The Rally for France (french: Rassemblement pour la France (RPF); also briefly known in 2003 as Rally for France and European Independence or ) was a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
of the
right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...
. It was founded in 1999 by the
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 with ...
and former
Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, then allied with
Philippe de Villiers
Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Main Website Retrieved 4 March 2009. He is the founder of the Puy du Fou them ...
(ex-
UDF). The RPF aimed to fight against
globalisation and
European federalism. The party was opposed to further European integration.
The new party enjoyed early electoral success when it placed second in the
1999 European Parliament election in France, scoring 13 percent of the vote and winning 13 seats. This placed it behind 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 t ...
but ahead of the established centre-right parties, the
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 with ...
Rally for the Republic-
DL list and the
UDF. However Philippe de Villiers' departure in late 2000, in order to refound his
Movement for France
The Movement for France (french: Mouvement pour la France, MPF; ) was a conservative, soft Eurosceptic and Gaullist French political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked regional stronghold in the Vendée. It was led by Philippe de ...
, severely damaged the party and Pasqua failed to run in the
2002 Presidential elections. The RPF has since suffered several setbacks in various elections and has failed to regain its 1999-2000 momentum, and has been eclipsed by the MPF as a party of the Eurosceptic right in France. The party won two seats in the
2002 National Assembly election, through an alliance with the
UMP but lost all its MEPs in the
2004 European election.
Charles Pasqua was elected
Senator for the
Hauts-de-Seine in the
2004 French Senate election. He sat in the
UMP group.
The RPF remained an associate party of the main centre-right party, the
UMP.
See also
*
Movement for France
The Movement for France (french: Mouvement pour la France, MPF; ) was a conservative, soft Eurosceptic and Gaullist French political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked regional stronghold in the Vendée. It was led by Philippe de ...
*
Rally of the French People
The Rally of the French People (french: Rassemblement du Peuple Français, RPF) was a French political party, led by Charles de Gaulle.
Foundation
The RPF was founded by Charles de Gaulle in Strasbourg on 14 April 1947, one year after his resign ...
{{Authority control
Factions and associate parties of the Union for a Popular Movement
Right-wing parties in France
Political parties established in 1999
Eurosceptic parties in France
1999 establishments in France
Political parties disestablished in 2011