European Democratic Party

European Democratic Party
President	François Bayrou and Francesco Rutelli
Secretary-General	Marielle de Sarnez
Founded	December 9, 2004 (2004-12-09)
Headquarters	Rue de l'Industrie 4, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Youth wing	Young Democrats for Europe (YDE)
Ideology	Centrism[1] Pro-Europeanism
European Parliament group	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Colours	Orange and blue
Political foundation	Institute of European Democrats
Website
http://www.pde-edp.eu/
Politics of the European Union Political parties Elections

The European Democratic Party (EDP) is a centrist^[2][3] European political party in favour of European integration. It was initiated on 16 April 2004 and formally founded on 9 December 2004 in Brussels. François Bayrou of the French Democratic Movement (MoDem) and Francesco Rutelli of the Alliance for Italy serve as the 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 (EPP) group to form a new centrist multinational bloc. Its co-founder François Bayrou described it as a party for people being neither conservative nor socialist, like the United States Democratic Party.

Since the beginning of the 6th European Parliament of 2004–2009, the EDP has formed a joint European parliamentary group with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party called the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group. Although ALDE Party and EDP MEPs continue to sit together in the same parliamentary group, the two European political parties remain separate entities.

The youth wing of the EDP is the Young Democrats for Europe.

Membership

Member parties

Country or Region	Party	European MPs
Belgium	Citizens' Movement for Change (Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement)	1 / 22 1 / 8
Croatia	National Forum (Nacionalni forum)	0 / 11
France	Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate)	4 / 74
France	Union of Democrats and Independents (Union des Démocrates et Indépendants)	3 / 74
Italy	Alliance for Italy (Alleanza per l'Italia)	0 / 73
Poland	Alliance of Democrats (Stronnictwo Demokratyczne)	0 / 51
San Marino	Popular Alliance (Alleanza Popolare)	N/A
Slovakia	European Democratic Party (Europska Demokraticka Strana)	0 / 13
Slovakia	Democratic Slovakia Party (Strana Demokratického Slovenska)	0 / 13
Spain	Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea)	1 / 54

Additionally, other independent MEPs, national and regional deputies have also integrated into the EDP:

Country or Region	Person	Party	Member of
Cyprus	Nicos Koutsou	Independent	House of Representatives
Ireland	Marian Harkin	Independent	European Parliament
Germany	Ulrike Müller	Free Voters	European Parliament
Germany	Gabi Schmidt	Free Voters	Landtag of Bavaria
Italy	Gianluca Susta	Independent	Senate of the Republic
Slovenia	Ivo Vajgl	DeSUS	European Parliament
Slovakia	Igor Hraško	Ordinary People	National Council
Spain	Narvay Quintero	Canarian Coalition	Senate of Spain

Former member parties

•  Cyprus: European Party
•  Czech Republic: Way to Change, founding member of EDP, disbanded in 2009
•  Italy: Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, founding member of EDP, merged into the Democratic Party in 2007, MEPs Mario Pirillo, Silvia Costa and Vittorio Prodi stayed as individual members until 2014, now member of PES
•  Lithuania: Labour Party, left in 2012 to join the ALDE party
•  Slovakia: People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, joined EDP in 2009, disbanded in 2014, succeeded by Democratic Slovakia Party

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

References

1. ^ Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck
2. ^ Lars Pehrson (12 June 2009). How Unified Is the European Union?: European Integration Between Visions and Popular Legitimacy. Springer. pp. 160–.  
3. ^ Oskar Niedermayer (1 May 2013). Handbuch Parteienforschung. Springer. pp. 831–.