Centrist Democrat International

The Centrist Democrat International (CDI; , IDC) is an international political organization.

The CDI was founded on 30 July 1961 in Santiago, Chile, as the Christian Democrat World Union, reflecting the central role that Christian democratic parties played in its foundation. However, over the decades, the CDI has progressively expanded its identity and membership to include parties from a wide range of ideological traditions, and in 1999, it was renamed the Centrist Democrat International due to the participation of groups from other religions.

Today, it represents a broad political family committed to defending and strengthening constitutional democracy as the only viable system for guaranteeing freedom, pluralism, and social justice. To achieve this, the CDI works through its regional organizations.

The CDI's European division is the European People's Party, the largest European political party. Its African equivalent is the regional IDC.Africa, which has its own statutes aligned with the principles of the CDI. The CDI also works with think tanks such as the National Democratic Institute and the Wilfred Martens Centre (WMCES).

Timeline

December 1925: The first international gathering of Catholic-Christian democratic parties takes place in Paris, establishing the International Secretariat of Democratic Parties of Christian Inspiration (SIPDIC). Member parties were from Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, and Lithuania. 1939 to 1945: World War II suspends the SIPDIC. 23 April 1947: Political leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay meet in Montevideo to create an international organization of Christian democratic parties. Representatives from Bolivia and Peru participate via diplomatic correspondence. The Declaration of Montevideo establishes the Organización Demócrata Cristiana de América (ODCA), although the name is not formalized until their second meeting in July 1949. 3 June 1947: European Christian Democrats form the Nouvelles Équipes Internationales (NEI) in Chaudfontaine, Belgium, prompted by the Swiss a year before restarting the SIPDIC. The NEI, open to non-Catholic parties who subscribed to the principles of social democracy, sees European integration as the best way to prevent the spread of communism into western Europe and encourages exile groups from Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia to attend. The NEI plays a significant role in preparations for the Hague Congress and the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community. 26 July 1950: The Christian Democratic Union of Central Europe (CDUCE) is formed in New York City to assist Christian democratic parties in exile by organizing forces in opposition to communism. By 1955, it begins working with underground operatives in the Soviet bloc while trying to coordinate efforts between European and Latin American Christian Democratic parties. May and July 1956: The ODCA, NEI, and CDUCE meet for the first time in Paris at a gathering of 33 delegations from 28 countries to discuss the creation of a global Christian democratic organization. 1960: The three regional Christian democratic organizations establish the Christian Democratic International Information and Documentation Centre (CDI-IDC) in Rome to provide political analyses for Christian democratic parties around the world. 1961: The World Union of Christian Democrats (WUCD) is established in Santiago. 1982: The WUCD changes its name to the Christian Democrat International (CDI). 1999: The CDI changes its name to the Centrist Democrat International due to the increasing membership of non-Christian political parties. Since October 2000, some have informally referred to the CDI as the Christian Democrat and People's Parties International. 2021: The CDI underwent change in its legal and constitutive form, increasing its political, communicative and organisational skills.

Executive committee The CDI Executive Committee consists of the President, Secretary-general, and Vice-presidents. The President is Andrés Pastrana Arango, former President of Colombia and the Secretary-General is MEP Antonio López-Istúriz of Spain.

Members of the executive committee are:

Andrés Pastrana Arango (Colombia) – President Antonio López-Istúriz (Spain) – Secretary-General Mariana Gómez del Campo (Mexico) – Vice-president Maria Eugenia Vidal (Argentina) – Vice-president Antonio Brito (Brazil) – Vice-president Juan Carlos Hidalgo (Costa Rica)- Vice-president Alfredo Barnechea (Peru) – Vice-president Janez Janša (Slovenia) – Vice-president Viktor Orbán (Hungary) – Vice-president Andrej Plenković (Croatia) – Vice-president Sali Berisha (Albania) – Vice-president Yara Suos (Cambodia) – Vice-president Muhaimin Iskandar (Indonesia) – Vice-president Samy Gemayel (Lebanon) – Vice-president Adalberto Costa Jr. (Angola) – Vice-president Anne Désirée Ouloto (Ivory Coast) – Vice-president Nizar Baraka (Morocco) – Vice-president Albert Pahimi (Chad) – Vice-president Pier Ferdinando Casini (Italy) – Honorary President José María Aznar (Spain) – Honorary President Ofelia Acevedo (Cuba) – Honorary Vice-president Mario David (Portugal) – Honorary Vice-president Ulisses Correia e Silva (Cape Verde) – Vice-president ex-officio Manfred Weber (Germany) – Vice-president ex officio

Member parties

Country Party Abbr GovernmentLower ChamberUpper Chamber Democratic Party of Albania PD National Rally for Democracy RND National Union for the Total Independence of Angola UNITA Christian Democratic Party PDC Extraparliamentary opposition Rule of Law OEK Extraparliamentary opposition Republican Party of Armenia RPA Aruban People's Party AVP/PPA Bangladesh Nationalist PartyBNP Christian Democratic and Flemish CD&V Botswana National Front BNF Brazilian Social Democracy Party PSDB Union for the Republic UR National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia FUNCINPEC Neither government nor opposition Cambodian People's Party CPP Movement for Democracy MPD Christian Democratic Party PDC National Renewal RN Kuomintang KMT Colombian Conservative Party PCC New Democratic ForceNFD Democratic Center CD Colombia Justa LibresCJL Movement for the Liberation of the Congo MLC Social Christian Unity Party PUSC Croatian Democratic Union HDZ Christian Liberation Movement MCL Extraparliamentary opposition Christian Democratic Party of Cuba PDCC Extraparliamentary opposition National People's Party NVP/PNP Democratic Rally DISY KDU-ČSL KDU–ČSL Social Christian Reformist Party PRSC Dominicans for ChangeDxC Christian Democratic Party PDC The Republicans LR Gabonese Democratic Party PDG European Georgia — Movement for Liberty Christian Democratic Union CDU New Democracy ND Parti de l'espoir pour le développement nationalPEDN Party for Social Renewal PRS Popular Action of Equatorial Guinea APGE Extraparliamentary opposition Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance FIDESZ Christian Democratic People's Party KDNP National Awakening Party PKB Fine Gael FG Union of the Centre UDC Junior party in coalition Associative Movement of Italians AbroadMAIE Rally of the RepublicansParties, Centrist Democrat International, idc-cdi.com, retrieved 31 August 2016. RDR Wiper Democratic Movement – Kenya WDM-K Kataeb Phalange Malagasy Miara-Miainga MMM Malawi Congress Party MCP Union for the Republic and Democracy URD Nationalist Party PN Union for Democracy and Progress UDP Junior party in coalition Equity Party El Insaf GovernmentParti Mauricien Social DemocratePMSD National Action Party PAN Europe Now!PES! Istiqlal Party Democratic Movement of Mozambique MDM People's Party PP Opposition Christian Democratic Party PDC Christian People's Party PPC Extraparliamentary opposition Fight of Democratic Filipinos LDP Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats Lakas Senior party in coalition Social Democratic Party PSD National Liberal Party PNL Senior party in coalition Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania RMDSZ Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party PDCS Independent Democratic Action ADI Centrist Union of Senegal UCS Bloc des centristes Gaïndé BCG Alliance of Vojvodina HungariansVMSZ New Slovenia NSi Slovenian Democratic Party SDS People's Party PP Christian Democrats KD Party of Hungarians of UkraineKMKSZ Christian Social Party 'Copei' COPEI Justice First PJ

Former members – Andorran Democratic Centre – New Centre (, NC) (until 2011) – Justicialist Party (, PJ) (until 2020s) – Humanist Democratic Centre – Christian Democratic Union – Pro Patria Union – Union for a Popular Movement – Hungarian Democratic Forum – Union of Democrats for Europe – Conservative Party – Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – People's Party – Panameñista Party – National Revolutionary Movement for Development – Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party – Democratic Union of Catalonia – Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland – Batkivshchyna

Observer parties The IDC-CDI has 21 observers, including: – Heritage () – New Azerbaijan Party (, YAP) – Belarusian Christian Democracy (, BKhD) - BPF Party (Belarusian: Партыя БНФ) - Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia) (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano, PDC) - Bonaire Patriotic Union (Papiamentu: Union Patriótiko Boneriano, UPB; Dutch: Patriottische Unie van Bonaire) – Brazilian Social Democracy Party (, PSDB) - Social Christian Unity Party (Spanish: Partido Unidad Social Cristiana, PUSC) – Popular Union of Equatorial Guinea (, PUP) – Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (, PDGE) - Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras, PDC) – National Party of Honduras (, PNH) - Democratic League of Kosovo (Albanian: Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës, LDK) - Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Lithuanian: Tėvynės sąjunga – Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai, TS-LKD) - Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal (French: Parti républicain démocratique et social, PRDS) – Mozambican National Resistance (, RENAMO) – Christian Democratic Movement (, KDH) - United National Congress - Democratic Party (Uganda) (Swahili: Chama cha Kidemokrasia, DP) - Christian Democratic Party of Uruguay (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano del Uruguay) - Partido Nacional

See also Christian Democrat Organization of America European People's Party Wilfried Martens Centre National Democratic Institute Konrad Adenauer Stiftung International Democracy Union Liberal International Andres Pastrana Antonio Lopez Isturiz

Notes

Centrist Democrat International

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