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The Freedom Union–Democratic Union ( cs, Unie Svobody–Demokratická unie, US–DEU) was a small
pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
in the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
from 1998 to 2011. Freedom Union was founded in January 1998 by former members of the Civic Democratic Party who were unhappy with the leadership of
Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the secon ...
. After initially serving in a
caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...
, Freedom Union went into opposition after the 1998 election. In opposition Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union party and formed an alliance with the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party. From 2002 to 2006 Freedom Union was part of a coalition government with the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
and the Christian Democratic Union. However, in government the party lost support and at the 2006 election the party won less than 1% of the vote and failed to win any seats. The party ceased to exist on 1 January 2011.


History


Founding

The party was founded on 17 January 1998 at a congress in
Litomyšl Litomyšl (; german: Leitomischl) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,900 inhabitants. It is former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle c ...
as Freedom Union (), as a split from the Civic Democratic Party. The party was founded after divisions within the Civic Democratic Party over the leadership of Václav Klaus and what the defectors said was his failure to tackle funding scandals. The former
interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
Jan Ruml led a challenge for the leadership of the Civic Democrats, but was defeated by Klaus by 227 votes to 72 at a special congress on 14 December 1997. Afterwards 30 Members of Parliament formed Freedom Union, with these including the
finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
Ivan Pilip Ivan Pilip (born 4 August 1963 in Prague) is a Czech Republic, Czech politician and economist who was Finance Minister of the Czech Republic, finance minister from June 1997 to July 1998, after having been the Minister of Education, Youth and Spor ...
and the
defence minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Michal Lobkowicz Michal Lobkowicz (born 1964) is a former Czech politician and member of the Lobkowicz family. In 1998, he briefly served as Ministry of Defence (Czech Republic), defense minister in the Cabinet of Josef Tošovský, cabinet of Josef Tošovský, at th ...
. The party elected
Jan Ruml Jan Ruml (born 5 March 1953 in Prague) is a Czech politician who was interior minister from 1992 to 1997. Government career Before becoming Interior Minister, Jan Ruml served as deputy Interior Minister in 1991. Jan Ruml announced his resignation ...
as the first leader of the party on 2 February 1998. Both Ivan Pilip and Michal Lobkowicz were among the members of the Freedom Union who remained in the caretaker government of
Josef Tošovský Josef Tošovský () (born 28 September 1950) is a Czech economist and former governor of Czech National Bank (from 1993 to 2000). From 17 December 1997 to 22 July 1998 he was the prime minister of the Czech Republic in a caretaker government. C ...
, which had been formed after the collapse of the coalition led by Václav Klaus. The party initially did well in the polls, with a poll in March 1998 showing Freedom Union on 13%, ahead of the Civic Democrats who were on 8%. However the party suffered in the campaign for the June 1998 election, due to a lack of readiness for an election and a vague programme that was seen as being very similar to the Civic Democrats.


Opposition

At the 1998 election the Freedom Union won 8.6% of the vote and 19 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
. The party went into opposition as they would not govern with a Civic Democratic Party led by Václav Klaus and would not form a coalition with the Social Democratic Party as their policies were so different. Instead the Social Democrats formed a
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
, which was tolerated by the Civic Democrats. In September 1998 Freedom Union formed an alliance with 3 other
centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...
parties, the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party, Democratic Union and the
Civic Democratic Alliance The Civic Democratic Alliance ( cs, Občanská demokratická aliance, ODA) was a conservative-liberal political party in the Czech Republic, active between 1989 (founded shortly after the Velvet revolution) and 2007. The ODA was part of governm ...
, with the alliance being called the "
Four-Coalition The Four-Coalition ( cs, Čtyřkoalice), also translated as the Coalition of Four or Quad-Coalition, abbreviated to 4K, was a liberal centre-right political alliance in the Czech Republic between 1998 and 2002. The four member parties were: * Ch ...
". The Four Coalition went on to win the most seats at the November 1998 Senate election. Jan Ruml resigned as leader in December 1999 and the following February the party elected
Karel Kühnl Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * ...
as the new leader after receiving 193 votes compared to 87 for Vladimír Mlynář. Freedom Union had a strong performance at the November 2000 Senate election, becoming the third largest party in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and in late 2001 Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union party to form the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (US-DEU). However the Four Coalition ended at the beginning of 2002, after the level of debt held by the Civic Democratic Alliance emerged and they were unable to agree on dealing with it. Freedom Union-Democratic Union instead then formed an alliance just with the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party to fight the 2002 election as the "Coalition".


Government

At the 2002 election the coalition between Freedom Union-Democratic Union and the Christian Democrats won 31 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Following the election Freedom Union-Democratic Union and the Christian Democrats became part of a coalition government led by the
Czech Social Democratic Party The Czech Social Democratic Party ( cs, Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD, ) is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European views, it is a m ...
, which together held a one-seat majority. However at the 2002 Senate election Freedom Union-Democratic Union was reduced to only one senator. As a part of government, the party started to lose members and support. Freedom Union-Democratic Union suffered defeat in the 2004 European Parliamentary elections, failing to pass the 5% threshold required to win seats, with the party leader Petr Mares resigning as a result and being succeeded by the Regional Development Minister
Pavel Němec Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel ...
. The party would then win just one seat at the 2004 Senate election.


Decline and dissolution

At the 2006 election it received just 0.3% of votes cast and lost all its seats in the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
, which led to the resignation of its leader,
Pavel Němec Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel ...
. The party held a final party conference on 4 December 2010, where the decision was made that it should cease to exist as of 1 January 2011.


Policies

Freedom Union-Democratic Union was a centre-right liberal party. It believed in
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
policies and supported lower taxes and university
tuition fee Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...
s. Freedom Union-Democratic Union also had a consistent party message of the fight against
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
. However the party was also socially liberal, believing in the protection of the environment and minority rights. For the 2006 election the party would support
euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...
,
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
and the legalisation of marijuana. The party was also pro-European and supported direct presidential elections. These policies meant that the party was able to get support from younger urban voters and those with
higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
.


Election results


Chamber of deputies of the Czech Republic


Senate


Presidential


European Parliament


Leaders


References


External links


Freedom Union–Democratic Union
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Freedom Union - Democratic Union Liberal parties in the Czech Republic Defunct political parties in the Czech Republic Right-wing parties in the Czech Republic Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) breakaway groups Social liberal parties Liberal conservative parties in the Czech Republic 2011 disestablishments in the Czech Republic 1998 establishments in the Czech Republic Political parties established in 1998 Political parties disestablished in 2011