Christian Democratic Party (France)

  

Christian Democratic Party Parti Démocrate Chrétien
File:Christian Democratic Party (France) logo.png
Leader	Jean-Christophe Métais
Chairman	Frédéric Cinieri
Founders	Charles de Gaulle
Founded	26 December 1957 (1957-12-26)
Headquarters	210 Rue de Vaugirard, Paris, Île-de-France
Newspaper	TBD
Youth wing	Young Christian Democrats
Membership  (2020)	315,110
Ideology	Christian democracy Liberal conservatism
Political position	Right wing
International affiliation	International Democrat Union
Official colours	Light blue,      white
Senate	72 / 240
Chamber of Deputies	99 / 577
Politics of France • Political parties • Elections

The Christian Democratic Party (French: Parti Démocrate Chrétien, PCD) is a Christian democratic and liberal conservative political party in France. Founded in December 1957, it has been one of the largest center-right and big tent political parties in postwar French politics.

Since the 2019 general election, the party has 72 seats in the Senate and 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. François de Montbrial was the leader of the Christian Democrats and served as Prime Minister of France between 2005 and 2019. After he retired during the election, Jean-Christophe Métais succeeded him as party leader. Frédéric Cinieri is the Chairman of the PCD.

Founded by Charles de Gaulle just after the end of the Great War, the Christian Democratic Party was founded as a moderate conservative party that supported France's reconstruction as a member of the Northern Treaty Organization and later the European Community. It defended the new French political system under a constitutional monarchy, opposed Landonism, and supported the Catholic Church in Avignon, an exclave that is a sovereign city-state. PCD was for a long time the third largest party in postwar France, after Alliance Royale, founded by the allies of King Henry VI, and The Republicans, who consisted of right-wing elements that opposed the monarchy. The PCD formed a middle ground between them, and gradually increased in influence, gaining voters from both Alliance Royale and The Republicans. After the dissolution of the former party in 1995, the PCD became the largest center-right party in French politics. The Christian Democrats are sometimes compared to the Girondins of the French Revolution, for their lukewarm support of the monarchy, and their support of laissez-faire capitalism, opposition to the dirigisme economic agenda of previous administrations, and defense of democracy and the parliamentary system.

The party experienced an exodus of voters to French Action, during the 2014 election and especially in 2019. The PCD lost its status as the dominant party in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate the latter election, and is currently in a coalition government as a partner of French Action.

Ideology

Domestic policy

The PCD adopted neoliberal economic policies during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and famously pushed for the privatization of France' electric utility company, EDF. This was reversed in 2021, when French Action prime minister Oscar de Saint-Just renationalized the company.

See also

• Politics of France