Freedom Union – Democratic Union
Czech political party
The Freedom Union–Democratic Union (Czech: Unie Svobody–Demokratická unie, US–DEU) was a small pro-European liberal political party in the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2011.
The Freedom Union was founded in January 1998 by former members of the Civic Democratic Party who were unhappy with the leadership of Václav Klaus. After initially serving in a caretaker government, Freedom Union went into opposition after the 1998 election. In opposition, Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union, and formed an alliance with the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL).
From 2002 to 2006 Freedom Union was part of a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party and KDU-ČSL. However, in government the party lost support and at the 2006 election the party won less than 1% of the vote and failed to win any seats. The party disbanded on 1 January 2011.
History
Founding
The party was founded on 17 January 1998 at a congress in Litomyšl as the Freedom Union (Unie Svobody), as a split from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). The party was founded after divisions within ODS over the leadership of Václav Klaus, and what the defectors said was his failure to tackle funding scandals. The former interior minister Jan Ruml led a challenge for the ODS leadership, but was defeated by Klaus by 227 votes to 72 at a special congress on 14 December 1997. This prompted 30 ODS members of parliament to form the Freedom Union, including Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and Defence Minister Michal Lobkowicz.
The public source identifies “Freedom Union – Democratic Union” as czech political party. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Freedom, Union and Democratic.
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