Union For French Democracy - Ideology and Political Position

Ideology and Political Position

UDF's most marked political trait was that it was in favor of European federalism, up to the point of turning the European Union into the United States of Europe. In that respect, UDF was the likely target of Chirac's Call of Cochin (1978), in which he denounced the pro-European policies of "the party of the foreigners".

Until 2002, the UDF spanned a somewhat wide ideological spectrum on the centre-right. A tongue-in-cheek characterisation of UDF's membership is that it was the union of everybody on the right that was neither far-right nor a Chirac supporter. However, the UDF suffered for its lack of cohesion, in contrast to the RPR. The economic policies proposed by UDF's leaders ranged from left-leaning, in favor of social justice, to strongly laissez-faire economics. Such divergences led the laissez-faire advocates of Liberal Democracy, such as Alain Madelin, to split out of UDF on 16 May 1998. This departure followed the elections of UDF politicians for the presidents of 4 regional councils with the votes of FN elects. Indeed, the Liberals refused to condemn these alliances.

Similarly, the social policies ranged from the conservatism of the likes of Christine Boutin, famously opposed to civil unions for homosexuals, to more socially progressive policies. Boutin would be excluded from the UDF because of her strong social conservatism; in March 2001 she formed the Forum of Social Republicans, now affiliated to the UMP.

During the 2007 presidential electoral campaign, François Bayrou presented himself as a centrist and a social-liberal, (he even opened the door to gay adoptions) proclaiming that if elected, he would "govern beyond the left-right divide". He won 18.6% of the vote, but this was not enough for him to reach the second round.