Our history
Twenty years ago, a few centrists refused to let Europe drift. This is the founding path of the European Democratic Party — from its origins in 2004 to its place today at the heart of European politics and the alliance of democrats.
1999 — A Europe at a crossroads
In June 1999, Europeans elected a new Parliament. The EPP came out on top with 233 MEPs, but it was increasingly torn between its pro-European core and a Eurosceptic fringe — led by the British Conservatives — and others too ready to govern with the right. Within the group, the so-called "defenders of the Schuman spirit" began to organise, determined to reject any temptation to extremism and any drift towards Euroscepticism. Among them: François Bayrou and Jean-Louis Bourlanges of the French UDF, joined by some fifty Dutch, Belgian, Luxembourgish, Italian, Spanish and German MEPs.
2004 — The spark
The European elections of June 2004 became the turning point. The initiative came from François Bayrou, in dialogue with Romano Prodi, then President of the European Commission and close to Francesco Rutelli's Italian Margherita. Their ambition: to gather the EPP's federalist dissidents into a new European party — one that put ideals before numbers, and federalism and social justice back at the centre.
"Europe needs a great democratic party, neither conservative nor socialist, which takes up the spirit of the founding fathers."
— François Bayrou, Le Monde, 7 May 2004
April–September 2004 — Building the alliance
On 6 April, it was Sandro Gozi — then close to Romano Prodi — who convened the operational meeting in Brussels that brought the project to life. Around the table: Marielle de Sarnez and Jean-Louis Bourlanges of the French UDF, Gérard Deprez of the Belgian Citizens' Movement for Change (MCC), Josu Ortuondo of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Lapo Pistelli of the Italian Margherita, Salvador Sedò of the Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC), together with representatives of the Belgian Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) and the Italian People's Party (PPI). On 1 May, Bayrou travelled to Poland to meet Bronisław Geremek of the Union of Freedom.
Days later, on 9 May — Europe Day — representatives of a dozen European parties gathered at the UDF headquarters in Paris to celebrate the date and lay the cornerstone of the new party. Shortly after, Bayrou and Rutelli launched the Parti Démocrate Européen before the press. On 11 September, the Margherita's national gathering closed in Monopoli, Italy, with a debate on European issues featuring Josu Jon Imaz, then president of the Basque PNV, alongside Francesco Rutelli and François Bayrou.
13 July 2004 — The party is born
The founding general assembly took place on 13 July 2004, coinciding with the start of the new European legislature. The founding parties — the UDF, the Margherita, the Belgian MCC, the Lithuanian Labour Party, the Czech Path of Change and the Cypriot New Horizons — brought together 25 MEPs. From the outset, the EDP joined forces with the liberals to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the European Parliament, then 88 members strong.
9 December 2004 — The founding Congress
The first founding Congress of the European Democratic Party was held in Brussels on 9 December 2004. François Bayrou and Francesco Rutelli were appointed co-presidents, with Romano Prodi, outgoing President of the European Commission, as honorary president. The EDP was officially born.
2004–2019 — At the heart of Europe
For fifteen years, the EDP grew as a transnational centrist and federalist family, channelling its work through the ALDE group while keeping a distinct profile rooted in institutional reform and European democracy. Parties from Spain to Germany, Italy to the Balkans joined the project, and the EDP earned continuous recognition as a registered European political party.
2019 — A new momentum: Renew Europe
In June 2019, the ALDE group was succeeded by a new, enlarged group: Renew Europe, of which the EDP became a founding component — confirming the party's place at the centre of European politics.
2021 — A passing and a succession
On 13 January 2021, Marielle de Sarnez passed away at 69. A founder of the EDP and for years its Secretary General, she had been one of the architects of European centrism and François Bayrou's closest political companion for four decades. A few months later, on 5 May 2021, meeting in Council, the EDP elected Sandro Gozi as its new Secretary General — succeeding her at the head of the party's operations. A former Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs and a Renew Europe MEP, Gozi had helped convene the party's very first meeting back in 2004: the torch passed to one of the founders' own generation.
2024 — Team Europe
In 2024, Renew Europe put forward Sandro Gozi as one of its three lead candidates — "Team Europe" — for the European elections, carrying the EDP's federalist voice into the heart of the campaign for a stronger European democracy.
Today — The alliance of democrats
Twenty years on, Bayrou's call has become reality: a great democratic party, neither conservative nor socialist, now holds a permanent place at the heart of European politics. Under President François Bayrou and Secretary General Sandro Gozi, the EDP brings together parties and elected representatives across Europe — with members in national governments and regional presidencies — united by a single conviction. As democracy comes under pressure around the world, the European Democrats work to build an alliance of democrats in Europe and beyond. The fight that began in 2004 continues, every day.
