The Radical Party (, ), officially the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party ( ), is a
liberal and
social-liberal political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Since 1971, to prevent confusion with the
Radical Party of the Left (PRG), it has also been referred to as ''Parti radical valoisien'', after its headquarters on the
rue de Valois. The party's name has been variously abbreviated to PRRRS, Rad, PR and PRV. Founded in 1901, the PR is the oldest active political party in France.
Coming from the
Radical Republican tradition,
the PR upheld the principles of
private property,
social justice and
secularism. The Radicals were originally a
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
group, but, starting with the emergence of the
French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in 1905, they shifted gradually towards the
political centre. In 1926, its right-wing split off to form the Unionist (or National) Radicals. In 1971 the party's left-wing split off to form the PRG. The PR then affiliated with the
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
, becoming one of the founder parties of the
Union for French Democracy (UDF) in 1978. In 2002, the party split from the UDF and became an associate party of the
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and were represented on the
Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority prior to launching
The Alliance (ARES) in 2011 and the
Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) in 2012. After the 2017
presidential and
legislative elections, negotiations to merge the PR and the PRG began. The refounding congress to reunite the parties into the
Radical Movement was held in December 2017. However, the union proved short-lived and, by 2021, both the PR and PRG returned to be independent parties. The PR was then part of the
Ensemble Citoyens coalition.
History
Radicals before the party (1830–1901)
After the collapse of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's
empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
in 1815, a reactionary
Bourbon Restoration took place. The left-wing opposition was constituted by the broad family of Republicans, but these differed over whether and how far to cooperate with
liberal-constitutional monarchists in pursuit of their
common adversary. In contrast to the Republicans' right wing (then the centre-left of the political spectrum), who were more inclined to accept a socially conservative
constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
as the first stage to a republic, the Republicans' left wing took a hard line in advocating progressive reforms such as
universal manhood suffrage,
civil liberties (such as press freedom and right to assembly, among others), and the immediate installation of a republican constitution. They came to be termed Radical Republicans by opposition to the
Moderate Republicans.
After the installation of the constitutional
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...
(1830–1848), the term Republican was outlawed and the regime's remaining Republican opponents adopted the term Radical for themselves. Following the monarchy's conservative turn,
Alexandre Ledru-Rollin and
Louis Blanc formulated a Radical doctrine. At this time, radicalism was distinct from and to the left of the July Monarchy's
doctrinal liberalism. Radicals defended traditional peasant farmers and small craftsmen against the new rival economic projects of the 19th century, socialist collectivism and capitalist big business alike.
The Radicals took a major part in the
1848 Revolution and the foundation of the
Second Republic, sitting in parliament as the
Montagne legislative group. Fifty years later, the Radical-Socialist Party would consider this group its direct forefather. For a few months,
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin was Interior Minister in the provisional government. However, the conservatives won the
1848 legislative election, the first election by universal suffrage. The repression of the June 1848 workers' demonstrations disappointed the left-wing supporters of the new regime. Ledru-Rollin obtained only 5% of votes at the
December 1848 presidential election, which was won by
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who launched a
coup, ending parliamentary democracy in favour of a
Second Empire.
From opposition, Radicals criticized Bonaparte's autocratic rule and attacks on civil liberties. At the end of the 1860s, they advocated with the
Belleville Programme (supported by
Léon Gambetta) the election of
civil servants and
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
s, the proclamation of the so-called "great liberties", free public teaching and the separation of church and state.
After the collapse of the
Second French Empire following the 1870
Franco-Prussian War, the
Third Republic was proclaimed in September 1870. The first
elections in February 1871 returned a majority of monarchists belonging to two distinct factions, conservative-liberal
Orléanists and Catholic-traditionalist
Legitimists, but these were too divided to reach an agreement over the type of monarchy they wanted to restore. Their division allowed time for the Republicans to win the
1876 elections, leading to the firm establishment of a Republican republic. Like the monarchists, the Republicans were divided into two main factions, namely a centre-left formed of socially-conservative yet liberal and secular
Moderate Republicans (pejoratively labeled "Opportunist Republicans") and a far-left of uncompromising anticlerical Radicals.
Georges Clemenceau was the leader of the Radical parliamentary group, who criticized colonial policy as a form of diversion from
"revenge" against Prussia and due to his ability was a protagonist of the collapse of many governments.
In the 1890s, competition from the growing
labour movement and concern for the
plight of industrial workers prompted
Léon Bourgeois to update the fifty-year-old Radical doctrine to encompass social reforms such as the progressive
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
and
social insurance schemes, hence the term Radical-Socialist, a social-democratic synthesis of
reformist socialism with traditional radicalism. After the
Dreyfus Affair, Radicals joined forces with conservative Republicans and some Socialists in
Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet (1899–1902). In 1901, an Act on the right of association was voted and the various individual Radicals organised themselves into a political party in order to defend their governmental achievements from the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
's influence and the traditionalist opposition. However, not all Radicals accepted the change in doctrine and alliance. While retaining their doctrines, those show rejected the new turn towards social-democracy and partnership with the Socialist Party gradually peeled away, labelling themselves the
Independent Radicals and sitting in their own loose-knit parliamentary party (
Radical Left) to the right of the Radical-Socialists.
The Radical-Socialist and Radical Republican Party was the first large political party established at a national level in France, which contrasted with previous parliamentary groups that were formed spontaneously by likeminded independent lawmakers elected through purely local electoral committees. The first congress of the Radical Party was held in June 1901. Delegates represented 476 election committees, 215 editorial boards of Radical newspapers and 155 Masonic lodges as well as lawmakers, mayors and municipal councillors. However, it was not until 1914 that the Radical-Socialist Party imposed strict discipline on its parliamentary deputies, requiring them to sit exclusively in a single Radical-Socialist legislative
caucus.
The existence of a national party immediately changed the political scene. Several Radical independents had already been presidents of the council (
Ferdinand Buisson,
Emile Combes and
Charles Floquet, among others) and the Radicals already benefited from a strong presence across the country. The party was composed of a heterogeneous alliance of personal fiefdoms, informal electoral clubs,
masonic lodges and sections of the ''
Ligue des droits de l'homme'' (Human Rights League) and the ''
Ligue française de l'enseignement'' (French League of Education, an association dedicated to introducing, expanding and defending free, compulsory and non-religious primary education). The secularising cause was championed by
Émile Combes' cabinet start of the 20th century. As the political enemy, they identified the Catholic Church, seen as a political campaign entity for ultra-conservatives and monarchists.
Early years: the Radical Republic (1901–1919)
At
1902 legislative election, the Radical-Socialists and the Independent Radicals allied themselves with the conservative-liberals of the
Democratic Alliance (to their immediate right) and the Socialists (to their left) in the ''
Bloc des gauches'' (Coalition of the Left), with the Radicals emerging the main political force.
Émile Combes took the head of the ''Bloc des gauches'' cabinet and led a resolute anti-clerical policy culminating in the
1905 laic law which along with the earlier
Jules Ferry laws
The Jules Ferry laws are a set of French laws which established free education in 1881, then mandatory and ''laic'' (secular) education in 1882. Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely c ...
removing confessional influence from public education formed the backbone of ''
laïcité
(; 'secularism') is the constitutional principle of secularism in France. Article 1 of the French Constitution is commonly interpreted as the separation of civil society and religious society. It discourages religious involvement in governmen ...
'', France's policy of combatting
clericalism by actively excluding it from state institutions. From then on, the Radical-Socialist Party's chief aim in domestic policy was to prevent its wide-ranging set of reforms from being overturned by a return to power of the religious right.
After the withdrawal of the Socialist ministers from the government following the
International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam in 1904, the coalition dissolved and the Radicals went alone into the
1906 legislative elections. Nevertheless, the Radical-Socialist Party remained the axis of the parliamentary majorities and of the governments. The cabinet led by the Independent Radical
Georges Clemenceau (1906–1909) introduced
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
and workers' pensions, but is also remembered for its violent repression of industrial strikes.
For the latter part of the
Third Republic (1918–1940), the Radical-Socialists, generally representing the anti-clerical segment of peasant and petty-bourgeois voters, were usually the largest single party in parliament, but with their anti-clerical agenda accomplished the party lost their driving force. Its leader before World War I
Joseph Caillaux was generally more noted for his advocacy of better relations with Germany than for his reformist agenda.
During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
(1914–1918), the Radical-Socialist Party was the keystone of the ''
Sacred Union'' while the most prominent Independent Radical
Georges Clemenceau led the cabinet again from 1917 to 1919. He appeared as the "architect of victory", but his relationship with the Radical-Socialist Party deteriorated. The Radical-Socialists and the Independent Radicals entered the
1919 legislative election in opposing coalitions, thus Clemenceau's
alliance of the right emerged victorious.
Between World Wars (1919–1946)
By the end of World War I, the Radical-Socialist Party, now led by
Édouard Herriot, were generally a moderate centre-left party faced with the governmental dominance of the socially-conservative liberal parties to its right (see
Independent Radicals and
Democratic Alliance) and pressure from its left by the rise of support for the socialist
French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and
French Communist Party (PCF). With these political forces, Radical-Socialists shared
anti-clericalism and the struggle for "social progress", but unlike the other left parties the Radical-Socialists defended the principle of strict parliamentary action and the defence of private property, at least that of smallholders and small business. Additionally, the Radical-Socialist Party had thought before 1914 that its old adversaries among the
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
,
monarchist and
traditionalist right had been weakened once and for all, instead these emerged reinvigorated by World War I.
In 1924, Radical-Socialists formed electoral alliances with the SFIO. The ''
Cartel des Gauches'' (Coalition of the Left) won the
1924 legislative election and Herriot formed a government. However, the Radical-Socialists gradually drifted to the right, moving from left-Republican governments supported by the non-participating Socialists to a coalition of "Republican concentration" with the centre-right Independent Radicals and the more socially-conservative liberal parties in 1926.
Two years later at the
Angers Congress, the left-wing of the party obtained the withdrawal of the Radical-Socialists from the cabinet and the return to a policy of alliance with the Socialists.
Édouard Daladier was elected party leader. However, a section of the party's right-wing defected to form a second centre-right
Independent Radical party (the Social and Radical Left) which opposed alliance with the Socialist Party and preferred close cooperation with the centre-right liberals of the
Democratic Alliance.
The party claimed 120,000 members in the 1930s, however, these figures were inflated by competitors purchasing party memberships in bulk to influence inner-party votes.
The second ''Cartel des gauches'' won the
1932 legislative election, but its two main components were not able to establish a common agenda and consequently the SFIO chose to support the second government led by Herriot without participation. The coalition fell on 7 February 1934 following
riots organized by the far-right leagues the night before. The Radical-Socialist
Camille Chautemps's government had been replaced by a government led by his popular rival Édouard Daladier in January after accusations of corruption against Chautemps' government in the wake of the
Stavisky Affair and other similar scandals.
This pattern of initial alliance with a socialist party unwilling to join in active government followed by disillusionment and alliance with the centre-right seemed to be broken in 1936, when the
Popular Front electoral alliance with the Socialists and the Communists led to the accession of Socialist leader
Léon Blum as
President of the Council in a coalition government in which the Radical-Socialist leaders Édouard Daladier and Camille Chautemps (representing left and right of the Radical-Socialist Party, respectively) took important roles. For the first time in its history, the Radical-Socialist Party obtained fewer votes than the SFIO.
Over the tempestuous life of the coalition, the Radical-Socialists began to become concerned at the perceived radicalism of their coalition partners. Hence, they opposed themselves to Blum's intention to help the Republicans during the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
(1936–1939), forcing him to adopt a non-interventionist policy. Following the failure of Blum's second government in April 1938, Daladier formed a new government in coalition with the liberal and conservative parties.
After the 29 September 1938
Munich Agreement which handed over
Sudetenland to
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
in exchange for what proved to be a temporary peace, Daladier was acclaimed upon his return to Paris as the man who had avoided war. However, two days after the
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
on 1 September 1939 the French government led by Daladier made good on its guarantees to Poland by declaring war alongside Britain. Following the 23 August 1939
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Daladier engaged in an
anti-communist policy, prohibiting the Communists activities and the party's newspaper, ''
L'Humanité''.
Furthermore, Daladier moved increasingly to the right, notably repealing the
40-hour work week which had been the Popular Front's most visible accomplishment. Daladier would eventually resign in March 1940 and take part in the new government of
Paul Reynaud (leader of the main centre-right liberal party, the
Democratic Alliance) as minister of National Defense and of War. After the defeat of the
Battle of France, the French army being overwhelmed by the Nazi ''
Blitzkrieg'', the French government declared Paris an
open city on 10 June and flew to
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
. The same month, Daladier escaped to
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
in the ''
Massilia''. Thus, he was not there during the controversial 10 July 1940 vote of full powers to Marshal
Philippe Pétain which opened the door to the
Vichy regime. Daladier was arrested and tried in 1942 by the new regime (see the
Riom Trial) which accused him as well as other political leaders such as Socialist
Léon Blum and conservative
Paul Reynaud of being morally and strategically responsible for the loss of the Battle of France.
Fourth Republic (1946–1958)
After World War II, the Radicals, like many of the other political parties, were discredited by the fact that many of their members had voted to grant emergency powers to Marshal
Philippe Pétain, although senior Radical leaders as Édouard Herriot, then President of the Chamber of Deputies (the parliamentary Speaker), had been ambivalent.
The Radical-Socialist Party was reconstituted and formed one of the important parties of the
Fourth Republic (1946–1958), but never recovered its dominant pre-war position. It failed to prevent the adoption of the projects of the
three-parties coalition (nationalizations and the welfare state). Along with
Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance, it set up an electoral umbrella-group, the
Rally of Republican Lefts (RGR). From 1947, after the split of the governmental coalition it participated to the
Third Force coalition with the SFIO, the Christian-democratic
Popular Republican Movement and the conservative-liberal
National Centre of Independents and Peasants.
In the early years of the Fourth Republic, the party returned to the moderate left under the leadership of
Pierre Mendès-France, a strong opponent of
French colonialism, whose premiership from 1954 to 1955 saw France's withdrawal from
Indochina and the agreement for French withdrawal from
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
. Mendès-France, a very popular figure who helped renew the Radical-Socialist Party after its discredit, was indeed elected on the pledge to stop
Indochina War (1946–1954).
Mendès-France hoped to make the Radicals the party of the mainstream centre-left in France, taking advantage of the difficulties of the SFIO. The more conservative elements in the party led by
Edgar Faure resisted these policies, leading to the fall of Mendès-France's government in 1955. They split and transformed the RGR in a centre-right party distinct from the Radical Party. Under
Pierre Mendès-France's leadership, the Radical Party participated to a centre-left coalition, the
Republican Front, which won the
1956 legislative election. Another split, this time over France's policy about the
Algerian War (1954–1962), led to his resignation as party leader and the party's move in a distinctly conservative direction.
The Fourth Republic was characterized by constant parliamentary instability because of divisions between major parties over the Algerian War, which was officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s. Mendès-France opposed the war and colonialism while the SFIO led by Prime Minister
Guy Mollet supported it. Because of the start of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, all political parties, even the SFIO, opposed the
French Communist Party (PCF), which was very popular due to its role during the
Resistance (it was known as the ''parti des 75,000 fusillés'', "party of the 75,000 executed people"). The PCF was also opposed to
French rule in Algeria and supported its independence.
In the midst of this parliamentary instability and divisions of the political class,
Charles de Gaulle took advantage of the
May 1958 crisis to return to power. On 13 May,
European colonists seized the Governor-General's building in
Algiers while
Opération Résurrection was launched by the right-wing insurrectionary ''Comité de Salut Public''. De Gaulle, who had deserted the political arena for a decade by disgust over the parliamentary system and its chronic instability (the ''système des partis'' which he severely criticized), now appeared as the only man able to reconcile the far-right and the European settlers, which were threatening a coup d'état, with the French Republic. Thus, he was called to power and proclaimed the end of the Fourth Republic (according to him too weak because of its parliamentarism) and replaced it by the
Fifth Republic, a hybrid presidential-parliamentary system tailored for himself.
The Radical Party supported de Gaulle at this crucial moment, leading Mendès-France to quit the party. Opposed to the proposed constitution, Mendès-France campaigned for the "no" on 28 September 1958 referendum. However, the
new Constitution was finally adopted and proclaimed on 4 October 1958.
Fifth Republic (1958–present)
Popular figure Pierre Mendès-France quit the Radical Party, which had crossed the threshold to the centre-right, as early moderate Republicans did at the beginning of the Third Republic, when the Radical Party, appearing to their left, pushed them over the border between the left-wing and the right-wing, a process dubbed ''
sinistrisme''.
Mendès-France then founded the ''Centre d'Action Démocratique'' (CAD), which would later join the
Autonomous Socialist Party (PSA, which had split from the SFIO), which in turn fused into the
Unified Socialist Party (PSU) on 3 April 1960. This new socialist party gathered all the dissidents from the Radical Party and the SFIO who were opposed to both the Algerian War and the proclamation of the new presidential regime. Mendès-France would officially become a member of the PSU in 1961, a year before the 18 March 1962
Evian Accords which put an end to the Algerian War.
The Radical Party returned from support of the government to opposition in 1959 and declined throughout all the 1960s. Allied with the SFIO in the
Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left, it supported
François Mitterrand for the
1965 presidential election. This federation later split in 1968.
Under the leadership of
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, President since 29 October 1969 issued from the left-wing, the party again made tentative moves to the left in the 1970s, but stopped short of an alliance with
Socialist Party (PS) leader
François Mitterrand and his
Communist allies, leading to a final split in 1972 when the remaining centre-left Radicals left the party and eventually became the
Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left. This group, which wanted to be a part of the left-wing
Common Programme, broke away to create the
Movement of the Left Radicals (MRG) and at the
1974 presidential election, supported Mitterrand, the candidate of the left-wing.
Radical Party ''valoisien''
Henceforth, the Radical Party began to be known as ''valoisien'', from the location of its national headquarters at the
Place de Valois in Paris, in order to distinguish it from the MRG. Opposed to an electoral alliance with the PCF, which was the foundation of the 1972 ''Common Programme'', the Radicals were still anti-Gaullists. They allied with the
Christian Democrats in the
Reforming Movement in order to propose another way between the Common Programme's parties and the Presidential Majority led by Gaullists. Finally, they joined it after the election of
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to the
presidency of France in 1974. They supported most reforms of Giscard d'Estaing's presidency (in particular the authorization of the
contraceptive pill and recognition of
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
). This evolution brought by Servan-Schreiber's influence would end with the latter's failure during the
1979 European elections.
Following the left-wing scission in 1971, the Radical Party ''valoisien'' maintained the judicial rights to the official name of Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and is its legal continuation.
After the failure of the alliance with the Christians Democrats into the Reforming Movement, the Radical Party maintained its influence by participating in the foundation of Giscard d'Estaing's
Union for French Democracy (UDF) in 1978. The Radical Party was one of its six components, along with the centrists of the
Centre of Social Democrats, the liberals of the
Republican Party and of the
National Federation of Perspectives and Realities Clubs, the social democrats of the
Socialist-Democratic Movement and of the new members of the UDF. Through the UDF, the Radical Party participated to all of the governments issued from parliamentary majorities of the
Rally for the Republic (RPR).
Associate party of the UMP
An important split took place after the
1998 regional elections, during which some members of the party composed electoral alliances with the far-right
National Front party. Those members created the
Liberal Democratic Party while the Radical Party remained a member of the UDF. During the
2002 presidential election,
François Bayrou presented himself as a candidate for the UDF while the Radical Party supported his rival
Jacques Chirac (RPR).
After Chirac's re-election in 2002, most radicals participated to the creation of his new party, the
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). The Radical Party then quit the UDF to associate itself with the UMP, sharing its memberships and budget with the latter. However, some members such as
Thierry Cornillet continue to be part of UDF. It was then headed by
Jean-Louis Borloo and
André Rossinot.
After the rise of
Nicolas Sarkozy to the leadership of the UMP, Radicals launched a sort of re-foundation of their party in order to create a counterbalancing moderate and social wing within the UMP. The party soon started to attract other centrists (as Jean-Louis Borloo,
Renaud Dutreil,
Véronique Mathieu and
Françoise Hostalier) and even some anti-Sarkozy neo-Gaullists (as
Serge Lepeltier and
Alain Ferry). As a result, the Radical Party had a comeback in French politics. It then had 21 deputies (four more from those elected in 2002), 6 senators (two more from 2002), 4 MEPs and 8,000 members. Jean-Louis Borloo was a high-ranking minister in
François Fillon's second government as
Minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Transport and
Minister of State from 2007 to 2010, when he chose not take part to Fillon's third government. It was the first time since 1974 that Radicals were not represented in a centre-right government.
During the
7th term of the European Parliament, three Radical
MEPs sat with the
European People's Party Group (EPP) along with the UMP.
The Alliance
On 7 April 2011, Borloo announced the creation of a centrist coalition. During a party congress on 14–15 May, the Radicals decided to cut their ties with Sarkozy's
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), of which they had been an associate party since 2002. During a convention on 26 June, the party officially joined
The Alliance (ARES) alongside
New Centre and other centrist parties as an alternative to the UMP. The Alliance was replaced with the
Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) in September 2012.
During the
8th European Parliament
The eighth European Parliament was elected in the 2014 European Parliament election, 2014 elections and lasted until the 2019 European Parliament election, 2019 elections.
Major events
* 22–25 May 2014
** 2014 European Parliament election, Ele ...
, the single Radical MEP
Dominique Riquet
Dominique Riquet (born 18 September 1946 in Valenciennes, Nord (French department), Nord) is a French surgeon and politician of the Radical Party (France), Radical Party who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the 2009 Europe ...
sat with the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group as part of the UDI.
Elected officials
*
Deputies:
Alfred Almont (Martinique),
Edwige Antier (Paris),
Paul Aubry (Haut-Marne),
Jean-Louis Bernard (Loiret),
Jean-Louis Borloo (Nord),
Claire Bouchet (Hautes-Alpes),
Alain Ferry (Bas-Rhin),
Jean Grenet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques),
Laurent Hénart (Meurthe-et-Moselle),
Françoise Hostalier (Nord),
Yves Jégo (Seine-et-Marne),
Robert Lecou (Hérault),
Jean Leonetti (Alpes-Maritimes),
François Loos (Bas-Rhin),
Alain Marc (Aveyron),
Franck Marlin (Essonne),
Frédéric Reiss (Bas-Rhin),
Franck Reynier (Drôme),
Arnaud Richard (Yvelines),
François Scellier (Val-d'Oise),
Pierre Souquès (Indre-et-Loire),
André Wojciechowski (Moselle),
Michel Zumkeller (Territoire de Belfort)
*
Senators:
Jean-Paul Alduy (Pyrénées-Orientales),
Alain Chatillon (Haute-Garonnne),
Sylvie Goy-Chavent (Ain),
Pierre Jarlier (Cantal),
Sophie Joissains (Bouches-du-Rhône),
Aymeri de Montesquiou (Gers)
*
MEPs:
Dominique Riquet
Dominique Riquet (born 18 September 1946 in Valenciennes, Nord (French department), Nord) is a French surgeon and politician of the Radical Party (France), Radical Party who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the 2009 Europe ...
(Nord-Ouest)
Leadership
Party presidents:
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Gustave Mesureur (1901–1902)
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Jean Dubief (1902–1903)
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Maurice Fauré (1903–1904)
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Maurice Berteaux (1904–1905)
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Émile Combes (1905–1906)
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Camille Pelletan (1906–1907)
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Auguste Delpech (1907–1908)
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Louis Lafferre (1908–1909)
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Ernest Vallé (1909–1910)
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Émile Combes (1910–1913)
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Joseph Caillaux (1913–1917)
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Charles Debierre (1917–1918)
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André Renard (1918–1919)
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Édouard Herriot (1919–1920)
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Maurice Sarraut (1920–1927)
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Édouard Daladier (1927–1931)
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Édouard Herriot (1931–1936)
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Édouard Daladier (1936–1944)
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Édouard Herriot (1944–1957)
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Édouard Daladier (1957–1958)
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Félix Gaillard (1958–1961)
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Maurice Faure (1961–1965)
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René Billères (1965–1969)
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Maurice Faure (1969–1971)
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Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber (1971–1975)
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Gabriel Péronnet (1975–1977)
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Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber (1977–1979)
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Didier Bariani (1979–1983)
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André Rossinot (1983–1988)
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Yves Galland (1988–1993)
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André Rossinot (1993–1997)
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Thierry Cornillet (1997–1999)
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François Loos (1999–2003)
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André Rossinot (2003–2005)
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Jean-Louis Borloo and
André Rossinot (co-presidents, 2005–2007)
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Jean-Louis Borloo (2007–2014)
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Laurent Hénart (2014–2024)
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Nathalie Delattre (since 2024)
Election results
National Assembly
European Parliament
See also
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French Left
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Liberalism and radicalism in France
Further reading
* Botsiou Konstantina E. "The European Centre-Right and European Integration: The Formative Years," in ''Reforming Europe'' (2009
online abstract* De Tarr, F. ''The French Radical Party: from Herriot to Mendès-France'' (1980)
* Larmour, Peter. ''The French Radical Party in the 1930s'' (1964)
* Mayeur, Jean-Marie, and Madeleine Rebérioux. ''The Third Republic from its origins to the Great War, 1871-1914'' (1988)
* O'Neill, Francis. ''The French Radical Party and European integration 1949-1957'' (1979).
* Schlesinger, Mildred. "The Development of the Radical Party in the Third Republic: The New Radical Movement, 1926-32." ''Journal of Modern History'' (1974): 476–501
in JSTOR
In French
* Berstein, Serge. "La vie du Parti radical: la fédération de Saône-et-Loire de 1919 à 1939." ''Revue française de science politique'' (1970): 1136–1180
online
References
External links
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{{French political parties
Political parties of the French Fifth Republic
Republicanism in France
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties
Liberal parties in France
Centrist parties in France
Political parties established in 1901
Political parties disestablished in 2017
Political parties established in 2021
Radical parties in France
Republican parties
Political parties of the French Third Republic
1901 establishments in France
2017 disestablishments in France