Christian Democratic and Flemish

Also known as CD&V, Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams

political party in Flanders/Belgium

Key facts

Abbreviation: CD&V
President: Sammy Mahdi
Founded: 1968 ; 58 years ago ( 1968 ) (CVP), 2001 ; 25 years ago ( 2001 ) (CD&V)
Preceded by: Christian Social Party
Headquarters: Wetstraat 89, 1040 Brussels
Membership 2017: 48,791
Ideology: Christian democracy , Social conservatism
Political position: Centre to centre-right
Regional affiliation: Christian Group
European affiliation: European People's Party
European parliament group: European People's Party Group
International affiliation: Centrist Democrat International

~10 min read

Article

Christian Democratic and Flemish (Dutch: Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams [ˌkrɪstə(n)deːmoːˈkraːtis ɛɱ ˈvlaːms] ; CD&V) is a Flemish Christian democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism (ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party was named the Christian People's Party (Christelijke Volkspartij [ˈkrɪstələkə ˈvɔlkspɑrˌtɛi], CVP).

It was traditionally the largest political party of Flanders, until it was overtaken by the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) in the 2010s. CD&V participated in most governments and has generally the largest number of mayors. Most prime ministers of Belgium and minister-presidents of Flanders have been CD&V politicians. Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council from 2009 to 2014, is one of the leading politicians of CD&V.