CDU/CSU: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Infobox political party

| name = CDU/CSU

| logo = Logo ~~of the CDU CSU~~-cdu-csu-2024.svg

| logo_size = 200

| colorcode = {{party color|CDU/CSU}}

| founded = {{start date and age|1949}}

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| european = [[European People's Party]]

| international = [[International Democracy Union]]

| europarl = [[European People's Party ~~group|European People's Party~~Group]]

| colours = {{ublist|

| {{colour box|#~~01305B~~005973}} [[Blue]] (official){{efn|Since 2021}}

| {{colour box|{{party color|CDU/CSU}}}} [[Black]] (customary)}}

| affiliation1_title = Alliance parties

| affiliation1 = {{ubl|

|[[Christian Democratic Union of Germany]] (CDU)

|[[Christian Social Union in Bavaria]] (CSU)

}}

| seats1_title = [[Bundestag]]

| seats1 = {{composition bar|197|736|hex={{party color|CDU/CSU}}}}

~~| seats2_title = [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]]~~

~~| seats2 = {{composition bar|28|69|hex={{party color|CDU/CSU}}}}~~

| seats3_title = [[Composition of the German State Parliaments|State Parliaments]]

| seats3 = {{composition bar|610|1894|hex={{party color|CDU/CSU}}}}

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}}

'''CDU/CSU''', unofficially the '''Union parties''' ({{lang-de|Unionsparteien}}, {{IPA-|de|~~uˈni̯oːnspaʁˈtaɪ̯ən~~uˈni̯oːnspaʁˌtaɪən|pron|}}) or the '''Union''', is a [[Centre-right politics|centre-right]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://today.rtl.lu/news/science-and-environment/a/1411254.html|title=Austria Greens in spotlight after strong election gains|agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]|date=30 September 2019|access-date=30 September 2019|work=[[RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg|RTL]]}}</ref> [[Christian democracy|Christian democratic]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Lawrence Ezrow|chapter=Electoral systems and party responsiveness|editor1=Norman Schofield|editor2=Gonzalo Caballero|title=Political Economy of Institutions, Democracy and Voting|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wthzLK6m8gC&pg=PA320|year=2011|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-642-19519-8|page=320}}</ref> and [[Conservatism|conservative]]<ref>{{cite news |last= Alipour |first= Nick |date= 11 August 2023 |title= Road to the chancellery: German conservatives battle for top position |url= https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/road-to-the-chancellery-german-conservatives-battle-for-top-position/ |work= Euractiv |access-date= 18 May 2024}}</ref> [[Political group|political alliance]] of two [[List of political parties in Germany|political parties]] in [[Germany]]: the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany]] (CDU) and the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria]] (CSU).

The CSU contests elections only in [[Bavaria]], while the CDU operates in the other 15 [[states of Germany]]. The CSU also reflects the particular concerns of the largely rural, Catholic [[Southern Germany|south]].<ref name="countrystudies">[http://countrystudies.us/germany/159.htm "Christian Democrat Union/Christian Social Union"]. Country Studies, Germany. Retrieved 18 December 2016.</ref> While the two Christian Democratic parties are commonly described as sister parties, they have shared a common parliamentary group, the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group, in the German [[Bundestag]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/en/members/groups/cducsu-group/245714|title=Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group|publisher=German [[Bundestag]]|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> ({{lang-de|link=no|CDU/CSU-Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag}})<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/fraktionen/cducsu/cducsu/245192|title=Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group|publisher=German [[Bundestag]]|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> since the foundation of the [[Federal Republic of Germany]] in 1949. According to German Federal Electoral Law, members of a parliamentary group which share the same basic political aims must not compete with one another in any federal state.<ref name="germanlawarchive">[http://germanlawarchive.iuscomp.org/?p=228 "Federal Electoral Law"]. German Law Archive. Retrieved 18 December 2016.</ref>

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The parties themselves officially remain completely independent with their own leadership and only few issue- or age-based joint organisations, which makes the alliance informal. However, in practice the committees of the parties harmonise their decisions with each other and the two parties run behind a common candidate for [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]], and the leader of one party is usually invited to party conventions of the other party.

Both the CDU and CSU are members of the [[European People's Party]] and the [[International ~~Democrat~~Democracy Union]]. Both parties sit in the [[European People's Party Group]] in the [[European Parliament]]. The CDU and CSU share a common youth organisation, the [[Junge Union|Youth Union]], a common pupil organisation, the {{ill|Pupil Union of Germany|de|Schüler Union Deutschlands}}, a common student organisation, the [[Association of Christian Democratic Students]] and a common ''[[Mittelstand]]'' organisation, the {{ill|Mittelstand and Business association|de|Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsvereinigung}}.

== History ==

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The BVP became the sister party of the DZP and they did not compete against each other except for the [[May 1924 German federal election]], the [[1924 Bavarian state election]] and the [[1925 German presidential election]]. The DZP and BVP were mostly jointly represented at the Imperial governments. Similarly to the modern CDU/CSU split, the Bavarian People's Party was generally seen as the party further to the political right, as evidenced by the 1925 second round of the presidential election when the Center Party backed [[Rhenish]] Catholic and [[Weimar Coalition]] candidate [[Wilhelm Marx]] while the BVP made common cause with the monarchist and nationalist parties in backing Prussian [[junker]] and former general [[Paul von Hindenburg]] despite him being a Protestant and the long-standing mutual animosity between Bavaria and Prussia.

For short ~~periodes~~periods of time, there existed

* the {{ill|Christian People's Party of the Saarland|de|Christliche Volkspartei des Saarlandes}} as sister party of the CSU during the [[1957 West German federal election]],

* the [[German Social Union (East Germany)|German Social Union]] (DSU) as sister party of the CSU before the [[1990 East German general election]],

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=== Tensions in 2016–2021 ===

[[File:Angela Merkel mit Horst Seehofer 1738.jpg|thumb|The ''Munich scandal'' of November 2015: [[Horst Seehofer]], CSU leader and Bavarian minister-president, with CDU leader and chancellor [[Angela Merkel]], at the 2015 CSU party rally. At this occasion, Seehofer humiliated his guest by letting her stand next to him for minutes while he lamented her liberal politics with regard to refugees.<ref>Robert Birnbaum: [https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/horst-seehofer-gegen-angela-merkel-der-eklat-von-muenchen/12620372.html Der Eklat von München]. In: tagesspiegel, 20th November 2015, last seen 9th May 2022.</ref>]]

Under the chairmanship of [[Angela Merkel]] (2000–2018), the CDU left some right wing positions behind and shifted more to the political centre. Especially the [[2015 European migrant crisis|2015 refugee crisis]] divided the German population and caused conflict between the CDU and the CSU.~~{{cn|date=March 2024}}~~

Therefore, a federal CSU was discussed again among party members and journalists. For example conservative ''Welt'' columnist [[Ansgar Graw]] wrote in 2016 that CDU and CSU lost its stance as a [[Law and order (politics)|law and order]] party. As Merkel's CDU could not move to the right without losing credibility, Graw called the CSU to become a federal party, a right wing party that rigorously deports asylum seekers without right to stay.<ref>Ansgar Graw: ''Lasst die CSU bundesweit antreten! In: Welt Online.'' 16 October 2017, last seen 9 May 2022.</ref> On the contrary, former CSU leader [[Theo Waigel]] warned against a separate election campaign. In such a campaign, CDU and CSU would fight much more each other than the rest of the parties.<ref>''Waigel nennt bundesweite CSU "Katastrophe für die Union"''. In: Tagesspiegel. 12 May 2017, last seen 9 May 2022.</ref>

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=== Federal Parliament (''Bundestag'') ===

{|class="wikitable" style="~~font-size:86%;~~ text-align:right;"

! rowspan=3| Election