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153-512: Initially it used the acronym PRO but had to drop it after a judicial complaint by the Pro Deutsche Mitte (Pro DM) party, as it was considered too similar to the latter's short name. Because of this, the official short name was "Schill", derived from the informal, but commonly used epithet Schill-Partei ("Schill party") from 2001 to 2004. After Schill's resignation, the party had to choose yet another short name, now running as Offensive D ,

306-403: A distributist economic system containing widespread distribution of productive property , in particular increased worker ownership (workplace democracy) and management (workers' self-management) of their production. The Christian democratic welfare state aims at supporting families and often relies on intermediary institutions to deliver social services and social insurance , often with

459-483: A "just steward", which includes just stewardship over environmental matters. Pope Francis took a firm stance on environmentalism in the papal encyclical Laudato Si in 2015. Here, the idea of stewardship comes from the correct translation of Genesis, where God entrusts man with stewardship of the earth. The origins of Christian democracy go back to the French Revolution , where initially, French republicanism and

612-500: A "third house of parliament" that would advise on economic matters. Heinrich Pesch's idea of corporatism would be a qualified notion of subsidiarity. Pesch's ideas would be influential in the Papal Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno , given that Pesch's disciple Oswald von Nell-Breuning would draft the document. Quadragesimo Anno was significant in legitimatizing the push for a corporatist system and subjected it to

765-492: A "wage floor", after having expressly rejected minimum wages during the previous years. Psephologist and Merkel advisor Matthias Jung coined the term "asymmetric demobilisation" for the CDU's strategy (practised in the 2009, 2013 and 2017 campaigns) of adopting issues and positions close to its rivals, e.g. regarding social justice (SPD) and ecology (Greens), thus avoiding conflicts that might mobilise their potential supporters. Some of

918-530: A CDU/CSU–FDP coalition. This marked the first change of coalition partner by a Chancellor in German history and the first centre-right coalition government since 1998. CDU candidate Christian Wulff won the 2010 presidential election in the third ballot, while opposition candidate Joachim Gauck (a Protestant pastor and former anti-communist activist in East Germany, who was favoured even by some CDU members) received

1071-574: A coalition with the socialist party . Sturzo was ordered by the Catholic Church in 1923 to disband his party and exit politics. Poor electoral performance in 1924 would make Sturzo give party leadership to Alcide De Gasperi and go into exile. Once in power, the fascists disbanded the Italian People's Party. This would precede the signing of the Lateran Treaty between the Catholic Church and

1224-693: A common youth organisation, the Junge Union , a common pupil organisation, the Schüler Union Deutschlands  [ de ] , a common student organisation, the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten and a common Mittelstand organisation, the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsvereinigung  [ de ] . The CDU and CSU are legally and organisationally separate parties; their ideological differences are sometimes

1377-420: A concept known as sphere sovereignty . One sphere ought not to dictate the obligations of another social entity; for example, the sphere of the state is not permitted to interfere with raising children, a role that belongs to the sphere of the family. Within the sphere of government, Christian democrats maintain that civil issues should first be addressed at the lowest level of government before being examined at

1530-496: A day of rest in line with historic Christian Sabbath principles . Another example of a Christian-inspired workers' movement is the Catholic Worker Movement established by Dorothy Day , which not only fought for better working standards, but also contributed to promoting the idea of pacifism and a just war . Popolarismo (or popularism) is a political doctrine conceived by Don Luigi Sturzo , however in reality this

1683-412: A doctrine of democracy. Academics have noted a few ideas key to Christian democracy, including personalism , solidarity (or some variant of social capitalism ), popularism (or some variant of its catch-all nature ), notions of "pluralism" (which in a vertical sense relates to subsidiarity , and in a horizontal sense denotes sphere sovereignty ) and stewardship. Personalism

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1836-454: A few conclusions: Personalism has generally been the underlying basis in Christian democracy that leads to human rights, especially in relation to a right to life, a right to family and a right to aid, a right to suffrage, freedom of conscience, and freedom of religion. Modern personalist views also are inspired by ecologist values. Rowan Williams contrasts personalism, which he describes as

1989-563: A general feeling of insecurity that had spread after the September 11 attacks in the United States, especially given that three of the terrorists had lived and studied in Hamburg. After the election, the new party joined a centre-right coalition with the CDU and the liberal FDP . The Schill party had 3 out of 11 senators (equivalent to ministers), with Ronald Schill being deputy mayor and senator of

2142-506: A higher level, a doctrine known as subsidiarity . These concepts of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity are considered cornerstones of Christian democracy political ideology. Christian democrats emphasize community, social justice, and solidarity, alongside supporting a welfare state , labor unions , and support for regulation of market forces. Most European Christian democrats reject the concept of class struggle and instead prefer co-determination , while US Christian democrats support

2295-407: A love affair. In December 2003, the federal board of the party removed Schill from his position as chairman of the state party. Schill considered this illegal and ignored the decision, therefore the federal board decided to expel Schill from the party. Consequently, the party's parliamentary group split, the supporters of Schill leaving the party's group and founding a separate one. Von Beust canceled

2448-459: A number of "faithless" votes from the government camp. The decisions to suspend conscription (late 2010) and to phase out nuclear energy (shortly after the Fukushima disaster in 2011) broke with long-term principles of the CDU, moving the party into a more socially liberal direction and alienating some of its more conservative members and voters. At its November 2011 conference the party proposed

2601-519: A person's responsibilities over what is entrusted to them, especially their property. In Social Catholic circles in the 1970s, stewardship was explicitly linked to environmental matters. Stewardship was found in the first programs of the Christian Democratic Appeal , and from here alongside the works of American bishops, the idea would spread to other Christian democratic parties. They view competent and efficient government as emblematic of

2754-469: A relation between humans and God, to modern-day capitalism, which is focused only on endless economic growth, which is harmful to the natural environment. The Christian democratic political economy has not tethered itself to one "third way" between capitalism and socialism, but rather various ways between capitalism and socialism. Over time, Christian democrats moved from solidarism to a social market economy. Initially, many Catholic political movements in

2907-538: A result of experiencing fascism. Christian democratic parties were also crucial in pushing for codeterminative works councils and workers on boards during this time. Despite this initial power, cracks started to appear; Christian democracy in France declined substantially, as Popular Republican Movement and its successors quickly fell apart. French Christian democrats would ultimately become subsumed into Gaullist parties. Similarly, minor Christian democratic parties such as

3060-437: A result, the party claims to represent "Christian-social, liberal and conservative" elements. The CDU is generally pro-European in outlook. Black is the party's customary and historical electoral colour. Other colours include red for the logo, orange for the flag, and black-red-gold for the corporate design. Since the election defeat in the 2021 federal election, the CDU is in opposition at federal level. It previously led

3213-466: A rise in support for the CDU in national polling, and her personal popularity was initially high. However, she suffered a sharp decline in popularity in the lead-up to the 2019 European Parliament election , in which the CDU/CSU suffered its worst ever result in a national election with just 29%. Kramp-Karrenbauer thereafter remained one of the least popular politicians nationally. The CSU's Manfred Weber

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3366-629: A source of conflict. 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 the CSU has historic parallels to previous Christian-democratic parties in Germany, with

3519-431: A state can intervene when these communities are not competent. In practice, subsidiarity has been used to justify the creation of international organizations, as higher international authorities need to exist to police nation-states. The idea of stewardship has traditionally been linked to managerial skills regarding property and income; Stewardship can be found in neo-Calvinist Abraham Kuyper's works, where it relates to

3672-572: A total of thirteen years. In 1982, the FDP withdrew from the coalition with the SPD and allowed the CDU to regain power. CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl became the new Chancellor of West Germany and his CDU/CSU–FDP coalition was confirmed in the 1983 federal election . After the collapse of the East German government in 1989, Kohl—supported by the governments of the United States and reluctantly by those of France and

3825-518: A variety of religions as well as non-religious individuals. The CDU's policies derive from political Catholicism , Catholic social teaching and political Protestantism as well as economic liberalism and national conservatism . The party has adopted more liberal economic policies since Helmut Kohl 's term in office as the Chancellor of Germany (1982–1998). As a conservative party, the CDU supports stronger punishments of crimes and involvement on

3978-529: Is a political doctrine generally linked to Emmanuel Mounier . It focuses on the person, their intellect, responsibilities, and value. It stresses that humans are free beings with dignity and political rights, but these rights must be used for the common good. It also stresses that true human freedom is used in line with God's will. It is against the individualist and collectivist notions of humanity. It also stresses that people become full when they are members of their communities. In practical policy, it leads to

4131-581: Is also present in other parts of the world. As a generalization, it can be said that Christian democratic parties in Europe tend to be moderately conservative and, in several cases, form the main conservative party in their respective countries (e.g., in Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland), such as the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland , the Christian Social Party ,

4284-440: Is in no way akin to what John Locke is for liberalism , Edmund Burke for conservatism , or Karl Marx for socialism . Other authors critical to forming Christian democratic ideology include Pope Leo XIII , Pope Pius XI , Emmanuel Mounier , Heinrich Pesch , Abraham Kuyper , and Luigi Sturzo . Christian democracy can trace its philosophical roots to Thomas Aquinas and his thoughts on Aristotelian ontology and

4437-589: Is mostly funded by taxpayer money. Both the CDU and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) originated after World War II, sharing a concern for the Christian worldview. In the 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 CDU and CSU share

4590-483: Is ongoing tolerance or cooperation of CDU at the local and district level with the right-wing radical AfD. CDU-head Friedrich Merz polarizes with political approaches to the AfD and called the CDU in 2023 one «Alternative with substance». Political observers from abroad say that the CDU's boundaries to the far-right are eroding. The party congress is the highest organ of the CDU. It meets at least every two years, determines

4743-418: Is religious, and politics should reflect this. The development of Orthodox Christian democracy has been held back by the fact that Orthodox Politics has not received church support in the way that Rerum Novarum encouraged Christian democracy, or how early Christian democrats such as Luigi Sturzo received tacit consent for his political activities. Russian Christian democrats, for example, have had to develop

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4896-555: Is seen not as an end but as a means of generating wealth to achieve broader social goals and maintain societal cohesion. The basis of the social market economy is ordoliberalism , or German neoliberalism, an idea related to thinkers such as Walter Eucken , Franz Böhm , Ludwig Erhard , Wilhelm Röpke and Alfred Müller-Armack . Ordoliberals viewed the concentration of power as a significant danger to liberty. They desired an economic constitution that would ensure competition in markets and free decisions, where people are uninfluenced by

5049-430: Is the social market economy , which is widely influential across much of continental Europe. The social market is an essentially free market economy based on a free price system and private property. However, it supports government activity to promote competitive markets with a comprehensive social welfare system and effective public services to address social inequalities resulting from free market outcomes. The market

5202-575: Is the major party of the centre-right in German politics . Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 January 2022. The CDU is the second largest party in the Bundestag , the German federal legislature, with 152 out of 736 seats, having won 18.9% of votes in the 2021 federal election . It forms the CDU/CSU Bundestag faction, also known as the Union, with its Bavarian counterpart,

5355-463: The Heimatvertriebene associations (Germans who fled or were expelled from the eastern territories) who hoped for a return of or in these territories. Seven Bundestag members, including former vice chancellor Erich Mende , defected from the FDP and SPD to the CDU in protest against these treaties, depriving Brandt of his majority, and providing a thin majority for the CDU and CSU. In April 1972,

5508-489: The 2020 Thuringian government crisis . The Thuringian CDU had been perceived as cooperating with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to prevent the election of a left-wing government, breaching the long-standing taboo in Germany surrounding cooperation with the far-right. Kramp-Karrenbauer was perceived as unable to enforce discipline within the party during the crisis, which she claimed was complicated by unclear positions within

5661-633: The Catholic People's Party to form Christian Democratic Appeal. European Christian democrats were a significant force in the creation of the European Union . At the beginning of the European project, three significant men were Konrad Adenauer , Robert Schuman , and Alcide De Gasperi , all Christian democrats. When the Rome Treaty was signed, Christian democrats were the leading governments in four of

5814-465: The Centre Party . Christian Democratic Union of Germany Defunct Defunct The Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( German : Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands [ˈkʁɪstlɪç demoˈkʁaːtɪʃə ʔuˈni̯oːn ˈdɔʏtʃlants] , CDU German pronunciation: [ˌtseːdeːˈʔuː] ) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany . It

5967-475: The Christian tradition. According to Aquinas, human rights are based on natural law and are defined as the things humans need to function correctly. For example, food is a human right because, without food, humans cannot function properly. Aquinas affirmed that humans are images of the divine, which follows human dignity and equality; all humans are equal because they all share that nature. Aquinas also affirmed

6120-1098: The Christian Democratic Union of Germany , the Dutch Christian Democratic Appeal , The Centre in Switzerland, the Spanish People's Party , the Mexican National Action Party , the Austrian People's Party , and the Christian Democratic Party of Chile . Many Christian democratic parties in the Americas are affiliated with the Christian Democrat Organization of America . Christian democracy continues to be influential in Europe and Latin America, although it

6273-644: The Christian Social People's Service (CSVD). Protestant workers' movements in Switzerland gradually developed mutual aid funds into an independent trade union movement. Around this time, Swiss Protestants formed the Evangelical People's Party . The 1930s saw the rise of the Christian People's Party in Norway. It was built on the work of Pietist Lutherans , and the party was initially founded to defend

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6426-423: The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). The group's parliamentary leader is also Friedrich Merz . Founded in 1945 as an interdenominational Christian party, the CDU effectively succeeded the pre-war Catholic Centre Party , with many former members joining the party, including its first leader Konrad Adenauer . The party also included politicians of other backgrounds, including liberals and conservatives. As

6579-518: The European Union , the party opposes the entry of Turkey, preferring instead a privileged partnership. In addition to citing various human rights violations, the CDU also believes that Turkey's unwillingness to recognise Cyprus as an independent sovereign state contradicts the European Union policy that its members must recognise the existence of one another. The CDU has governed in four federal-level and numerous state-level Grand Coalitions with

6732-814: The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland . By contrast, Christian democratic parties in Latin America tend to vary in their position on the political spectrum depending on the country they are in, being either more left-leaning, as in the case of the Christian Democratic Party in Chile , or more right-leaning, as in the case of the National Action Party in Mexico . Geoffrey K. Roberts and Patricia Hogwood have noted that "Christian democracy has incorporated many of

6885-646: The International Democracy Union , and the European People's Party (EPP). It is the largest party in the EPP with 23 MEPs . Ursula von der Leyen , the current President of the European Commission , is also a member of the CDU. Immediately following the end of World War II and the foreign occupation of Germany , simultaneous yet unrelated meetings began occurring throughout the country, each with

7038-814: The Italian fascists in 1929. The Centre Party and the CSVD would face the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. Once the Nazis attained power in 1933, they attempted to take total power with the Enabling Act . Internally, the Centre Party was divided on the Enabling Act, but many became persuaded that Hitler would not eliminate the Reichstag. Comparatively, the historical anti-Semitism of

7191-517: The Neo-Calvinist tradition within Christianity; it later gained ground with Lutherans and Pentecostals , among other denominational traditions of Christianity in various parts of the world. During the nineteenth century, its principal concerns were to reconcile Catholicism with democracy, to answer the " social question " surrounding capitalism and the working class , and to resolve

7344-609: The People's Democratic Party (PDP) would rise in post-Franco Spain. However, these movements were too divided and lacked the political necessity of religious cleavages to play a dominant role in Spanish democracy. These Christian democratic parties would fail, and the Christian democrats would join the Spanish Popular Party. Protestant Christian democracy developed in multifaceted ways in the post-war period. In Germany, it arose amongst

7497-548: The Social Democratic Party (SPD) as well as in state and local-level coalitions with the Alliance 90/The Greens . The CDU has an official party congress adjudication that prohibits coalitions and any sort of cooperation with either The Left or the Alternative for Germany . CDU officially prohibits any cooperation with the AfD , but does not clearly define what that means. In the eastern federal states , however, there

7650-489: The federal government from 1949 to 1969, 1982 to 1998, and 2005 to 2021. Germany's three longest-serving post-war Chancellors have all come from the CDU, more specifically: Helmut Kohl (1982–1998), Angela Merkel (2005–2021), and Konrad Adenauer (1949–1963). The party also currently leads the governments of six of Germany's sixteen states . The CDU is a member of the Centrist Democrat International ,

7803-401: The papal encyclical Rerum novarum in 1891, Pope Leo XIII recognized workers' misery and argued for means to improve workers' conditions. He also attacked economic liberalism and condemned the rise of socialism , and generally encouraged a corporatist approach to labor relations. Rerum novarum would provide Catholic labor movements with an intellectual platform and would coincide with

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7956-407: The prohibition of drugs . Christian democratic parties are often likely to assert their country's Christian heritage and explicitly affirm Christian ethics rather than adopting a more liberal or secular stance; at the same time, Christian democratic parties enshrine confessional liberty . Christian democracy fosters an " ecumenical unity achieved on the religious level against the atheism of

8109-422: The "D" standing for Deutschland ("Germany"). Before his political career, Ronald Schill had been a criminal judge at the Hamburg district court. He was known in the local tabloid press for passing unusually severe sentences and advocating harsher penalties, especially for adolescent delinquents, winning the nickname of "Judge Merciless". Schill supporters launched a political initiative in late 1999 and registered

8262-430: The "dominant culture" imply "tolerance and living together". According to party analyst Stephan Eisel, her avoiding the values issue may have had the opposite effect as she failed to mobilize the party's core constituency. The CDU applies the principles of Christian democracy and emphasizes the "Christian understanding of humans and their responsibility toward God". However, CDU membership consists of people adhering to

8415-434: The "individual in community". Sphere sovereignty stresses the horizontal element; social communities have roles they must uphold and certain liberty and autonomy. Here the government had the role of policing the spheres. Subsidiarity is the vertical element, where the state has the role of protecting and regulating the spheres. The state must not interfere if these communities are behaving effectively. This also means that

8568-497: The 1960s (see Vergangenheitsbewältigung ), the CDU attracted conservative , anti-communist , former Nazis as well as Nazi collaborators into its higher ranks (like Hans Globke and Theodor Oberländer but also future CDU chairman and West German chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger ). A prominent member was theologian Eugen Gerstenmaier , who became Acting Chairman of the Foreign Board (1949–1969). The result of these meetings

8721-421: The 19th century opposed capitalism and socialism equally, as both were based on materialism and social conflict. Initially, the system that Catholics advocated was one of corporatism, based on bringing back a guild-organized economy. The idea was a society where individuals were organized by their economic position. In these corporatist systems, the fathers were the head of families. One of these conceptions

8874-547: The CDU officially elected Merz as new party Chairman on 22 January 2022, and he assumed office on 31 January 2022. In October 2024, CDU again became proponents of nuclear energy , advocating reactivation of closed reactors and construction of new plants. Defunct Defunct In her 2005 campaign, Angela Merkel was unwilling to express explicitly Christian views while maintaining that her party had never lost its concept of values. Merkel and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert have been keen to clarify that CDU references to

9027-464: The CDU saw its chance to return to power, calling a constructive vote of no confidence . CDU chairman Rainer Barzel was almost certain to become the new Chancellor. But not all parliamentarians voted as expected (it was later revealed that two CDU/CSU deputies had been bribed by the East German Stasi ): Brandt won the vote and stayed in office. Thus, the CDU continued its role as opposition for

9180-415: The CDU supported, reluctantly, nonpartisan candidate Joachim Gauck. The CDU/CSU–FDP coalition lasted until the 2013 federal election , when the FDP lost all its seats in the Bundestag while the CDU and CSU won their best result since 1990, only a few seats short of an absolute majority. This was partly due to the CDU's expansion of voter base to all socio-structural groups (class, age or gender), partly due to

9333-425: The CDU was still "sufficiently conservative" or if it was "social-democratising". In March 2009, Merkel answered with the statement "Sometimes I am liberal, sometimes I am conservative, sometimes I am Christian-social—and this is what defines the CDU." Although the CDU/CSU lost support in the 2009 federal elections , their "desired partner" the FDP experienced the best election cycle in its history, thereby enabling

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9486-546: 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 120 million euro and

9639-481: The CDU. The members who hadn't left elected a new leader and changed their short name to Offensive D . Under that name, they came in last at the 2005 German federal election , polling 3,338 out of over 47 million votes (less than 0.01%). The party dissolved due to poor election results and financial problems in September 2007, having lost several leading figures and entire state groups to other right-wing parties such as

9792-780: The Catholic Centre Party having served as a national Catholic party throughout the German Empire and the Weimar Republic while the Bavarian People's Party functioning as the Bavarian variant. Christian democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism , as well as

9945-487: The Catholic Church was hostile to democracy and liberalism. This hostility to democracy and liberalism would be challenged by liberal Catholics who believed the alliance between the church and aristocracy was a barrier to the church's mission. Initially, this group desired to reconcile the Catholics with the state of modern politics, getting Catholics involved in parties, public action, and parliamentarianism. This, however,

10098-601: The Catholic Church were deeply hostile to one another as the revolutionary governments had attacked the church, confiscated the church's lands, persecuted its priests, and attempted to establish new religions, first the Cult of Reason and then the Cult of the Supreme Being . After the decades following the French Revolution, the Catholic Church saw the rise of liberalism as a threat to Catholic values. The rise of capitalism and

10251-532: The Catholic faith and anti-socialist and anti-liberal tendencies. In Ireland, Fianna Fáil was founded as a Catholic political party. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Labor would all be avenues for Christian democracy in the post-war period. In the early 20th century, Protestant confessional politics developed further. In Weimar Germany, Stoecker's Christian social party joined the German National People's Party as its labor wing in 1918. The Christian social parliamentarians from this party would then leave in 1929 to form

10404-415: The Centre Party's participation in establishing the Weimar Republic . In Switzerland, Catholics formed the Swiss Conservative People's Party , which, as a party, was divided between three competing demographics; rural Catholics who wanted greater regional independence, Catholic workers who wanted economic reform, and the more conservative groups who opposed democracy. Overall, the party was held together by

10557-621: The Christian Socials, many of which would help build the authoritarian state. Outside of Italy, Germany and, Austria, many Catholic and Protestant parties would ultimately be dissolved when Nazi Germany invaded the rest of Europe in World War II . Many Christian democrats would assist in the resistance in France. After World War II , "both Protestant and Catholic political activists helped to restore democracy to war-torn Europe and extend it overseas". Christian resistors were significant in establishing post-war Christian democracy movements in France, Germany, and Italy. The collapse of fascism led to

10710-435: The Danish Christian People's Party , formed in 1970, defended Christian schooling and dissented against secular trends such as atheism and liberal abortion policies. The Nordic Christian democratic parties did not represent the Lutheran state church but non-conformist Christians and lay activists within the Lutheran state church. In the Netherlands, the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party and Christian Historical Union joined

10863-417: The European Union has the ideas of subsidiarity and personalism embedded within it. The influence of Christian democracy on the European Union is such that one academic has called the European Union a "Christian democracy". Alongside the European Union was the development of European Christian democratic parties. This appeared in the 1940s with the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales, which would evolve into

11016-530: The European left-right political spectrum, Christian democracy has been difficult to pinpoint, as Christian democrats have often rejected liberal economics and individualism and advocated state intervention, while simultaneously defending private property rights against excessive state intervention. This has meant that Christian democracy has historically been considered centre-left on economics and centre-right on many social and moral issues . More recently, Christian democrats have positioned themselves as

11169-532: The FDP and Greens, they continued their grand coalition with the SPD. In October 2018, Merkel announced that she would step down as leader of the CDU that December and not seek reelection, but wanted to remain as Chancellor until 2021. On 7 December 2018, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected as federal chairwoman of the CDU. Kramp-Karrenbauer was considered Merkel's ideological successor, though holding more socially conservative positions, such as opposition to same-sex marriage . Kramp-Karrenbauer's election saw

11322-451: The French revolution and notions of individual and state sovereignty. It was the basis of sphere sovereignty , which helped the interests of Reformed Christians , which have historically been a minority. In sphere sovereignty, each sphere has its activity area related to God. Within this view of sphere sovereignty, it was the state's role to pursue public justice. Another element was that life

11475-518: The Italian Popular Party, and the rise of Mussolini would act as an anti-fascist force. Catholic Action would later help the post-war Christian democracy. Likewise, Catholic Action would work in the resistance in France and help found the MRP. In 1931, Pope Pius XI released the encyclical Quadragesimo anno , which was released on the 40th anniversary of Rerum novarum , and aimed to clarify

11628-501: The Lutheran ordoliberals . These Lutherans looked to Christian theologians such as Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer to path a way that obeyed worldly authority but also challenged the Nazi regime. The core of the ordoliberal ideology was a strong state that enabled market competition. During the war, the ordoliberals worked with Bonhoeffer to develop a political and socio-economic plan for

11781-551: The Neo-Calvinist corporatist idea has been credited as an inspiration for the polder system that currently exists in the Netherlands. Many of these corporatisms would advance the idea of replacing the elected parliament with corporative parliament recognizing the various corporate estates of the nation; industrialists, small businesses, peasants, landowners, workers, etc. The papal encyclical Rerum Novarum would recognize some of

11934-404: The Netherlands , and the Christian Social Party (Austria) . Initially, most of these parties accepted the anti-liberal beliefs of the Catholic Church at the time; many Catholics behind these movements believed all spheres of life should be regulated by religion. These movements were initially built by ultramontanes , were against the liberal view that church and state must be separated, and used

12087-537: The Netherlands, the Anti-Revolutionaries would not support pro-Vatican policies. A significant factor that helped Christian democracy during this period was the lay Catholic Action movements. These organizations stress the apostolate of the laity, which is the role of everyday Catholics in spreading the faith. In practice, these movements helped support the Christian trade unions and Christian democratic parties across Europe. In Italy, Catholic Action supported

12240-803: The Netherlands. In Graves de communi re , the pope would protest against using Christian democracy as a political label, preferring it to describe a social movement. Some academics consider the Catholic political parties around this time to be essentially Catholic and not Christian democratic. However, others consider the new Italian People's Party and the Popular Democratic Party (France) Christian democratic. These parties advocated political liberties, religious liberties, economic reform, and social partnership, policies to support democracy and internationalism. The Italian People's Party also advocated for regionalism and proportional representation. At

12393-619: The Party for a Rule of Law Offensive in July 2000. The party platform and public appearance was strongly focused on the personality of its founder. In the 2001 Hamburg state parliament elections it instantly came third and received 19.4% of votes (only 7 points behind the major conservative CDU ) and 25 of the 121 seats in the assembly. During the campaign, it had accused the state government of insufficient action against criminality, drugs, violence, demanding more police and tougher sanctions. It benefitted from

12546-634: The Protestant Christian Social movement left the Christian Socials susceptible to Nazism. The Nazi Party would infiltrate the Protestant unions linked to CSVD in 1931. Eventually, both parties would sign the Enabling Act , and both parties would summarily dissolve. In Austria, the Christian Socials would have already disbanded before Germany annexed Austria. In Austria, a short civil war between authoritarians and social democrats would divide

12699-572: The United Kingdom—called for German reunification. On 3 October 1990, the government of East Germany was abolished and its territory acceded to the territory of the Basic Law already in place in West Germany. The East German CDU merged with its West German counterpart and elections were held for the reunified country. Public support for the coalition's work in the process of German reunification

12852-523: The Western alliance made it harder to attract Protestant voters to the party, as most refugees from the former German territories east of the Oder river were of that faith, as were the majority of the inhabitants of East Germany . Therefore, the CDU was the dominant political party for the first two decades following the establishment of West Germany in 1949. The durable alliance that the party had established with

13005-425: The basic lines of CDU policy, approves the party program and decides on the statutes of the CDU. The CDU party congress consists of the delegates of the CDU regional associations, the foreign associations and the honorary chairmen . The state associations send exactly 1,000 delegates who have to be elected by the state or district conventions. The number of delegates that a regional association can send depends on

13158-486: The beginning of the Weimar Republic , Adam Stegerwald attempted to reform the Centre Party into a Christian democratic party, uniting Catholics and Protestants. In Belgium, the rising workers' movement came to form the increasingly powerful Christian democratic faction of the Catholic Party. This period also saw other Catholic parties forming; Bavarian Catholics broke away and formed the Bavarian People's Party due to

13311-485: The centre-right; as with both the European People's Party and European Christian Political Movement , with which many Christian democratic parties in Europe are affiliated. Christian democrats support a "slightly regulated market economy ", featuring an effective social security system, thus a social market economy . Worldwide, many Christian democratic parties are members of the Centrist Democrat International . Examples of major Christian democratic parties include

13464-461: The coalition and called a snap election. In the 2004 Hamburg elections , the party under the new leader Mario Mettbach only reached 0.4% and lost all of its seats, while Schill ran on a joint ticket with the Pro DM party, winning 3.1% of the votes, but also failing to qualify for parliamentary representation. After the election, Mettbach and most of the other members left the party, some of them joining

13617-404: The community for the individual; social democracies had sacrificed the individual for the community. Both parties returned to a traditional Christian teaching of "social pluralism" or "subsidiarity", which stressed the dependence and participation of the individual in family, church, school, business, and other associations. Both parties stressed the responsibility of the state to respect and protect

13770-423: The country's Christian heritage against the rise of secularization. There was cooperation between the Protestant and Catholic parties during this period. The Catholic and Protestant parties would form joint governments in the Netherlands and Germany. However, this cooperation did not challenge the underlying differences between the movements; in Germany, there was tension from cooperation with Protestants, while in

13923-574: The discontent of some conservatives with the Merkel administration's handling of the European debt crisis (2009–14) and later the 2015 refugee crisis , lamenting a purported loss of sovereignty and control or even "state failure". Nearly 10 percent of early AfD members were defectors from the CDU. In 2017, the Bundestag voted to legalise same-sex marriage . Merkel had allowed the conscience vote to happen despite her personal objections. While she herself and

14076-405: The discrediting of the radical right. In Germany, conservatism was associated with reactionary and anti-democratic attitudes. The Christian democrats could claim to be untainted by fascism and thereby draw together conservative Catholics and bourgeois Protestants. In both Germany and Italy, the Christian democratic parties encompassed former conservatives. The Christian democratic parties dominated

14229-585: The economic programs of Catholic parties of the time, such as the Popular Democratic Party, and the Dutch Roman Catholic State Party , alongside influencing Belgian Catholics. The Centre Party, Christian Social Party, and Swiss Conservative People's Party already advocated corporatism based on economists such as Heinrich Pesch , Oswald von Nell-Breuning , and Karl von Vogelsang . In Germany and Austria, Quadragesimo anno renewed

14382-613: The expense of concessions to the Soviet Union (USSR), depicting Adenauer as an instrument of both the Americans and the Vatican . The Western powers appreciated the CDU's right-ward slant, its commitment to capitalism, and its value as a pivotal oppositional force to the communists, thereby keeping consistent with US/UK foreign policy. In addition, Adenauer was also trusted by the British. However,

14535-423: The federal party congress. For this reason it is often called a small party congress . The CDU federal executive heads the federal party. It implements the resolutions of the federal party congress and the federal committee and convenes the federal party congress. The CDU Presidium is responsible for executing the resolutions of the federal executive committee and handling current and urgent business. It consists of

14688-508: The first Chairman of the party. In the beginning, it was not clear which party would be favored by the victors of World War II , but by the end of the 1940s the governments of the United States and of the United Kingdom began to lean more toward the CDU and significantly away from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), especially due to geopolitical reasons. The latter was more nationalist and sought German reunification even at

14841-404: The first Christian democrat. One of the more influential theologians in Germany was Wilhelm von Ketteler , who encouraged Catholics to accept the modern state. Ketteler argued for productive associations with profit sharing, Christian trade unions, and general workers' rights. In the 1870s, Catholic political movements arose independently of the Catholic Church to defend Catholic interests from

14994-528: The first time in its history. The CDU and CSU were highly critical of Chancellor Willy Brandt 's "change through rapprochement" policy towards the Eastern bloc ( Ostpolitik ) and protested sharply against the 1970 treaties of Moscow and Warsaw that renounced claims to the former eastern territories of Germany and recognised the Oder–Neisse line as Germany's eastern border. The Union parties had close ties with

15147-426: The first woman and the first person from East Germany to lead the federal party. She remained the leader of the CDU for more than eighteen years. In the 2002 federal election , Merkel ceded the position of CDU/CSU's joint candidate for the chancellor's office to the leader of the sister party, Bavarian minister-president Edmund Stoiber . CDU and CSU polled slightly higher (29.5% and 9.0%, respectively), but still lacked

15300-492: The foundation for the idea of subsidiarity, alongside the ideas that the state is to serve the people and that there is universal solidarity amongst humanity. A significant Neo-Scholastic was Jacques Maritain, who attempted to reconcile democracy and human rights with Thomist natural law. Maritain argued that human rights are based on natural law and that democracy needs Christianity to succeed. Jacques Maritain would use Thomist ideas of property to reduce inequality, arguing that

15453-426: The free, organic participation of the whole people in the common good. Academics have tied the idea of popularism to the way Christian democratic parties encompass sections of the whole population. This results from the inherent religious center allowing cut across class divisions. In realization of this, Christian democratic parties tend to invoke the title "People's Parties". Academic Carlo Invernizzi Accetti links

15606-402: The governing coalition in 1966 due to disagreements over fiscal and economic policy, Erhard was forced to resign. Consequently, a grand coalition with the SPD took over government under CDU Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger . The SPD quickly gained popularity and succeeded in forming a social-liberal coalition with the FDP following the 1969 federal election , forcing the CDU out of power for

15759-611: The government derived its authority from God, not from the people. However, Kuyper and the Anti-Revolutionary Party did support organic democratic representation and promoted universal household suffrage. In Germany, this element came from the Lutheran Adolf Stoecker , who established the Christian Social Party , and those who followed him. The Christian social movement aimed to challenge Marxist socialism, so Stoecker supported pro-worker economic policies to win over

15912-476: The government in the Communist countries." Christian democrats' views include traditional moral values (on marriage, abortion, prohibition of drugs, etc.), opposition to secularization , opposition to state atheism , a view of the evolutionary (as opposed to revolutionary) development of society, an emphasis on law and order, and a rejection of communism . Christian democrats are open to change (for example, in

16065-526: The government. As a result of the economic constitution, this model is mildly corporatist. This model of capitalism, sometimes called Rhine–Alpine capitalism or social capitalism , is contrasted with Anglo-American capitalism or enterprise capitalism . Whereas the Anglo-capitalist model aims to remove restrictions on capitalism and enable individual prosperity, the Rhinish Model embeds the market into

16218-506: The idea of popularism to proportional representation , pillarization , and consociational democracy . The Christian democratic notion of pluralism is about how humans are generally embedded in a social framework. John Witte , explaining the origin of Christian democracy, describes pluralism thus: Both Protestant and Catholic parties inveighed against the reductionist extremes and social failures of liberal democracies and social democracies. Liberal democracies, they believed, had sacrificed

16371-769: The intention of planning a Christian-democratic party. Consequently, the CDU was established in Berlin on 26 June 1945 and in Rheinland and Westfalen in September of the same year. The founding members of the CDU consisted primarily of former members of the Centre Party , the German Democratic Party , the German National People's Party , and the German People's Party . In the Cold War , years after World War II up to

16524-482: The interests of workers in society. Some activists, such as Frédéric Ozanam , the Society of St Vincent de Paul founder, were more amenable to liberal democracy. Ozanam criticized economic liberalism and the commodification of labor and argued that charity was insufficient to deal with these problems and that labor associations and state intervention were needed. Italian Popular Party leader Luigi Sturzo credits Ozanam as

16677-456: The interior. The party could not extend its success to other states: In the state elections of Sachsen-Anhalt 2002 and Bremen 2003, it won 4.4% and 4.5% of the votes respectively, but failed to surmount the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation. In other states it only polled around 1%. In the 2002 federal election, the Schill party won only 0.8% of the votes. In Spring 2003, Mario Mettbach

16830-619: The leadership election was held in January 2021. Originally scheduled for April 2020, it was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and was ultimately held online. Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet won the election with 52.8% of delegate votes. His main opponent Friedrich Merz , was seen as more right-wing, who won 47.2% of vote; Merz had also run against Kramp-Karrenbauer in 2018 and been defeated. Laschet's election

16983-408: The leading members of the federal executive board and is not an organ of the CDU in Germany. Before 1966, membership totals in the CDU organisation were only estimated. The numbers after 1966 are based on the total from 31 December of the previous year. In 2023, the CDU had 363.101 members. Notable suborganisations of the CDU are the following: The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is the think-tank of

17136-500: The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) as the leading tandem of several federal governments, and, implicitly, the strong partnership between Chancellor Adenauer and President Theodor Heuss enabled West Germany to thoroughly rebuild itself in the wake of World War II. Adenauer remained the party's leader until 1963, when former Minister of Economics Ludwig Erhard replaced him. As the Free Democratic Party (FDP) withdrew from

17289-505: The liberal states. In Europe, generally, the liberal states desired to wrestle control over the Catholic education system; however, in Germany and Italy, this was a direct attack against the church. The Catholic political movements specifically opposed liberal secularism and state control of education; the parties that came out of these movements include the Centre Party (Germany) , the Catholic Party (Belgium) , various Catholic parties in

17442-434: The majority needed for a CDU–FDP coalition government and stayed in opposition. In 2005, early elections were called after the CDU dealt the governing SPD a major blow, winning more than ten state elections, most of which were landslide victories . The resulting grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD faced a serious challenge stemming from both parties' demand for the chancellorship. After three weeks of negotiations,

17595-411: The majority of the party's representatives voted against the proposal, a number of CDU deputies supported it. In the 2017 election , the CDU and CSU lost a large portion of their voteshare: With 26.8 percent of party list votes, the CDU received its worst result since 1949, losing more than fifty seats in the Bundestag (despite an enlargement of the parliament). After failing to negotiate a coalition with

17748-572: The movements, seeing them as a challenge to the church's control of the laity. Over time, the impact of electoral politics on these parties pushed them to be more accepting of liberal democracy. To form effective political coalitions, these parties evolved from Catholic parties to parties inspired by Christianity and turned to voters, not the Catholic Church, for legitimacy. During this time, the Catholic parties took an inter-class nature, such that they comprised trade unionists, landlords, industrialists, peasants, and artisans, which academics have linked to

17901-672: The natural reality of family and household, based on the lifelong commitment of husband and wife, perfected with children, a unit that has priority over other communities. Aquinas also argued that public power could legitimately appropriate private owners of their resources for the common good when used for people in genuine need. When Leo XIII became pope, he issued the Papal Encyclical Aeterni Patris , which rehabilitated scholastic philosophy. The pope highlighted Aquinas's views on liberty, authority, laws, justice, and charity in this encyclical. Aquinas's ideas would later be

18054-514: The notion of popularism . Protestant confessional politics was more wide and varied. The most significant movement was in the Netherlands, where Reformed , neo-Calvinist Protestants founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party . Similarly to the Catholics, this party was formed out of similar concerns with liberal control of education. The party was against the ideas of the French revolution, and its founder, Abraham Kuyper , held that

18207-508: The notion of subsidiarity. Around this time, corporatism became increasingly prominent among young Catholics frustrated with parliamentary politics and, in many instances, would inspire authoritarian and fascist regimes movements in Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. Eventually, corporatism fell out of the political debate due to this association with authoritarian and fascist regimes. Another economic idea within Christian democracy

18360-451: The number of members of the association six months before the party congress and the result of the last federal election in the respective federal state. The foreign associations recognized by the federal executive committee each send a delegate to the party congress, regardless of their number of members. The federal committee is the second highest body and deals with all political and organizational matters that are not expressly reserved for

18513-469: The part of the Bundeswehr in cases of domestic anti-terrorism offensives. In terms of immigrants, the CDU supports initiatives to integrate immigrants through language courses and aims to further control immigration. Dual citizenship should only be allowed in exceptional cases. In terms of foreign policy , the CDU commits itself to European integration and a strong relation with the United States . In

18666-495: The party regarding cooperation with the AfD and The Left , which party statute holds to be equally unacceptable. While the Thuringia crisis was the immediate trigger for Kramp-Karrenbauer's resignation, she stated the decision had "matured some time ago", and media attributed it to the troubled development of her brief leadership. Kramp-Karrenbauer remained in office as Minister of Defence and interim party leader from February until

18819-465: The party was split over issues of rearmament within the Western alliance and German unification as a neutral state. Adenauer staunchly defended his pro-Western position and outmaneuvered some of his opponents. He also refused to consider the SPD as a party of the coalition until he felt sure that they shared his anti-communist position. The principled rejection of a reunification that would alienate Germany from

18972-427: The party's electoral defeat in 1998, when he was succeeded by Wolfgang Schäuble . In the 1998 federal election , the CDU polled 28.4% and the CSU 6.7% of the national vote, the lowest result for those parties since 1949; a red–green coalition under the leadership of Gerhard Schröder took power until 2005. Schäuble resigned in early 2000 as a result of a party financing scandal and was replaced by Angela Merkel ,

19125-501: The personal popularity of Chancellor Merkel. After talks with the Greens had failed, the CDU/CSU formed a new grand coalition with the SPD. Despite their long-cherished slogan of "There must be no democratically legitimised party to the right of CDU/CSU", the Union has had a serious competitor to its right since 2013. The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) was founded with the involvement of disgruntled CDU members. It drew on

19278-614: The post-war period, and after the war, they joined with Catholics to form the Christian Democratic Union. The ordoliberals termed their vision a " social market economy ", a vision the Catholics would also come to champion. In Sweden, it arose amongst the Pentecostals, where it coalesced in the Christian Democrats , founded in 1964 as a reaction to secularization. The Finnish Christian Democrats , formed in 1957, and

19431-431: The post-war period, Christian democratic parties became more conservative, partially in response to communism and secularism. The Christian democrats also won the women's vote in their respective countries due to the pro-family policies of Christian democrats. Christian democrats pursued decentralization policies during this time, encouraging regionalism in Germany, Italy, and Belgium. This was sought with increased favor as

19584-820: The post-war scene. In Italy, the new Christian Democratic Party led the coalition government under Alcide De Gasperi , and in France, the Popular Republican Movement became the largest party in parliament in 1946. In Germany, France, and Italy, the Christian democratic parties helped establish their respective countries' constitutions. Between the 1940s and 1990s, Christian democratic parties were in power across western Europe; "In Germany they were in power for 36 years out of 50, in Italy for 47 years out of 52, in Belgium 47 years out of 53, and in Netherlands for 49 years of 53; even in France they were influential up to 1962". In

19737-557: The principles behind corporatism. The Christian democratic notion of corporatism was found within Heinrich Pesch 's solidarism . Pesch's solidarism argued for international solidarity based on shared humanity, national solidarity based on shared nationality, familiar solidarity for family members, and class and cross-class solidarity based on shared interests in the workplace. This latter solidarity focused on occupational associations advancing collective interests, codetermination, and

19890-566: The promises in the CDU's 2013 election platform were seen as "overtaking the SPD on the left". While this strategy proved to be quite successful in elections, it also raised warnings that the CDU's profile would become "random", the party would lose its "essence" and it might even be dangerous for democracy in general if parties became indistinguishable and voters demotivated. President Wulff resigned in February 2012 due to allegations of corruption, triggering an early presidential election . This time

20043-404: The resulting industrialization and urbanization of society were seen to be destroying traditional communal and family life. According to the Catholic Church, liberal economics promoted selfishness and materialism with the liberal emphasis on individualism, tolerance, and free expression, enabling all kinds of self-indulgence and permissiveness to thrive. Consequently, for much of the 19th century,

20196-482: The rise of Christian trade unions across Europe. It was the catalyst for the beginning of Christian democracy in France, Italy, and Austria. The same year as the release of Rerum Novarum, Abraham Kuyper organized the Christian Social Congress alongside the Protestant workers' movement, where Kuyper outlined their social principles and policy. These actions reinforced the push for Christian social action in

20349-529: The six countries, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and were a part of the coalition government in the Netherlands at the time. At least until the mid-1980s, social democrats were hostile to the institutions of the European Communities – even in the 1970s, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme called the European Commission "conservative", "capitalist", "clerical", and "colonialist". Indeed,

20502-518: The social framework, with the goals of nation-building and of taking care of citizens. Beginning in the 1980s, European Christian democratic parties have partially adopted "neo-liberal" policies. However, Christian democrats in the American Solidarity Party instead adopted distributism . The promotion of the Christian democratic concepts of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity led to the creation of corporatist welfare states throughout

20655-432: The state should be involved if individuals do not use their property correctly. Jacques Maritain and Emmanuel Mounier would also use Thomist thinking in developing their idea of personalism. Another intellectual element of Christian democracy was neo-Calvinism . The neo-Calvinist political ideas relied on John Calvin's ideas of the sovereignty of God and common grace. God's sovereignty was particularly useful in light of

20808-433: The structure of society) and not necessarily supportive of the social status quo, and have an emphasis on human rights and individual initiative. A rejection of secularism and an emphasis on the fact that the individual is part of a community and has duties towards it. Christian democrats hold that the various sectors of society (such as education, family, economy, and state) have autonomy and responsibility over their sphere,

20961-500: The subsequent social doctrine of the church. The encyclical doubled down on the pronouncements of Rerum novarum on economic liberalism and socialism. The attack against socialism was broadened to include moderate socialism, and within the encyclical, the pope outlined a corporatist structure of society based on the notion of "subsidiarity". However, the pope would stress the autonomy of this corporatist system to distinguish it from fascism. This Quadragesimo Anno would come to influence

21114-446: The support of the state. Christian democrats support the principle of stewardship , which upholds the idea that humans should safeguard the planet for future generations of life. Christian democrats also tend to have a conciliatory view concerning immigration. No single author has been recognized by all Christian democrats as the leading Christian democratic thinker, but Jacques Maritain comes closest. Thus, in terms of impact, he

21267-469: The tensions between church and state. In the twentieth century, Christian democrats led postwar Western and Southern Europe in building modern welfare states and constructing the European Union . Furthermore; in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, Christian democracy has gained support in Eastern Europe among former communist states suffering from corruption and stagnation. On

21420-409: The term "Christian democracy" in opposition to liberal democracy. The Centre Party in Germany seems to be an exception to this trend in that they defended the Catholic Church through an appeal to liberal freedoms and democracy. Additionally, the Centre Party, inspired by Ketteler, supported social legislation. Despite the thoroughly pro-Catholic position of these movements, the church itself resisted

21573-504: The two parties reached a deal whereby CDU received the chancellorship while the SPD retained 8 of the 16 seats in the cabinet and a majority of the most prestigious cabinet posts. The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on 14 November. Merkel was confirmed as the first female Chancellor of Germany by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag on 22 November. Since her first term in office, from 2005 to 2009, there have been discussions if

21726-523: The views held by liberals, conservatives and socialists within a wider framework of moral and Christian principles." Christian democrats are usually socially conservative and generally have a relatively skeptical stance towards abortion and same-sex marriage , although some Christian democratic parties have accepted the limited legalization of both. They advocate for a consistent life ethic concerning their opposition to capital punishment and assisted suicide . Christian democrats have also supported

21879-548: The vigor for corporatism. In Ireland, Political Catholics would pursue a policy of vocationalism taken directly from Quadragesimo anno . This vocationalism was most evident in the corporatist nature of the Irish upper house . Across Europe, the Catholic and Protestant parties faced the threat of fascism. Amidst the rise of Fascism in Italy, the Italian People's Party , under Sturzo , attempted to challenge Mussolini by forming

22032-496: The working class. However, when this failed, Stoecker turned to anti-Semitism. In Switzerland, Stoecker and his fellow allies generated some interest in Protestant political organization, but Protestants largely accepted the predominance of liberalism, so there was only minor growth of a Protestant political movement. The papacy of Pope Leo XIII was a turning point in the development of Christian democracy, and he attempted to infuse democracy and liberalism with Catholic values. In

22185-716: The world that continue to exist to this day. In keeping with the Christian democratic concepts of the cultural mandate and the preferential option for the poor , Christian justice is viewed as demanding that the welfare of all people, especially the poor and vulnerable, must be protected because every human being has dignity, being made in the image of God. In many countries, Christian democrats organized labor unions that competed with communist and social democratic unions, in contrast to conservatism's stance against worker organizations. In solidarity with these labor unions, in Belgium, for example, Christian democrats have lobbied for Sunday blue laws that guarantee workers and civil servants

22338-416: Was Christian democracy in the political sphere. The papal encyclical Graves de communi re prohibited Christian democracy to be a political ideology, and so Sturzo used the term popularism instead. Popularism helped European Catholics come to accept democracy, and so the idea has been linked to Christian democratic ideas of democracy, which Sturzo Defined as: The political and social system resting on

22491-419: Was elected federal chairman of the party, while Schill continued to lead the Hamburg state branch. After a dispute about Schill's state secretary, Hamburg's first mayor Ole von Beust (CDU) removed Schill from his government office, accusing him of blackmail. Purportedly, Schill had threatened to accuse von Beust of granting undue advantages to the senator of justice, with whom Schill suspected von Beust of having

22644-467: Was not an endorsement of democracy, and the liberal Catholics maintained they did not adhere to liberalism. Eventually, the movement's leading figures, such as Félicité de La Mennais , would become more accepting of democracy. The group came to be associated with a desire for a free press, freedom of association and worship, and free education. Around this time, Catholic social thought developed, with social Catholic theologians and activists advocating

22797-472: Was reiterated in the 1990 federal election in which the CDU–FDP governing coalition experienced a clear victory. Although Kohl was re-elected, the party began losing much of its popularity because of an economic recession in the former GDR and increased taxes in the west. The CDU was nonetheless able to win the 1994 federal election by a narrow margin thanks to an economic recovery. Kohl served as chairman until

22950-565: Was seen as an affirmation of Merkel's leadership and the CDU's centrist orientation. On 7 October 2021, Armin Laschet, signaled that he would step down after a disastrous general election result, with the CDU suffering its worst ever general election result. A new leadership election was called in December and Friedrich Merz , of the right-wing faction of the CDU, was elected by a large majority of 62,1% of voters, defeating pro-Merkel candidates Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun . The Congress of

23103-418: Was that of Franz von Baader , who advocated for proletariat enfranchisement in the corporatist system. Baader is recognized as the first person to advocate for workplace codetermination . Codetermination would become a key point of unity amongst the Christian democratic trade unions. In the 19th century and early 20th century, the Lutheran social Christians advocated an authoritarian view of corporatism, and

23256-456: Was the Spitzenkandidat for the European People's Party in the 2019 European Parliament election. However, the EPP group ultimately nominated the CDU's Ursula von der Leyen as their candidate for President of the European Commission ; she was elected in July 2019, becoming the first woman to hold the office. Kramp-Karrenbauer resigned as party chair on 10 February 2020, in the midst of

23409-451: Was the establishment of an inter-confessional ( Catholic and Protestant alike) party influenced heavily by the political tradition of liberal conservatism . The CDU experienced considerable success gaining widespread support from the time of its creation in Berlin on 26 June 1945 until its first convention on 21 October 1950, at which future West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was named

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