European Democratic Party

This article is about the European party. For the Czech party, see European Democratic Party (Czech Republic). For other uses, see European Democrats (disambiguation).

The European Democratic Party (EDP; French: Parti démocrate européen, PDE), also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist^[1][2][3][4] European political party in favour of European integration. Within the European Parliament, its MEPs form the Renew Europe group, together with those of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe party and the French Renaissance party. The President is François Bayrou.

European Democratic Party
Abbreviation	EDP
President	François Bayrou (FR)
Secretary-General	Sandro Gozi (IT)
Founded	9 December 2004; 20 years ago (2004-12-09)
Split from	European People's Party
Headquarters	Rue Montoyer 25, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Think tank	Institute of European Democrats
Youth wing	Young Democrats for Europe
Membership (26 January 2025)	6
Ideology	Centrism[5] Pro-Europeanism[6]
Political position	Centre[7]
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Colours	Orange
European Parliament	10 / 720
European Commission	0 / 27
European Council	0 / 27
European Lower Houses	64 / 6,229
European Upper Houses	29 / 1,459
Website
democrats.eu
Politics of the European Union Political parties Elections

The youth wing of the EDP is the Young Democrats for Europe (YDE).

As of 2025, EDP members participate in the national government of three EU member states: EDP President François Bayrou leading the government in France, Les Engagés in Belgium, which participates in the government of Prime Minister Bart De Wever and, EDP individual member Marian Harkin, who participates in the government of Prime Minister Micheál Martin. Two European regions are also led by an EDP politician, with Spain's Basque Country being led by Imanol Pradales of the Basque Nationalist Party and with Spain's Canary Islands being led by Fernando Clavijo Batlle of the Canarian Coalition; EDP member Free Voters participates as a junior coalition partner in the state government of Bavaria in Germany, as does Italia Viva in Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Campania and Basilicata and Les Engagés in Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

The European Democratic Party is also a member of the European Movement International and was a member of the World Alliance of Democrats until its dissolution in 2012.

History

The European Democratic Party was initiated on 16 April 2004 and formally founded on 9 December 2004 in Brussels.

In 2005, the European Democratic Party, together with the United States Democratic Party and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, co-founded the Alliance of Democrats international.^[8][9]

François Bayrou of the Union for French Democracy and later the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and Francesco Rutelli, former leader of the Democracy is Freedom and Alliance for Italy parties, served as the two co-presidents until 2019. Now, François Bayrou serves as the only president.

The EDP was founded in reaction to the rising influence of Eurosceptic parties within European institutions. It drew pro-European centrist parties from the European People's Party (EPP) group to form a new centrist multinational bloc. Its co-founder François Bayrou described it as a party for people being neither conservative nor socialist."

Since the beginning of the 6th European Parliament of 2004–2009, the EDP has formed a joint European parliamentary group with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party called the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group. This parliamentary group was renamed in 2019 as Renew Europe.

The European Democratic Party is ideologically centrist and federalist.^[10] Some major members and affiliated parties like EAJ-PNV, Free Voters, MoDem, MCC, Canarian Coalition and the disbanded Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy follow a Christian democratic or liberal conservative line.

At its 20th anniversary congress in Brussels in December 2024, the party adopted a new orange brand identity and logo, taking on the short name ‘Democrats’.

Membership

Members are national and regional political parties as well as members of the European Parliament, national and regional parliaments.^[11]

Current members

Country or Region	Party		Leader	MEPs[a]	National lower houses	National upper houses	Position in national legislature
Austria		Citizens' Forum Austria Bürgerforum Österreich (FRITZ)	Andrea Haselwanter-Schneider	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Belgium		Les Engagés Les Engagés (LE)	Yvan Verougstraete	1 / 8	14 / 150	5 / 60	Government
		Marie-Christine Marghem (MR and MCC; Individual member)	-	-	1 / 150	-	Government
Croatia		People's Party – Reformists Narodna stranka – Reformisti (NS-R)	Radimir Čačić	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Cyprus		Pavlos Mylonas (DIKO; individual member)	-	-	1 / 56 [12]	-	Opposition
Czech Republic		SEN 21 SEN 21	Václav Láska	-	0 / 200	4 / 81	Opposition
France		Democratic Movement Mouvement démocrate (MoDem)	François Bayrou	3 / 81	48 / 577	4 / 348	Government
		Sandro Gozi (MoDem / IV; individual member)	-	1 / 81	-	-	—
Germany		Free Voters Freie Wähler (FW)	Hubert Aiwanger	3 / 96	0 / 735	2 / 69	Extra-parliamentary
Greece		Movement for Democracy Κίνημα Δημοκρατίας	Stefanos Kasselakis	-	6 / 300 [b]	-	Opposition
Hungary		New Start Új Kezdet (UK)	Krisztina Hohn	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Italy		Italia Viva Italia Viva (IV)	Matteo Renzi	-	7 / 400	8 / 200	Opposition
		New Times – United Populars[13] Tempi Nuovi – Popolari Uniti	Giuseppe Fioroni	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Ireland		Independent Ireland (II)	Michael Collins	1 / 14	4 / 174	0 / 174	Opposition
		Marian Harkin (Independent; Individual member)	-	-	1 / 174	-	Government
Malta		Momentum (M)	Arnold Cassola	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Netherlands		50PLUS (50+)	Martin van Rooijen	-	0 / 150	1 / 75	Opposition
Poland		Alliance of Democrats Stronnictwo Demokratyczne	Paweł Piskorski	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Portugal		Together for the People Juntos pelo Povo (JPP)	Élvio Sousa	-	1 / 230	-	Opposition
San Marino		Future Republic Repubblica Futura (RF)	Mario Venturini	Not in EU	6 / 60	-	Opposition
Slovenia		Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia Demokratična stranka upokojencev Slovenije (DeSUS)	Ljubo Jasnič	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary
Spain		Basque Nationalist Party Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea (EAJ) Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV)	Andoni Ortuzar	1 / 61	6 / 350	10 / 265	Confidence and supply
		Canarian Coalition Coalición Canaria (CC)	Fernando Clavijo Batlle	-	1 / 350	1 / 265	Confidence and supply
		Commitment to Galicia Compromiso por Galicia (CxG)	Juan Carlos Piñeiro	-	-	-	Extra-parliamentary

Former members

•  Croatia : National Forum (Nacionalni forum), joined EDP in 2014, disbanded in 2015
•  Cyprus:
  • European Party
  • Citizens' Alliance
•  Czech Republic:
  • Party for the Open Society
  • Way to Change, founding member of EDP, disbanded in 2009
•  France:
  • Union for French Democracy, founding member of EDP, disbanded in 2007, succeeded by MoDem
  • Union of Democrats and Independents joined the ALDE party on 2 December 2016
•  Italy:
  • Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, founding member of EDP, merged into the Democratic Party in 2007, MEPs Mario Pirillo, Silvia Costa and Vittorio Prodi stayed as individual members until 2014, now member of PES
  • Alliance for Italy, party disbanded by the end of 2016
  • European Democratic Party Italy (Partito Democratico Europeo Italia) disbanded in 2021.
  • Action, left in September 2023
  • L'Italia c'è, left in 2025
•  Lithuania: Labour Party, left in 2012 to join the ALDE party
•  Portugal
  • Democratic Republican Party, joined EDP in 2015, succeeded by National Democratic Alternative in 2021
  • National Democratic Alternative, left EDP in 2022, due to ideological divergencies regarding the LGBT community^[14]
•  Romania
  • PRO Romania (PRO România), left in 2022 to join Party of European Socialists^[15]
  • Association of Italians of Romania, left in 2022
•  Slovakia:
  • People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, joined EDP in 2009, disbanded in 2014, succeeded by Democratic Slovakia Party
  • Democratic Slovakia Party ('Strana Demokratického Slovenska') and European Democratic Party (Europska Demokraticka Strana) in 2019
  • Alena Bašistová^{[16][non-primary source needed]} (Independent), not reelected in 2020

Individual members

The EDP also includes a number of individual members, although, as most other European parties, it has not sought to develop mass individual membership.^[17]

Below is the evolution of individual membership of the EDP since 2019.^[18]

Funding

As a registered European political party, the EDP is entitled to European public funding, which it has received continuously since 2004.^[19]

Below is the evolution of European public funding received by the EDP.

In line with the Regulation on European political parties and European political foundations, the EDP also raises private funds to co-finance its activities. As of 2025, European parties must raise at least 10% of their reimbursable expenditure from private sources, while the rest can be covered using European public funding.^[c]

Below is the evolution of contributions and donations received by the EDP.

Elected representatives of member parties

European institutions

Organisation	Institution	Number of seats
European Union	European Parliament	10 / 720 (1%) [20][21]
	European Commission	0 / 27 (0%) [22]
	European Council (Heads of Government)	0 / 27 (0%) [23]
	Council of the European Union (Participation in Government)
	Committee of the Regions	11 / 329 (3%) [24][25]
Council of Europe	Parliamentary Assembly

See also

• European political party
• Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations
• European political foundation

Notes

1. The number of MEPs listed below may not match the total number of MEPs of the European party, as it does not include MEPs who join as individual members.
2. Τhe party has no parliamentary group, however 6 independent members of the Greek parliament are members of the party
3. For the purpose of European party funding, "contributions" refer to financial or in-kind support provided by party members, while "donations" refer to the same but provided by non-members.