The Independents – Republic and Territories group (french: groupe Les Indépendants – République et Territoires) is a

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

including representatives of The Republicans (LR).

History

According to a report published in ''

L'Opinion ''L'Opinion'' is a daily francophone Moroccan newspaper. History and profile ''L'Opinion'' was established in 1965. The daily is the organ of the Istiqlal Party. It is the sister publication of the Arabic-language newspaper ''Al-Alam'' and i ...

'' on 20 August 2017,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 under President ...

met with three senators of The Republicans (LR),

Fabienne Keller Fabienne Keller (born 20 October 1959 in Sélestat, Bas-Rhin) is a French politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. She was previously the mayor ( UDF) of Strasbourg, France, from March 2001 to March 2008 ...

Jérôme Bignon Jérôme Bignon (1589–1656) was a French lawyer born in Paris. Life His family originated from the western part of France, and came to Paris at the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was uncommonly precocious, and under his father's tui ...

, and

Claude Malhuret Claude Malhuret (born 8 March 1950) is a French physician and politician of Agir who has been a member of the Senate since 2014, representing the department of Allier. Previously, Malhuret was the mayor of Vichy, France (1989–2017), a memb ...

, all of whom supported

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the coun ...

during the 2016 primary, on 3 August. Starting in mid-May, a group of a dozen LR senators met regularly to discuss the future of "constructives" in the Senate, and continued after the formation of such a group in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. Discussions were also held with the centrist group in the Senate, though the consensus ultimately tilted towards the creation of a new group in the Senate, to be founded in mid-September so as to not disrupt the campaign for the 2017 renewal but be prepared to form a group after the elections on 24 September. Keller confirmed the initiative to ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' in early September, claiming that about twenty senators close to Juppé and Le Maire were interested in the initiative, enough to form a parliamentary group, and also floated the possibility of other centrist senators joining the presumptive group. The senators described themselves as "humanists, liberals, Europeans, Girondins and open to the questions of society", distant from the conservatives in The Republicans represented by the Fillonist president of the LR group

Bruno Retailleau Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau (; born 20 November 1960) is a French politician who has presided over The Republicans group in the Senate since 2014. He has represented the Vendée department in the Senate since 2004. Retailleau also served ...

, who hoped to lead the opposition to the policies of

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

in the Senate. On 14 September, ten LR senators submitted to the

Paris Police Prefecture The police prefecture (french: préfecture de police) is the unit of the French Ministry of the Interior that provides police, emergency services, and various administrative services to the population of the city of Paris and the surrounding t ...

the declaration of the association attached to a future group, and made clear that the members of the group would vote to re-elect LR senator

Gérard Larcher Gérard Philippe René André Larcher (born 14 September 1949) is a French politician serving as President of the Senate since 2014, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2011. A member of The Republicans, he has been a Senator for the Yveli ...

president of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

. On 2 October,

officially announced that he would preside over the newly created Republic and Territories / The Independents group (''groupe République et Territoires / Les Indépendants'') consisting of 11 senators hoping to defend the centre-right "liberal, European and social" line, with the group officially constituted on 3 October. On 24 October, Malhuret submitted a request to rename it to The Independents – Republic and Territories group (''groupe Les Indépendants – République et Territoires''), which was accepted during the session the following day.

List of presidents

Historical membership

References

External links

Lists of senators by political group

{{DEFAULTSORT:The Independents Republic and Territories group Senate (France) Parliamentary groups in France

History

List of presidents

Historical membership

See also

References

External links