CDU/CSU, unofficially also referred to as the
Union parties or the
Union, is the name of the
BundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
parliamentary faction comprising the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the
Christian Social Union of BavariaThe Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
(CSU), considered to be sister parties. The two parties are both members of the
European People's PartyThe European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
, and have a common youth organisation called the
Young UnionThe Junge Union Deutschlands or JU is the jointyouth organisation of the two conservative German political parties CDU and CSU...
. In
federal electionsThe following information deals with elections in Germany, including elections to the Bundestag , the Landtags of the various states, and local elections.-Election system:...
, the CDU does not field candidates in
BavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, and the CSU does not field candidates outside of Bavaria.
Both the CDU and the CSU were established after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and share a perspective based on
Christian democracyChristian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
and
conservatismConservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, and hold the dominant
centre-rightThe centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
position in the German political spectrum. The reason the CSU is a separate party goes back to 1919, when its predecessor, the
Bavarian People's PartyThe Bavarian People's Party was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1919 to pursue a more conservative, more Catholic, more Bavarian particularist course...
, broke away from the
Catholic Centre PartyThe German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
(considered the
de facto predecessor of the CDU) in order to pursue a more
socially conservativeSocial Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
,
CatholicThe German Catholic Church, part of the worldwide Catholic Church, is under the leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and the German bishops. The current president of the conference is Robert Zollitsch, the archbishop to Freiburg, the country's second largest diocese with 2.07 million Catholics...
and
regionalistRegionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...
agenda.
On issues of federal policies the CDU and CSU seldom differ, but they remain legally and organisationally separate parties. The differences between the CDU and the somewhat more socially conservative CSU has sometimes led to conflicts in the past. The most notable and serious such incident was in 1976, when the CSU under
Franz Josef StraußFranz Josef Strauss was a German politician. He was the leader of the Christian Social Union, member of the federal cabinet in different positions and long-time minister-president of the state of Bavaria....
ended the allianceThe Kreuther Trennungsbeschluss was a short-lived 1976 decision at the CSU-associated Hanns Seidel Foundation in the spa town of Wildbad Kreuth to remove the official alignment between the CDU and CSU in the 8th Bundestag. It was the closest the CSU came to becoming a "Fourth Party" in the 1970's...
with the CDU at a party conference in Wildbad Kreuth. This decision was reversed shortly thereafter when the CDU threatened to run candidates against the CSU in Bavaria.
Parliamentary chairpersons of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag
- Heinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo (1949–1955)
- Heinrich Krone
Heinrich Krone was a German Christian-Democratic politician.Shortly after beginning his Theology study in 1914, Krone was drafted into service in World War I. After the war Krone continued his study, joining the Catholic Center Party in 1923...
(1955–1961)
- Heinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo (1961–1964)
- Rainer Barzel
Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the CDU.Born in Braunsberg, East Prussia , Barzel served as Chairman of the CDU from 1971 and 1973 and ran as the CDU's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1972 federal elections, losing to Willy Brandt's SPD.The 1972 election is commonly...
(1964–1973)
- Karl Carstens
Karl Carstens was a German politician. He served as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1979 to 1984.-Biography:...
(1973–1976)
- Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
(1976–1982)
- Alfred Dregger
Alfred Dregger was a German politician and a leader of the Christian Democratic Union .Dregger was born in Münster. After graduating from a school in Werl, he entered the German Wehrmacht in 1939...
(1982–1991)
- Wolfgang Schäuble
Wolfgang Schäuble is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union , currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet Merkel....
(1991–2000)
- Friedrich Merz
Friedrich Merz is a German politician, former chairman of the major centre-right party CDU and currently a member of the German parliament, the Bundestag...
(2000–2002)
- Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
(2002–2005)
- Volker Kauder
Volker Kauder is a German CDU politician. Since 21 November 2005 he has been Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag after a short term as Secretary General of the CDU. He has been a member of parliament since 1990.-External links:...
(2005–)