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Democratic Union of Catalonia Unió Democràtica de Catalunya
Abbreviation	UDC, unio.cat
Founded	7 November 1931 (1931-11-07)
Registered	3 March 1977 (1977-03-03)
Dissolved	24 March 2017 (2017-03-24)
Succeeded by	United to Advance
Headquarters	C/ Nàpols, 35-39 08018,Barcelona
Ideology	Regionalism Christian democracy Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-right
National affiliation	Union of the Centre and Christian Democracy of Catalonia (1976–77) Democracy and Catalonia (1977–78) Convergence and Union (1978–2015) Catalonia in the Senate (1982–83)
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	European People's Party
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International Historical: White International
Colors	Blue  White
Website
www.unio.cat
Politics of Catalonia Political parties Elections Politics of Spain Political parties Elections

TheDemocratic Union of Catalonia (Catalan:Unió Democràtica de Catalunya;IPA:[uniˈoðəmuˈkɾatikəðəkətəˈluɲə],UDC), frequently shortened asUnion (Catalan:Unió;IPA:[uniˈo]), was aregionalist,Christian-democraticpolitical party in theCatalonia region ofSpain existing between 1931 and 2017.^[1] Together withDemocratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), they formed theConvergence and Union (CiU) alliance and federation from 1978 until its dissolution in 2015, under which they would rule thegovernment of Catalonia for almost three decades during the recent Spanish democratic period.

It described itself asCatalan nationalist andChristian-democratic and was a member of theEuropean People's Party (EPP). It advocated for centrist and moderate Catalanism without explicitly renouncing independence, aiming for the constitution of a confederal state in Spain made up of sovereign entities (including Catalonia) that could become independent but rejectingunilateralism as a viable political philosophy.

After the breakup of CiU, aparty split that took away half of its membership,^[2] and UDC's failure in securing parliamentary representation in the2015 Catalan andSpanish general elections, the party's mounting debts brought it tobankruptcy, leading to its dissolution on 24 March 2017.^[3][4]

Ahead of the1977 Spanish general election, Unió joined theUnion of the Centre and Christian Democracy of Catalonia (UCiDCC) alliance together with theCatalan Centre (CC) for theCongress of Deputies,^[5][6] which received the support of theChristian Democratic Team of the Spanish State (EDCEE). Both parties also joined theDemocracy and Catalonia coalition for theSenate,^[7][8] whereas talks for Unió to join theDemocratic Front coalition formed byDemocratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) andDemocratic Left of Catalonia (EDC) failed to materialize.^[9][10] Election results were disappointing: the UCiDCC secured only two seats in Congress, one for each party, and the platform's nationwide referent the EDCEE failed to gain any parliamentary representation. This led to both Unió and CC breaking their alliance and going into different parliamentary groups.^[11]

After the election, an internal party crisis ensued as Unió found itself in need of seeking collaboration with other political parties to ensure its electoral viability in the future, with the question on the direction of such alliances dividing the party in two sectors: a more Catalan nationalist and progressive, centre-left one, and another more conservative one, attracted to the UCD's government halo and sympathetic to a merger with their former ally CC.^[12] The internal support for each position would be revealed ahead of the 6th Unió congress in September 1977, with the pro-UCD sector being in the minority, resulting in a group of 17 members led by Josep Miró i Ardèvol splitting into the Union of the Christian Democrats of Catalonia–Jacques Maritain Club, which would merge with other parties into theUnion of the Centre of Catalonia (UCC) in March 1978 to join into a joint platform with the UCD.^[12] However, and despite the 6th congress resulting in a reinforcement of the party's identity as well as its more progressive turn, the internal crisis continued as Unió deputy in Congress Antón Cañellas kept advocating for a "large Catalan centre" that included the UCD.^[13] This position—which only garnered the support of about 15–20% of party members—was in clear contrast with the majority position of favouring a centre-left federation of parties that included CDC while rejecting any kind of election agreement with the regional branches of national parties.^[12]

In September 1978, Unió would sign an agreement with CDC to formConvergence and Union (CiU),^[14][15][16] an alliance initially appealing to the Catalan centre-left that would end up becoming abig tent platform lasting for the next 37 years.^[17] The CiU negotiations had seen political clashing ensue between Unió and Cañellas because of the latter's courtship of the UCD–UCC platform.^[18][19][20] In the 7th Unió congress held in November 1978, Cañellas was expelled from the party, prompting him together with other party members to establish theDemocratic Union–Broad Centre (UDCA), an instrumental party that would join the UCD and UCC into the newly establishedCentrists of Catalonia coalition.^[12][21][22]

From 2013 and until 2015 tensions within the two parties forming theConvergence and Union (CiU) federation reached an all-time high over differences between the positions of the UDC leadership andDemocratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) leaderArtur Mas over the sovereignty process, as well as on the opportunity of forming a joint, pro-independence electoral list withRepublican Left of Catalonia (ERC). CDC was in favour of outright independence even if it meant breaking the established Spanish legality, while UDC was against doing it without agreement with the Spanish government.^[23][24]

As a result, a referendum of UDC members was held on 14 June 2015, asking whether UDC should commit itself to continue with the process but with under certain conditions, including not violating the legality in force throughunilateral independence declarations or starting a constituent process at the margin of Spanish legal norms.^[25][26] Such a position, supported by UDC leaders and contrary to the signed agreements between CDC, ERC and sovereignty entities, was approved by UDC members with an adjusted 50.9%.^[27] After this, meetings between CiU leaders led to an ultimatum from CDC to UDC for the latter to decide within "two or three days" whether it committed itself to the independence plan.^[28] This led to UDC withdrawing all three of its members from Mas's cabinet, although they agreed to maintain parliamentary stability until the end of the legislature.^[29] That CDC leadership subsequently confirmed in a press conference the next day that UDC and CDC would not stand together in the2015 Catalan regional election, and that the political project of the CiU federation was over, signalling the end of 37 years of cooperation between both parties.^[30][31]

Later in July 2015, a pro-independence faction within UDC—including historical members Antoni Castellà,Núria de Gispert,Rosa Maria Carrasco Azemar andJoan Rigol—broke away from the party to found theDemocrats of Catalonia (DC),^[32][33] and by August the new DC party claimed to have taken away 1,600 UDC volunteers, 23 out of the 43 UDC city mayors and 118 out of UDC's 191 city councillors.^[34] In the regional election held on 27 September, UDC would fall short of the 3% threshold to secure parliamentary representation, meaning the party was to be expelled from theParliament of Catalonia for the first time since 1980.^[35] The party would also fail in its attempt to maintain its presence in theCortes Generales in the2015 Spanish general election, with party's spokesmanJosep Antoni Duran i Lleida losing his seat.^[36][37]

On 24 March 2017, UDC was dissolved by its last secretary general,Ramon Espadaler, because of mounting economic debts and the lack of public funding resulting from UDC's various election defeats bringing the party tobankruptcy.^[3][4] Some of its former members, including Espalader, founded a new catalanist political party calledUnited to Advance,^[38] which eventually joined an electoral alliance with theSocialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) in order to contest the2017 Catalan regional election.^[39][40]

Parliament of Catalonia
Election	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–	Leading candidate	Status in legislature
1980	WithinCiU			8 / 135	—	Jordi Pujol	Minority
1984	WithinCiU			16 / 135	8	Jordi Pujol	Coalition(CiU–ERC)
							Majority(from Feb. 1987)
1988	WithinCiU			15 / 135	1	Jordi Pujol	Majority
1992	WithinCiU			16 / 135	1	Jordi Pujol	Majority
1995	WithinCiU			14 / 135	2	Jordi Pujol	Minority
1999	WithinCiU			13 / 135	1	Jordi Pujol	Minority
2003	WithinCiU			13 / 135	0	Artur Mas	Opposition
2006	WithinCiU			14 / 135	1	Artur Mas	Opposition
2010	WithinCiU			17 / 135	3	Artur Mas	Minority
2012	WithinCiU			13 / 135	4	Artur Mas	Minority(CDC–UDC)
							Minority(CDC; from Jun. 2015)
2015	103,293	2.51%	7th	0 / 135	13	Ramon Espadaler	No seats

Cortes Generales
Election	Congress					Senate		Leading candidate	Status in legislature
	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–	Seats	+/–
1977	WithinUCiDCC/DiC			1 / 350	—	0 / 207	—	Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez	Opposition
1979	WithinCiU			1 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Jordi Pujol	Opposition
1982	WithinCiU/CatSen			3 / 350	2	1 / 208	1	Miquel Roca	Opposition
1986	WithinCiU			5 / 350	2	1 / 208	0	Miquel Roca	Opposition
1989	WithinCiU			5 / 350	0	2 / 208	1	Miquel Roca	Opposition
1993	WithinCiU			5 / 350	0	3 / 208	1	Miquel Roca	Confidence and supply
1996	WithinCiU			5 / 350	0	2 / 208	1	Joaquim Molins	Confidence and supply
2000	WithinCiU			4 / 350	1	2 / 208	0	Xavier Trias	Opposition
2004	WithinCiU			4 / 350	0	0 / 208	2	Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida	Opposition
2008	WithinCiU			4 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida	Opposition
2011	WithinCiU			6 / 350	2	2 / 208	2	Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida	Opposition
2015	65,388	0.26%	14th	0 / 350	6	0 / 208	2	Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida	No seats

Election	Catalonia
	Congress					Senate
	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–	Seats	+/–
1977	WithinUCiDCC/DiC			1 / 47	—	0 / 16	—
1979	WithinCiU			1 / 47	0	0 / 16	0
1982	WithinCiU/CatSen			3 / 47	2	1 / 16	1
1986	WithinCiU			5 / 47	2	1 / 16	0
1989	WithinCiU			5 / 46	0	2 / 16	1
1993	WithinCiU			5 / 47	0	3 / 16	1
1996	WithinCiU			5 / 46	0	2 / 16	1
2000	WithinCiU			4 / 46	1	2 / 16	0
2004	WithinCiU			4 / 47	0	0 / 16	2
2008	WithinCiU			4 / 47	0	0 / 16	0
2011	WithinCiU			6 / 47	2	2 / 16	2
2015	65,388	1.74%	7th	0 / 47	6	0 / 16	2

European Parliament
Election	Total
	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–
1987	WithinCiU			1 / 60	—
1989	WithinCiU			1 / 60	0
1994	WithinCiU			1 / 64	0
1999	WithinCiU			1 / 64	0
2004	WithinCiU (Galeusca)			0 / 54	1
2009	WithinCiU (CEU)			1 / 54	1
2014	WithinCiU (CEU)			1 / 54	0

• 1931 establishments in Catalonia
• 2017 disestablishments in Catalonia
• Catalan nationalist parties
• Catholic political parties
• Christian democratic parties in Europe
• Conservative parties in Spain
• Defunct political parties in Catalonia
• Member parties of the European People's Party
• Political parties established in 1931
• Political parties disestablished in 2017

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