Democratic Union of Catalonia
Unió Democràtica de Catalunya |
|
---|---|
Abbreviation | UDC |
Secretary | Ramon Espadaler |
Founded | November 7, 1931 |
Headquarters | C/Nàpols, 35-39 Barcelona |
Ideology |
Regionalism Christian democracy Pro-Europeanism |
Political position | Centre-right |
European affiliation | European People's Party |
International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
European Parliament group | European People's Party |
Colours | Blue, White |
Parliament of Catalonia |
0 / 135
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Congreso de los Diputados |
0 / 350
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Spanish Senate |
1 / 266
|
European Parliament |
1 / 54
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Website | |
http://www.unio.cat/ | |
The Democratic Union of Catalonia (Catalan: Unió Democràtica de Catalunya, UDC; IPA: [uniˈo ðəmuˈkɾatikə ðə kətəˈɫuɲə]) is a regionalist and Christian democratic political party in the Catalonia region of Spain. Together with the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, until 2015 it was part of the Convergence and Union (CiU) coalition. They ruled the Generalitat de Catalunya until its breakup. Now only Democratic Convergence rules the government.
It describes itself as Catalan nationalist and Christian democrat, and is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), and a full member of The Union of the Robert Schuman Institute for Developing Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe located in Budapest, Hungary.
By June 2015 tensions within the two parties forming the Convergence and Union federation had reached an all-time high in June 2015 due to differences between the positions of the UDC leadership and the Democratic Convergence (CDC) leader Artur Mas over the sovereignty process. CDC was in favour of outright independence even if it meant breaking the established Spanish legality, while UDC was against doing it without the acceptance of the Spanish government.
As a result, a referendum of UDC members was held on 14 June 2015, asking whether UDC should commit itself to continue with the process but with certain conditions, including not violating the legality in force through unilateral independence declarations or starting constituent processes at the margin of legal norms. Such a position, supported by UDC leaders and contrary to the signed agreements between CDC, ERC and sovereignty entities, was approved by UDC members with an adjusted 50.9%. After this, meetings between UDC and CDC leaders led to an ultimatum from CDC to UDC for the latter to decide within "two or three days" whether it committed itself to the independence plan.