The United Christian Democrats ( it, Cristiani Democratici Uniti, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

. The CDU was a member of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

from 1995 until 2002.

History

The party was started in 1995 by splinters of the Italian People's Party (PPI) who wanted to join forces with

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

(FI). The split was led by

Rocco Buttiglione Rocco Buttiglione (; born 6 June 1948) is an Italian Union of Christian and Centre Democrats politician and an academic. Buttiglione's nomination for a post as European Commissioner with a portfolio that was to include civil liberties, result ...

(outgoing secretary of the PPI),

Roberto Formigoni Roberto Formigoni (born 30 March 1947) is a former Italian politician born in Lecco, Italy. He was the President of Lombardy from 1995 to 2013. He is the former unofficial political spokesperson of the Communion and Liberation movement. On 21 Fe ...

and Gianfranco Rotondi. The CDU's symbol used the crusader shield (''scudo crociato'') of

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

. In the 1995 regional elections the CDU formed joint lists with FI and

was elected

President of Lombardy The president of Lombardy is the supreme authority of Lombardy, the most populated region of Italy. Election Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Lombardy, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by pop ...

, while in 1996 it formed an alliance with the

Christian Democratic Centre The Christian Democratic Centre ( it, Centro Cristiano Democratico, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, a ...

(CCD) for the 1996 general election, in which the CCD-CDU list scored 5.6%. In June 1998 Buttiglione led the party into the

Democratic Union for the Republic The Democratic Union for the Republic ( it, Unione Democratica per la Repubblica, UDR) was a short-lived Christian-democratic and centrist political party in Italy. It was founded in February 1998 by Francesco Cossiga (former Prime Minister and ...

(UDR), a new Christian-democratic outfit launched by Francesco Cossiga and

Clemente Mastella Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947) is an Italian politician who has served as the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He is the leader of Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist Italian party. He was Minister of Labour i ...

, who had left CCD to form the

Christian Democrats for the Republic The Christian Democrats for the Republic ( it, Cristiano Democratici per la Repubblica, CDR) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. The party was formed in February 1998 as a splinter group from the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), ...

(CDR). In October, when Buttiglione briefly decided to support the

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

government of

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...

, along with the UDR,

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician and a member of the European Parliament. He is serving as the minister of European affairs in the Meloni Cabinet since 2022. Career Born in Maglie, Fitto was elected in 1999 at Europ ...

Maurizio Lupi Maurizio Lupi (born 3 October 1959) is an Italian politician. He served as minister of infrastructure and transport between 28 April 2013 and 20 March 2015. Early life and education Lupi was born in Milan, Italy, on 3 October 1959. He has a deg ...

and several regional councillors in

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

and

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

left the party to form the

Christian Democrats for Freedom Christian Democrats for Freedom ( it, Cristiani Democratici per la Libertà, CDL) was a small christian-democratic political party in Italy. History The party was founded following a split from the United Christian Democrats of Rocco Buttiglione, ...

, which was later merged into Forza Italia. In February 1999 the UDR split between supporters of Cossiga, who formed the Union for the Republic (UpR), and the supporters of Mastella, who formed the

Union of Democrats for Europe The Union of Democrats for Europe ( it, Unione Democratici per l'Europa, UDEUR), also known as UDEUR Populars (''Popolari UDEUR''), was a minor centrist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Clemente Mastella, minister of Labour ...

(UDEur). In the event, Buttiglione re-established the CDU as an independent party and started a rapprochement with Berlusconi. In the

1999 European Parliament election The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and ...

the CDU obtained 2.2% and two MEPs, Buttiglione and

Vitaliano Gemelli Vitaliano di Iacopo Vitaliani was a Padua, Italy, Paduan nobility, nobleman who lived in the late 13th century around the time of Giotto di Bondone, Giotto and Dante. He is best known for being a wicked usurer according to Dante Alighieri, Dante in ...

. In the 2001 general election it formed an electoral alliance with CCD, known as the White Flower, gaining 3.2% of the vote. Following the election, Buttiglione was appointed Minister of European Affairs in

Berlusconi II Cabinet The second Berlusconi government was the 57th government of the Italian Republic and the first government of the XIV Legislature. It took office following the 2001 elections, and held office from 11 June 2001 until 23 April 2005, a total of 1,412 ...

. In December 2002 the CDU, the CCD and

European Democracy European Democracy ( it, Democrazia Europea, DE) was a minor Christian-democratic, centrist political party in Italy. History European Democracy was founded in 2001 by Sergio D'Antoni (former leader of the Italian Confederation of Workers' Tra ...

(2.3% in 2001) were merged into the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...

(UDC), of which Buttiglione was elected president, an office he would hold for twelve years.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

European Parliament

Leadership

*Secretary:

(1995–2002) *President:

(1995–1998), Mario Tassone (1998–2002)

References

{{Authority control Political parties established in 1995 Political parties disestablished in 2002 Christian democratic parties in Italy Centrist parties in Italy Defunct Christian political parties Catholic political parties Defunct political parties in Italy 1995 establishments in Italy 2002 disestablishments in Italy