Union for French Democracy

The Union for French Democracy, also known by its French acronym UDF (Union pour la Démocratie Française), is a French center-right political party. It was founded in 1978 as a union between several smaller parties (Parti radical, Parti républicain - later renamed Démocratie Libérale - and Centre des démocrates sociaux), as an electoral entity to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, but now is a single entity, due to the defection of the Démocratie Libérale and the Radicals to President Chirac's UMP, leaving only the CDS as a constituent of the UDF.

Related Topics:
French - French - Right - Political party - 1978 - Parti radical - Démocratie Libérale - Centre des démocrates sociaux - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing - Chirac's - UMP

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It may be compared to the Christian-Democratic Union of Germany in terms of its Christian democrat policies.

Related Topics:
Christian-Democratic Union of Germany - Christian democrat

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Its current leader, as of 2005, is François Bayrou, and UDF is a junior partner in the coalition behind Prime Ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin, though no longer in their cabinet.

Related Topics:
2005 - François Bayrou - Prime Ministers - Jean-Pierre Raffarin - Dominique de Villepin

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UDF's most marked political trait is that it is in favor of European federalism, up to the point of turning the European Union into United States of Europe. In that respect, UDF was the likely target of Jacques Chirac's Call of Cochin, in which he denounced pro-European policies of "the party of the foreigners".

Related Topics:
Federalism - European Union - United States of Europe - Jacques Chirac - Call of Cochin

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Until 2002, UDF spread a somewhat wide ideologic spectrum on the center-right. An ironic characterization of UDF's membership is that it was the union of everybody on the right that was neither far-right nor a Chirac supporter. The economic policies proposed by UDF's leaders used to range from left-wing-leaning, in favor of social justice, to strongly laissez-faire economics. Such divergences led the laissez-faire advocates of

Related Topics:
Right - Far-right - Left-wing - Social justice - Laissez-faire

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Démocratie Libérale, such as Alain Madelin, to split out of UDF on May 16, 1998. Similarly, the social policies ranged from the conservatism of the likes of Christine Boutin, famously opposed to civil unions for homosexuals, to more progressive policies.

Related Topics:
Démocratie Libérale - Alain Madelin - May 16 - 1998 - Conservatism - Christine Boutin - Civil unions - Homosexuals

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Many leaders of UDF left it to join the Union for a Presidential Majority (Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle), supporting Jacques Chirac, after it was founded in 2002, leaving François Bayrou somewhat isolated. While a partner in the

Related Topics:
Union for a Presidential Majority - Jacques Chirac - 2002 - François Bayrou

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Raffarin cabinet, the UDF sometimes criticized the policies of the French government, yet did not wish to quit the majority coalition and enter the opposition, which is mostly left-wing. As a result, UDF, save for Gilles de Robien, quit the cabinet in the March 31 2004 cabinet reshuffling, while still remaining in the parliamentary majority.

Related Topics:
Opposition - Left-wing - Gilles de Robien - March 31 - 2004

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In 2004, the party, along with Italy's Margherita, was one of the founding members of the European Democratic Party.

Related Topics:
Margherita - European Democratic Party

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