ended the alliance with the CDU at a party conference in Wildbad Kreuth. This decision was reversed shortly thereafter when the CDU threatened to run candidates against the CSU in Bavaria.

The relationship of CDU to CSU has historic parallels to previous Christian Democratic parties in Germany, with the Catholic Centre Party as the national Catholic party in Germany with the Bavarian People's Party as the local Bavarian variant.

[edit] Flag

There is now some, albeit sketchy, information about the history of CDU flags. This seems to be a very difficult story, as they obviously change their logo and their flag every four to five years or so. The last flag had been introduced around 1998. Recently the CDU introduced a new logo together with a whole new corporate identity (CI).[citation needed]

The main feature of the logo is, that it always has to be the same: a red inscription 'CDU' (new font) on a white rectangle of proportions 1:3. Any additional symbols (regional symbols) or text have to be outside the white rectangle. If shown on a coloured background this logo is usually shown on an orange field.[citation needed]

The flag is an orange field with the white rectangle at the bottom. The colours are defined in the CI as follows: orange RGB 255/153/0; red RGB 235/39/41.[citation needed]

[edit] Think-tank Konrad Adenauer Foundation

Conference in Rhöndorf, with eminent historian Golo Mann (center), 1978

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is the think-tank of the CDU. It is named after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and first president of the CDU. The foundation offers political education, conducts scientific fact-finding research for political projects, grants scholarships to gifted individuals, researches the history of Christian Democracy, and supports and encourages European unification, international understanding, and development-policy cooperation. Its annual budget amounts to around 100 million Euro.

[edit] Special organizations

Notable suborganizations of the CDU are:

[edit] Chairpersons of the Christian Democratic Union, 1950-present

[edit] Parliamentary chairmen/chairwomen of the CDU/CSU group in the national parliament

[edit] German Chancellors from CDU

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4325600.stm
  2. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/10/13/germany.government.ap/
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4434812.stm
  4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4458430.stm

[edit] Further reading

v • d • e
Political parties in Germany Flag of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany (222) • Christian Democratic Union (180) • Free Democratic Party (61) • The Left (54) • Alliance '90/The Greens (51) • Christian Social Union (46) • German Pirate Party (1)
Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of Germany

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_(Germany)"
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