European Democratic party

See also: Democratic party

The European Democratic party is a European Political party center, initiated the April 16th 2004 by the French Francois Bayrou and the Italian Francesco Rutelli who are his the first two copresidents.

The European Democratic party, whose UDF was the principal mainstay, officially was born the December 9th from the same year in Brussels, under the presidency of honor of Romano Prodi. It gathers in addition to UDF, the Margherita Italy, the Chemin of the Czech change , the Parti Lithuanian work (DP), the Parti nationalist Basque (PNV), the Mouvement of the citizens for the change (MCC) (Belgium) and the Chypriotes of the European Parti. The new party asserts 25 European deputies who sit, since June 2004, with the 63 liberal deputies within the political group of the Alliance of the democrats and the liberals for Europe (ADLE).

It is a question of the fifth European party to see the day after the European Popular party (EPP), the Parti the European Socialists (PSE), the European Parti the liberals, democrats and reformers (ELDR) and the Parti green European. Coprésidé by the president of UDF Francois Bayrou and the leader of Margherita Francesco Rutelli it asserts a place in the center of the European political chessboard. As Francois Bayrou explained it, delighted by have won its European bet, “ We feel empty in the European political scene. The center right slipped towards the line and the center left towards the left. However Europe was always done in the center. ” the leader of UDF stated to want to take again the European project become orphan and to affirm the validity of the federal model. He hopes for also a presence of the European Democratic party in all the countries of the European Union from here the next European elections of 2009.

He created at the end of February 2006 with the New democrat American coalition, component member of Parliament of the Democratic party, a world Alliance of the Democrats.

For the first time in the History, the European party will have preceded the national parties. Indeed, in 2007 are born within the two main forces from the party, of the hanging nationals:

the democratic Movement in France, gathering of the center forces around the UDF;
the Democratic party in Italy, Italian gathering of the two principal parties of the center-left.

First meetings

The representatives of ten European parties met on May 9th 2004 with the seat of the French party of the center UDF with Paris to celebrate “the Day of Europe” and to pose the stakes of a new European party, in favor of federal Europe. Celebrating the call pro-European of the May 9th 1950 of Robert Schuman, the participants, resulting from parties of center right-hand side or left from Italy, Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium and of Catalonia, but all partisans of the deepening of Europe, gave their agreement and defended the idea of a European democratic party.

“ It misses a large political current which is neither preserving nor socialist and which carries the European ideal, the president of UDF Francois Bayrou stated. It is this great democratic political movement which we decided to build together ”, it specified. It would be about a “ great democratic party, which wants the union under the control and with the participation of the citizens ”.

Several of the speakers who had taken part in the creation of the European Popular party (EPP) which gathers the conservative rights with the the European Parliament, deplored that this group accepted in its center several currents souverainists and nationalists.

The president of the Movement of the citizens for the change (MCC), Gerard Deprez, considered it regrettable that one let enter this group “ the forces more the Eurosceptics of the European Parliament ”. “ We had often the feeling which one preferred the number with the force of the inspiration ”, for its part Mr. Bayrou underlined.

The former mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli, leader of the party of center-left the Margherita, estimated that “ only strong Europe can avoid European shame, that which one saw with the Kosovo with European thousands of deaths or division ” vis-a-vis the question of the Iraq.

On his side, the Catalan Josep Antoni Duran there the, president of the democratic Union of Catalonia, stressed that “ the problem of Europe to advance towards federal Europe is today that we do not have a party europeist ”. He is him also known as favorable to the creation of a “ great central or center force, europeist and deeply social ”.

Also took part in this day Misters Josef Brož general secretary of Cesta změny (Chemin of the change, Czech liberal party), George Lanzmanis for the Latvia, general secretary of Latvijas CONCEALMENTS (Latvian Chemin, liberal party) as well as Polish representatives of Unia Wolnosci (Union of Freedom, liberal party resulting from the camp of Solidarity).

The movement " AsWalEuro" (four organizations decided to federate at the appropriate time to constitute this asbl made up, inter alia, of the Academy of the French-speaking public writers of the Wallonia-Brussels Community, Freedom-Tourism-Culture, the Walloon cultural Commission with its MédiaStyle antenna and of the Movement of the radicals of Wallonia) functions under the presidency of Santinon Antoine which is accredited in the capacity as referent in Belgium of the Modem and Partito democratico (Italian Democratic party). Association Wallonia-Europe, democrat-reforming and innovating, after having adhered to the PDE was integrated in its center. For information on this subject: http://www.innovatorieuropei.com/belgio and http://www.innovatorieuropei.com/organizzazione/.

Political positions

It is supported by the French party of the center UDF and the Italian party of center-left the Margherita. It has “vocation to gather the political clouts of the center-right and of the center-left”, Mr. Bayrou declared.

Politically, it is located between the Parti of the European Socialists (PSE) and the European Popular party (EPP, right-hand side).

Francois Bayrou takes for model the American democratic party for this “nonpreserving democratic current and not Socialist”.

Among the principal points of its program, let us quote:

the requirement of more democratic institutions , putting the citizens and not the technocrats at the center of the European project;
the idea that Europe must speak with one voice in the world, develop a defense policy and of common safety , and defend the multilateralism in the international relations;
the defense of the European social model , which guarantees free-competition but acts actively to fight its excesses and to preserve the public services which cannot be abandoned with only forces market;
the massive investment in the education and research to reconquer the level of excellence as regards higher education which Europe needs to be with the point of the innovation;
the defense of the national, regional and local identities , and the promotion of the cultural diversity and linguistics.

At the the European Parliament, its deputies sit with the Liberals (carried out by the British Graham Watson) within the group of the Alliance of the democrats and the liberals for Europe. The Democrats share with the Liberals a common design of Europe (democratic institutions, federalism, protection of the identities) but generally diverge on the economic questions and from company.

Deputies

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