Union for French Democracy

Union for French Democracy Union pour la démocratie française
Abbreviation	UDF
Leaders	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Raymond Barre Jean Lecanuet François Léotard François Bayrou
Founder	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Founded	1 February 1978 (1978-02-01) (alliance) 29 November 1998 (1998-11-29) (party)
Dissolved	30 November 2007 (2007-11-30) (de facto)[a]
Merger of	Democratic Force Independent Republican and Liberal Pole
Succeeded by	Democratic Movement
Headquarters	UDF 133 bis, rue de l'Université 75007 Paris
Ideology	Liberalism Christian democracy
Political position	Centre-right
European affiliation	EPP[1] (1994–2004) EDP[2] (2004–07)
European Parliament group	LDR (PR and others 1979–94) EPP-ED (CDS and others 1979–94, UDF 1994–2004) ALDE (2004–07)
International affiliation	None
Colours	Blue (official) (1978–2004)   Cyan (customary) (1978–2004)   Orange (2004–2007)
Website
www.udf.org (inactive)
Politics of France Political parties Elections

The Union for French Democracy (French: Union pour la démocratie française [ynjɔ̃ puʁ la demɔkʁasi fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the French centre-right. The UDF took its name from Giscard's 1976 book, Démocratie française.

The founding parties of the UDF were Giscard's Republican Party (PR), the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS), the Radical Party (Rad), the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Perspectives and Realities Clubs (CPR). The UDF was most frequently a junior partner in coalitions with the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR). In 1998 the UDF became a single entity, causing the defection of Liberal Democracy (DL), PR's successor. In 2002 the RPR, DL and most of the remaining UDF members joined the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which aimed to unite the entire centre-right. The UDF effectively ceased to exist by the end of 2007 and its membership and assets were transferred to its successor, the Democratic Movement (MoDem). The UDF's last president and MoDem's founding leader was François Bayrou.

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