CDU/CSU

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CDU/CSU
Chairmen	Friedrich Merz (CDU) Markus Söder (CSU)
Parliamentary leader	Friedrich Merz (CDU/CSU Group)
Founded	1949; 75 years ago (1949)
Youth wing	Young Union
Ideology	Christian democracy Conservatism (German) Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-right
European affiliation	European People's Party
International affiliation	International Democracy Union
European Parliament group	European People's Party
Colours	Blue (official)[a]   Black (customary)
Bundestag	197 / 736
Bundesrat	28 / 69
State Parliaments	610 / 1,894
European Parliament	29 / 96
Heads of State Governments	7 / 16
Website
www.cducsu.de
Politics of Germany Political parties Elections

CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (German: Unionsparteien, pronounced [uˈni̯oːnspaʁˈtaɪ̯ən]) or the Union, is a centre-right^[1] Christian democratic^[2] political alliance of two 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 south.^[3] 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^[4] (German: CDU/CSU-Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag)^[5] 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.^[6]

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, 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 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 Youth Union, a common pupil organisation, the Pupil Union of Germany [de], a common student organisation, the Association of Christian Democratic Students and a common Mittelstand organisation, the Mittelstand and Business association [de].

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