European Democratic Party

This article is about the European party. For the Czech party, see European Democratic Party (Czech Republic). For other uses, see European Democrats (disambiguation).

European Democratic Party Europäische Demokratische Partei Parti démocrate européen Partito democratico europeo Partido Demócrata Europeo Il-Partit Demokratiku Ewropew Ευρωπαϊκό Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα (Evropaïkó Dhimokratikó Kómma)
President	François Bayrou MP and Francesco Rutelli MP
Founded	December 9, 2004 (2004-12-09)
Headquarters	103 Avenue F. Rooseveltlaan, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Ideology	Centrism, Social liberalism, Christian left (Ideal democracy)
International affiliation	Alliance of Democrats
European Parliament Group	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Official colours	Orange and blue
Political foundation	Institute of European Democrats
Website
http://www.pde-edp.net/
Politics of the European Union Political parties Elections

The European Democratic Party (EDP) is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration. It was initiated on April 16, 2004 and formally founded on December 9 in Brussels. François Bayrou of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) and Francesco Rutelli of Italy's Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy serve as the first two co-presidents.

The EDP was founded in reaction to the rising influence of eurosceptic parties within European institutions. It drew pro-European centrist parties from the European People's Party to form a new centrist multinational bloc.

Its cofounder François Bayrou described it as a party for people being neither conservative nor socialist, like the United States Democratic Party.

Member parties

Belgium

• Citizens' Movement for Change (Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement)

Cyprus

• European Party (Ευρωπαϊκό Κόμμα), formerly New Horizons (Νέοι Ορίζοντες)

Czech Republic

• Path of Change (Cesta změny)
• Party for the Open Society (Strana pro otevřenou společnost)

Basque Country

• Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea)

France

• Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate), formerly Union for French Democracy (Union pour la Démocratie Française)

Italy

• Alliance for Italy (Alleanza per l'Italia), Rutelli's new party

Poland

• Alliance of Democrats (Stronnictwo Demokratyczne)

San Marino

• Popular Alliance (Alleanza Popolare)

Slovakia

• European Democratic Party (Európska demokratická strana)

Additionally, other independent MEP's have also integrated into the EDP:

Ireland

• Marian Harkin, Independent MEP

Former parties

Italy

• Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (La Margherita - Democrazia è Libertà)^a

^aNow merged into the Democratic Party (Partito democratico)

Elected representatives of Member Parties

European institutions

Organisation	Institution	Number of seats
European Union	European Commission	0 / 27
European Union	European Council (Heads of Government)	0 / 27
European Union	Council of the EU (Participation in Government)	0 / 27
European Union	European Parliament	9 / 736
Council of Europe	Parliamentary Assembly	5 / 318

Cooperation with ELDR

The meeting of the Parliamentary Group of the liberal European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party which took place in Brussels on July 13, 2004 approved a recommendation to unite the ELDR Group and the EDP Group into the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group. Although their MEPs currently sit together, these two European political parties remain separate parties.

External links

• EDP official website