Christian Democratic Union
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands, CDU) is a political party in Germany.
Contents
Ideology
In the past, the party's ideology combined conservative, christian-minded and classical liberal as well as some etatist views and values. However, the CDU nowadays promotes mainly social democratic, centrist and some left-wing christian ideas, for example forced Gender Mainstreaming programs, the idea of a multicultural society, disbandment of the nation state/creating a transnational European state etc.
Party Structure
Regional Party Groups
The party has regional party groups, the federal group (Bundesverband, there is only one), the state group(s) (Landesverbände, singular: Landesverband), the county group(s) (Kreisverbände, singular: Kreisverband) and the local group(s) (Ortsverbände, singular: Ortsverband). All local groups in a county (Kreis or Landkreis) are part of the county group, all county groups in a german (federal) state (Land or Bundesland) are part of the state group and all state groups form the federal group.
Federal Leadership
The present chairwoman (of the federal party group) is German chancellor Angela Merkel, vice-chairman are Roland Koch (Minister-President of the federal state of Hesse), Jürgen Rüttgers (former Minister-President of state of North Rhine-Westphalia, now member of the German federal government), Annette Schavan (member of the German federal government) and Christian Wulff (Minister-President of the federal state of Lower Saxony). Ronald Pofalla
Miscellaneous
The federal party group holds a think tank called Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Konrad Adenauer Foundation), named after first chancellor of post-World War II Germany Konrad Adenauer. The state party groups have similar foundations.
There's a special relationship between the CDU and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). The CSU is legally a party of it's own, but cooperates closelly with the CDU. The CDU only exists in the state of Bavaria. However, the CSU is independent and has it's own political structure and party platform, which differs in some positions from the CDU's one, so that the CSU can be considered more conservative.
The CDU has special organizations for demographic groups (youth, women, older/retired citizens, etc.).
Famous Party Members
- Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Angela Merkel, present chancellor of Germany, present chairwoman of the CDU
- Helmut Kohl, former chancellor of Germany
