The Republicans group (french: Groupe les Républicains), formerly the Union for a Popular Movement group (french: Groupe de l'Union pour un mouvement populaire), 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.
Parliame ...
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 r ...
including representatives of The Republicans (LR), formerly the
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 Soci ...
.
History
The group was formed 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 r ...
of the 12th legislature of the French Fifth Republic on 25 June 2002 with 356 deputies following the legislative elections under the name of the Union for the Presidential Majority group (''groupe de l'Union pour la majorité présidentielle''), and was renamed to the Union for a Popular Movement group (''groupe de l'Union pour un mouvement populaire'') in line with that of its associated party on 5 March 2003. The group was subsequently reformed on 26 June 2007 with 314 members and 6 related following the legislative elections, and again on 26 June 2012 with 185 members and 11 related after legislative elections. On 2 June 2015, the name of the group was changed to The Republicans group (''groupe Les Républicains'') following the renaming of the party to The Republicans.
The UMP group in the National Assembly was initially presided over by
Jacques Barrot
Jacques Barrot (3 February 1937 – 3 December 2014) was a French politician, who served as European Commissioner for Justice between 2008 and 2010, after having spent four years serving as Commissioner for Transport (2004–2008) and Commissi ...
after his election unopposed on 19 June 2002, who later resigned to serve on the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
following
Michel Barnier
Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who served as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator, Task ...
.
Bernard Accoyer
Bernard Accoyer (, born 12 August 1945 in Lyon) is a French politician who was President of the National Assembly of France from 2007 to 2012. He was also the Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux. serving until June 2007, after which successfully sought to become president of the National Assembly and replaced by Jean-François Copé. After Copé became General Secretary of the UMP, Christian Jacob was elected to succeed him on 23 November 2010. Jacob was re-elected most recently on 21 June 2017, collecting 62 votes against
Damien Abad
Damien Abad (; born 5 April 1980) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2022.
Abad previously served as Member of the National Assembly for Ain's 5th constitue ...
, who received 32 votes.
In the 2017 legislative elections, only 112 deputies under the label of the Republicans were elected, a "historic reversal" for the party, with the right and centre registering its worst score in the history of the Fifth Republic, the previous record being 158 deputies in the 1981 legislative elections. With the election 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 ...
and appointment of three right-wing ministers to his government, divisions in the right re-emerged, with a number of "constructives" interested in supporting his project. On 21 June,
Thierry Solère
Thierry Solère (born 17 August 1971) is a French politician who has served as the member of the National Assembly for the 9th constituency of Hauts-de-Seine from 2012 to 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2017, when he joined ...
Union of Democrats and Independents
The Union of Democrats and Independents (french: Union des démocrates et indépendants, UDI) is a centre to centre-right political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the parliamentary grou ...
(UDI) likely to contain 18 UDI and about 15 LR deputies. The formation of two parliamentary groups on the right represented a symbolic divorce to the two threads on the right (moderates and hardliners) and the end of the old UMP, created in 2002 to unite the right and centre.
On 27 June, Virginie Duby-Muller,
Damien Abad
Damien Abad (; born 5 April 1980) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2022.
Abad previously served as Member of the National Assembly for Ain's 5th constitue ...
Arnaud Viala
Arnaud Viala (born 4 December 1974) is a French politician of the Republicans who was Member of Parliament for the Aveyron's 3rd constituency in the French National Assembly from 2015 to 2021.
Political career
In Parliament, Viala serves on ...
,
Guillaume Peltier
Guillaume Peltier (; born 27 August 1976) is a French politician, former teacher and business leader who has represented the 2nd constituency of the Loir-et-Cher department in the National Assembly since 2017. He has also served in the Departme ...
, and
Gilles Lurton
Gilles Lurton (born on 6 July 1963)
is a French politician. He has represented Ille-et-Vilaine's 7th constituency since 2012, first as a member of the Union for a Popular Movement and then the Republicans.
Biography
His first political offic ...
were designated as the group's vice presidents. At the time of its formation on 27 June, the parliamentary group included 100 deputies, including 5 associated members.
On 8 December, the constitutional council annulled the election of
Ian Boucard
Ian Boucard (born 5 May 1988) is a French politician who served as deputy for Territoire de Belfort's 1st constituency from June to December 2017, with the invalidation of his election triggering a by-election in early 2018 in which he was re-e ...
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...
was held to fill the vacant seat in 2018, and Boucard was re-elected. The constitutional council subsequently annulled the election of Jean-Pierre Door, who won by 8 votes in Loiret's 4th constituency, on 18 December, triggering a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...
Territoire de Belfort
The Territoire de Belfort () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, eastern France. It had a population of 141,318 in 2019.Antoine Savignat after he won the by-election in
Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674. ...
The Republicans group (Senate)
The Republicans group (french: groupe Les Républicains), formerly the Union for a Popular Movement group (french: groupe Union pour un mouvement populaire), is a parliamentary group in the French Senate including representatives of The Republi ...