page_title: Union, Progress and Democracy
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Union, Progress and Democracy / Origins
caption_attribution_description: Alvaro Pombo y Fernando Savater en el acto de presentación de candidatos a las elecciones de 2008 de UPyD
context_page_description: Union, Progress and Democracy is a Spanish political party founded in September 2007. It is a social-liberal party that rejects any form of nationalism, especially the separatist Basque and Catalan movements. The party is deeply pro-European and wants the European Union to adopt a federal system without overlap between the European, national and regional governments. Besides, the magenta party wants to replace the State of Autonomies with a symmetric and highly centralized, albeit still federal, system in Spain as well as substituting a more proportional election law for the current one.
  Mikel Buesa, at a 2007 party presentation, and Rosa Díez, in a 2007 interview for a magazine, explained the origin of the three concepts which make up the party's name: Union, because of their "unconditional defence of the union of Spain as a necessary condition for all Spaniards' equality before the law". Progress, because they affirm to be "a progressive party respectful of individual freedom". And Democracy, on account of their "commitment to radical regeneration of democracy".
context_section_description: On 19 May 2007, 45 people met in San Sebastián to discuss the creation of a new political party opposing both major parties (the People's Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) at the national level. Most present were Basques, many of whom had long experience in political, union and civic organizations with left-wing, liberal and activist backgrounds. After the meeting, to create a broad-based social and political project they formed the Plataforma Pro organization. This united those who considered it necessary to form a new national political party appealing to people across the democratic political spectrum. Its platform was:
  The fight against ETA and politically motivated violence
  Regeneration of Spanish democracy
  Opposition to compulsory nationalism
  Reforming the Spanish Constitution of 1978 to reinforce civil liberties and equality, independent of regional origin
  Among the supporters of Plataforma Pro were philosopher Fernando Savater, ¡Basta Ya! coordinator and spokesman Carlos Martínez Gorriarán and former Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) MEP Rosa Díez. Díez resigned her PSOE membership and her MEP position in August 2007 to become involved with the UPyD project. Groups supporting Plataforma Pro included Citizens of Catalonia (notably Albert Boadella, Arcadi Espada and Xavier Pericay) and ¡Basta Ya!, a major influence on the new movement. In September 2007, Forum Ermua president Mikel Buesa announced their intention to participate in the political party arising from Plataforma Pro; he resigned in 2009 due to disagreements with Rosa Díez.
  At a 29 September 2007 meeting in the auditorium of the Casa de Campo in Madrid, the new party was formed. Participants in its formation included Catalan dramatist Albert Boadella, Basque philosopher Fernando Savater, Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa and Rosa Díez. Also present were journalist Arcadi Espada, anthropologists Teresa Giménez Barbat and Felix Perez Romera (three prominent Citizens of Catalonia members), historian Antonio Elorza, painter Agustín Ibarrola, former Forum Ermua leader Mikel Buesa, philosopher Carlos Martínez Gorriarán, Citizens deputies Albert Rivera and Antonio Robles, Peruvian writer Fernando Iwasaki, former UGT secretary general Nicolas Redondo and People's Party Basque MP Fernando Maura. Maura joined the new party's advisory council on 6 November 2007. Writer Álvaro Pombo later expressed support for UPyD, running as a candidate for the party.
caption: Álvaro Pombo (left) and Fernando Savater at a party meeting
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L12", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX L12V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2008:01:12 12:53:10", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "424", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "4", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "420", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "High gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4342", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5228", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "47/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "741", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:01:12 12:53:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:01:12 12:53:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "24/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "342/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3072", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}