The Christian Democratic Union of Germany or Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) is one of the two main right of centre political parties in Germany. It describes itself as a Christian democratic and conservative party.
Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | CDU |
| Leader | Friedrich Merz |
| Founded | 1870 (Centre Party) 1945 (CDU) |
| Headquarters | Klingelhöferstraße 8 10785 Berlin |
| Ideology | Christian democracy, Conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| International affiliation | Christian Democrat International and International Democrat Union |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party - European Democrats |
| Colours | Black, Orange |
| Website | |
| http://www.cdu.de | |
the CDU haus in Berlin
In November 2005 the Federal leader of the CDU Angela Merkel became the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; she left office in December 2021. It is currently led by General Secretary Carsten Linnemann, who was given his position in July 2023.[1] The party's president is Friedrich Merz.
History
The CDU was founded after World War II. The first German Chancellor was Konrad Adenauer, a member of the CDU. He ruled from 1949 to 1963. During the Government of Helmut Kohl (1982-1998), Germany was reunited.
The CDU was the Government Party for most of the younger German history, only from 1969 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2005 there have been Chancellors from different parties.
Members
The CDU has more than 400,000 members. It has 255 of 631 Members of Parliament in the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) and 34 of 99 Members of European Parliament of Germany.
References
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
