European Democrat Union

{{Infobox organization

| formation = 24 April 1978

| defunct = 1998

| parent_organization = International Democrat Union

| affiliations = European People's Party

}}

{{Short description|Centre-right political international in Europe}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

The European Democrat Union (EDU) was one of the three European wings of the International Democrat Union, along with the European People's Party (EPP) and the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party).{{cite web|url=http://www.aecr.eu/node/229/lightbox2 |title=AECR becomes regional member of IDU | Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists |access-date=17 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017114350/http://www.aecr.eu/node/229/lightbox2 |archive-date=17 October 2013 }}{{failed verification|date=January 2016}} Its members included Christian democratic, liberal conservative, and conservative political parties.

Most EDU members were also members of the EPP, but the group also included 'unattached' conservatives that were unaffiliated to the EPP.{{cite journal |last1=Hanley |first1=David |title=Christian Democracy and the Paradoxes of Europeanization: Flexibility, Competition and Collusion |journal=Party Politics |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=463–481 |doi=10.1177/1354068802008004006 |s2cid=145156148 }} These were: the British Conservative Party, the Czech Civic Democratic Party, the Icelandic Independence Party and the Liechtenstein Patriotic Union and Progressive Citizens' Party.{{cite web |url=http://idu.org/regional_list.aspx?id=5 |title=European Democrat Union (EDU) |publisher=International Democrat Union |access-date=22 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610142011/http://www.idu.org/regional_list.aspx?id=5 |archive-date=10 June 2011 }}{{failed verification|date=January 2016}}

The Secretary of EDU in the 1990s was Andreas Khol. One of the last conferences 17th EDU Conference were held in 12–13 March 1996 in Paris. In the late 1990s, the last chairman of an independent EDU, Finnish conservative politician Sauli Niinistö, negotiated the merger of the EDU into the EPP.{{ cite web | author=EPP | title=EPP Honorary President Sauli Niinistö's Autobiography a Popular Success | work=EPP website | year=2005 | url=http://www.epp.eu/newsdetail.php?newsID=68&hoofdmenuID=4&submenuID=49 | access-date=26 August 2005 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007193817/http://www.epp.eu/newsdetail.php?newsID=68&hoofdmenuID=4&submenuID=49 | archive-date=7 October 2007 }} In October 2002, the EDU ceased its activities after being formally absorbed by the EPP at a special event in Estoril, Portugal.{{ cite web | author=Alexis Wintoniak | title=Uniting the Center-Right of Europe: The Result of Historical Developments and Political Leadership | work=European View | date=Spring 2006 |volume=3|pages=173–178 |url=http://www.epp.eu/dbimages/pdf/_copy_8. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006113511/http://www.epp.eu/dbimages/pdf/_copy_8. |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 October 2007 | access-date=30 May 2006 }}{{failed verification|date=January 2016}} In recognition of his efforts, Niinistö was elected Honorary President of the EPP in the same year. Moreover, in April 2008, the EPP was recognized as a Regional Union by the IDU.