Centrist Democrat International Explained

Centrist Democrat International
Abbreviation:	CDI (English) IDC (French, Spanish)
Formation:	^[1]
Purpose:	Christian democracy Centrism
Headquarters:	Brussels, Belgium
Region Served:	Worldwide
Membership:	109 political parties
Leader Title:	President
Leader Name:	Andrés Pastrana Arango
Subsidiaries:	Youth of the Centrist Democrat International
Affiliations:	Christian Democrat Organization of America (ODCA) European People's Party (EPP) National Democratic Institute (NDI) Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS)
Website:	idc-cdi.com

The Centrist Democrat International (CDI; Spanish; Castilian: Internacional Demócrata de Centro, IDC) is a centrist political international inspired by the values of Christian democracy.^[2] Until 2001, it was known as the Christian Democrat International (CDI); before 1999, it was known as the Christian Democrat and People's Parties International. This earlier name is still sometimes used colloquially.

It is the primary international political group dedicated to promoting Christian democracy. Although it attracts parties from around the globe, its members are drawn principally from Europe and Latin America.^[3] Although in recent years, the Centrist Democrat International has expanded its presence in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. This has led to the development of the IDC.Africa, the Centrist Democrat International's regional organization in Africa.

Overview

The IDC-CDI was formed in 1961 in Santiago, Chile, as the Christian Democrat World Union, building on the legacy of other Christian democrat internationals which were an alternative to the socialist internationals who tried to create a Christian-inspired third way. In 1999, it was renamed the Centrist Democrat International due to the participation of groups from other religions such as the Islamic National Awakening Party (PKB) of Indonesia.

The September 2001 leadership conference in Mexico City changed the organization's name to Centrist Democrat International, retaining its original CDI acronym. References to religion were not allowed in many Asian and African countries, and the IDC-CDI would not have been able to extend into Asia and Africa without a name change.^[4]

The IDC-CDI's European division is the European People's Party, the largest European political party.^[5] Its American equivalent is the Christian Democrat Organization of America. The Democratic Party of the United States maintains links with the IDC-CDI through the National Democratic Institute.

Timeline

December 1925: The first international gathering of Catholic-Christian democratic parties takes place in Paris, establishing the Secrétariat International des Partis Démocratiques d'Inspiration Chrétienne (SIPDIC). Member parties were from Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, and Lithuania.
1939 to 1945: World War II suspends the SIPDIC.
23 April 1947: Political leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay meet in Montevideo to create an international organization of Christian democratic parties. Representatives from Bolivia and Peru participate via diplomatic correspondence. The Declaration of Montevideo establishes the Organización Demócrata Cristiana de América (ODCA), although the name is not formalized until their second meeting in July 1949.
3 June 1947: European Christian Democrats form the Nouvelles Équipes Internationales (NEI) in Chaudfontaine, Belgium, prompted by the Swiss a year before restarting the SIPDIC. The NEI, open to non-Catholic parties who subscribed to the principles of social democracy, sees European integration as the best way to prevent the spread of communism into western Europe and encourages exile groups from Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia to attend. The NEI plays a significant role in preparations for the Hague Congress and the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community.
26 July 1950: The Christian Democratic Union of Central Europe (CDUCE) is formed in New York City to assist Christian democratic parties in exile by organizing forces in opposition to communism. By 1955, it begins working with underground operatives in the Soviet bloc while trying to coordinate efforts between European and Latin American Christian Democratic parties.
May and July 1956: The ODCA, NEI, and CDUCE meet for the first time in Paris at a gathering of 33 delegations from 28 countries to discuss the creation of a global Christian democratic organization.
1960: The three regional Christian democratic organizations establish the Christian Democratic International Information and Documentation Centre (CDI-IDC) in Rome to provide political analyses for Christian democratic parties around the world.
1961: The World Union of Christian Democrats (WUCD) is established in Santiago.
1982: The WUCD changes its name to the Christian Democrat International (CDI).
1999: The CDI changes its name to the Centrist Democrat International due to the increasing membership of non-Christian political parties. Since October 2000, some have informally referred to the CDI as the Christian Democrat and People's Parties International.

CDI member parties are generally members of the ODCA or the European People's Party (EPP, the successor of NEI).

Executive committee

The IDC-CDI executive committee consists of the president, secretary-general, and vice-presidents. The president is Andrés Pastrana Arango of Colombia and the Secretary-General is MEP Antonio López-Istúriz of Spain.^[6]

Members of the executive committee are:

Andrés Pastrana Arango (Colombia) – President
Antonio López-Istúriz (Spain) – Secretary-General
César Maia (Brazil) – Vice-President
Lourdes Flores Nano (Peru) – Vice-President
Mariana Gómez del Campo (Mexico) – Vice-President
Andrés Hernández (Cuba) – Vice-President
Janez Janša (Slovenia) – Vice-President
Viktor Orbán (Hungary) – Vice-President
Andrej Plenković (Croatia) – Vice-President
Elmar Brok (Germany) – Vice-President
Yara Suos (Cambodia) – Vice-President
Muhaimin Iskandar (Indonesia) – Vice-President
Juan Edgardo Angara (Philippines) – Vice-President
Amine Gemayel (Lebanon) – Vice-President
Adalberto Costa Jr. (Angola) – Vice-President
Desirée Anne Ouloto (Ivory Coast) – Vice-President
Nizar Baraka (Morocco) – Vice-President
Pier Ferdinando Casini (Italy) – Honorary President
José María Aznar (Spain) – Honorary President
Ofelia Acevedo (Cuba) – Honorary Vice-President
Mario David (Portugal) – Honorary Vice-President
Ulisses Correia e Silva (Cape Verde) – Vice-President ex-officio
Manfred Weber (Germany) – Vice-President ex officio
Riccardo Pozzi (Italy) – Treasurer

Member parties

Party	Abbr	Government
Democratic Party of Albania	PD
National Rally for Democracy	RND
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola	UNITA
Christian Democratic Party	PDC	extraparliamentary opposition
Rule of Law	OEK	extraparliamentary opposition
Republican Party of Armenia	RPA
Aruban People's Party	AVP/PPA
Bangladesh Nationalist Party	BNP
Christian Democratic and Flemish	CD&V
Les Engages	LE
Botswana National Front	BNF
Brazilian Social Democracy Party	PSDB
Union for the Republic	UR
National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia	FUNCINPEC	neither government nor opposition
Cambodian People's Party	CPP
Movement for Democracy	MPD
Christian Democratic Party	PDC	neither government nor opposition
National Renewal	RN
Chinese Nationalist Party	KMT
Colombian Conservative Party	PCC
New Democratic Force	NFD
Democratic Center	CD
Colombia Justa Libres	CJL
Movement for the Liberation of the Congo	MLC
Social Christian Unity Party	PUSC
Croatian Democratic Union	HDZ
Christian Liberation Movement	MCL	extraparliamentary opposition
Christian Democratic Party of Cuba	PDCC	extraparliamentary opposition
National People's Party	NVP/PNP
Democratic Rally	DISY
KDU-ČSL	KDU–ČSL
Social Christian Reformist Party	PRSC
Dominicans for Change	DxC
Christian Democratic Party	PDC
The Republicans	LR
Gabonese Democratic Party	PDG
European Georgia — Movement for Liberty
Christian Democratic Union	CDU
New Democracy	ND
Parti de l'espoir pour le développement national	PEDN
Party for Social Renewal	PRS
Popular Action of Equatorial Guinea	APGE	extraparliamentary opposition
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance	FIDESZ
Christian Democratic People's Party	KDNP
National Awakening Party^[7]	PKB
Union of the Centre	UdC	support to the government in the Senate
Associative Movement of Italians Abroad	MAIE
Rally of the Republicans^[8]	RDR
Wiper Democratic Movement – Kenya	WDM-K
Lebanese Forces	LF - Chrisitan Resistance
Kataeb	Phalange
Malagasy Miara-Miainga	MMM
Malawi Congress Party	MCP
Union for the Republic and Democracy	URD
Nationalist Party	PN
Union for Democracy and Progress	UDP	junior party in coalition
Equity Party	El Insaf	in government
Parti Mauricien Social Democrate	PMSD
National Action Party	PAN
Istiqlal Party
Democratic Movement of Mozambique	MDM
Conservative Party (Nicaragua)	PC
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – People's Party	VMRO
People's Party	PP	extraparliamentary opposition
Panameñista Party	PP
Christian Democratic Party	PDC
Christian People's Party	PPC	extraparliamentary opposition
Fight of Democratic Filipinos	LDP
Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats	Lakas	senior party in coalition
Social Democratic Party	PSD
National Liberal Party	PNL	senior party in coalition
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania	RMDSZ
Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party	PDCS
Independent Democratic Action	ADI
Centrist Union of Senegal	UCS
Bloc des centristes Gaïndé	BCG
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	VMSZ
Hungarian Alliance	MA
New Slovenia	NSi
Slovenian Democratic Party	SDS
People's Party	PP
Christian Democrats	KD
Batkivshchyna
Party of Hungarians of Ukraine	KMKSZ
Christian Social Party 'Copei'	COPEI
Justice First	PJ

Former members

– Andorran Democratic Centre
– New Centre (Catalan; Valencian: Nou Centre|links=no, NC) (until 2011)
– Justicialist Party (Spanish; Castilian: Partido Justicialista|links=no, PJ) (until 2020s)
– Humanist Democratic Centre
– Christian Democratic Union
– Pro Patria Union
– Union for a Popular Movement
– Hungarian Democratic Forum
– Union of Democrats for Europe
– Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party
– Democratic Union of Catalonia
– Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland

Observer parties

The IDC-CDI has 21 observers, including:

– Heritage (Armenian: Ժառանգություն|links=no)^[9]
– New Azerbaijan Party (Azerbaijani: Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası|links=no, YAP)^[10]
– Belarusian Christian Democracy (Belarusian: Беларуская хрысьціянская дэмакратыя|links=no, BKhD)
- BPF Party (Belarusian: Партыя БНФ)
- Les Engages
- Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia) (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano, PDC)
- Bonaire Patriotic Union (Papiamentu: Union Patriótiko Boneriano, UPB; Dutch: Patriottische Unie van Bonaire)
– Brazilian Social Democracy Party (Portuguese: Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira|links=no, PSDB)
- Social Christian Unity Party (Spanish: Partido Unidad Social Cristiana, PUSC)
– Popular Union of Equatorial Guinea (Spanish; Castilian: Partido Unión Popular|links=no, PUP)
- Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras, PDC)
– National Party of Honduras (Spanish; Castilian: Partido Nacional de Honduras|links=no, PNH)
- Democratic League of Kosovo (Albanian: Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës, LDK)
- Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Lithuanian: Tėvynės sąjunga – Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai, TS-LKD)
- Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal (French: Parti républicain démocratique et social, PRDS)
– Mozambican National Resistance (Portuguese: Resistência Nacional Moçambicana|links=no, RENAMO)
– Christian Democratic Movement (Slovak: Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie|links=no, KDH)
- United National Congress
- Democratic Party (Uganda) (Swahili: Chama cha Kidemokrasia, DP)
- Christian Democratic Party of Uruguay (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano del Uruguay)
- Partido Nacional

External links

Centrist Democrat International

Notes and References

Book: Christian Democrat Internationalism. 2015-01-01. Peter Lang. 978-3-0352-9924-3. Durand. Jean-Dominique. 10.3726/978-3-0352-6492-0. 71.
Web site: 2024-04-22 . History - IDC-CDI . 2024-04-22 . IDC-CDI . en-US.
Web site: 2024-04-22 . Parties - IDC-CDI . 2024-04-22 . en-US.
Book: Europe: I Struggle, I Overcome. Wilfried Martens. Springer / Centre for European Studies. 2008. 220. 9783540892892.
Web site: IDC-CDI Affiliations . 2024-04-25 . en-US.
Web site: Organization - IDC-CDI . 2024-04-22 . en-US.
Web site: PKB Resmi Jadi Anggota Koalisi Partai Demokratis Internasional. Eva. Safitri. detiknews.
http://idc-cdi.com/parties/ Parties
Web site: The Heritage Party Has Become an Observer Member of Centrist Democrat International. www.heritage.am. 2019-08-06. 2019-08-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20190806144907/https://www.heritage.am/en/news/639-150419-en. dead.
Web site: parties. 15 August 2020. IDC-CDI. en-US.