The Citizen and Republican Movement ( French: ''Mouvement républicain et citoyen'') is a

political party in France This article contains a list of political parties in France. France has a multi-party political system: one in which the number of competing political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevitable that in order to participate in ...

. The party replaced in 2002 the Citizens' Movement (''Mouvement des citoyens'', MDC) founded by

Jean-Pierre Chevènement Jean-Pierre Chevènement (; born 9 March 1939L ...

, who left the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS) in 1993 due to his opposition to the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and to the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...

. It is a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

party with

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

aspirations. Chevènement led the list ''l'autre politique'' (the Other Policy) for 1994 European Parliament election. It included members of left-wing opposition (socialist and communist candidates) to

, feminists, radicals, and

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withd ...

s. The MDC supported the Socialist candidate

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

for the

1995 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April, with a second round on 7 May. Background The French Socialist Party, Socialist incumbent president François Mitterrand, who had been in office since 19 ...

, then integrated the ''

Gauche plurielle The Gauche Plurielle (French for ''Plural Left'') was a left-wing coalition in France, composed of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), the French Communist Party (''Parti communiste français'' or PCF), ...

'' coalition. From 1997 to 2000, it was represented in the government by Chevènement as Interior Minister. In order to prepare the

2002 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 April 2002, with a runoff election between the top two candidates, incumbent Jacques Chirac of the Rally for the Republic and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front, on 5 May. This presidential ...

, Chevènement created the ''Pôle républicain'', which included a wide range of politicians including radicals, Gaullists,

souverainists Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism (from french: souverainisme, , meaning the ideology of sovereignty) is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation o ...

, and socialists. He won over 5% and is sometimes blamed for Jospin's elimination. Its lack of success in the

2002 French legislative election The French legislative elections took place on 9 and 16 June 2002 to elect the 12th National Assembly of France, National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, in a context of political crisis. The Socialist Prime Minister Lio ...

, losing all 7 MDC deputies elected in 1997, prompted Chevènement to rename his party the Citizen and Republican Movement. Chevènement was defeated in his seat in

Territoire-de-Belfort The Territoire de Belfort () is a departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions of France, region, eastern France. It had a population of 141,318 in 2019.2007 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as President of the French Republic, president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for ...

to prevent a new 21 April 2002 shock. The MRC fielded candidates in the

2007 French legislative election The French legislative elections took place on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the French presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, inclu ...

, including Chevènement in

Territoire-de-Belfort The Territoire de Belfort () is a departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions of France, region, eastern France. It had a population of 141,318 in 2019.Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...

(UMP). He failed to win back his seat, but Christian Hutin, a left-wing Gaullist, was elected in the

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

département. The party has one Senator, Chevènement, who sits in the

European Democratic and Social Rally The European Democratic and Social Rally group (french: groupe du Rassemblement démocratique et social européen, abbreviated RDSE), formerly the Democratic and European Rally group (french: groupe du Rassemblement démocratique et européen), is ...

(RDSE) group, which is the more

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...

group. In the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

European Parliament elections, the party did not run or support any list. Negotiations with the Socialist Party and the new Left Front failed. In October 2018, PS MEP

Emmanuel Maurel Emmanuel Maurel (born 10 May 1973 in Épinay-sur-Seine), is a French politician. He was a member of the board of the French Socialist Party. He was a candidate for the leadership of the Socialist Party but lost against Harlem Désir, winning a ...

and senator

Marie-Noëlle Lienemann Marie-Noëlle Lienemann (born 12 July 1951, in Belfort) is a French politician who served as Member of the European Parliament for the North West of France. Until 2018, she was a member of the Socialist Party, part of the Party of European Socia ...

announced that they would leave the Socialists to ally with the MRC in a new party called ''

Gauche républicaine et socialiste The Republican and Socialist Left (french: Gauche républicaine et socialiste, GRS) is a socialist political party in France. It was founded on 3 February 2019 after the merger of the Alternative for a Republican, Ecologist and Socialist Program ( ...

'' (GRS). On 12 November 2018, a group presided over by Jean-Marie Alexandre announced the reconstitution of the MDC as a party.

References

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Citizen and Republican Movement 1993 establishments in France Democratic socialist parties in Europe Eurosceptic parties in France Gaullist parties Left-wing nationalist parties Left-wing populism in France Nationalist parties in France Political parties established in 1993 Socialist parties in France