Christian Democratic Union of Germany

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
CDU logo
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
Politics of Germany Political parties

Party headquarters,
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. 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.