Movement radical

Mouvement radical (social libéral) Radical movement (social liberal)
president	Laurent Hénart
Secretary General	Nathalie Delattre
Vice President	Harold Huwart
Treasurer	Jean-Marc Gabouty
founding	December 9, 2017
Headquarters	Place de Valois 1, 75001 Paris
Alignment	Social liberalism , European federalism
Colours)	Blue , magenta
National Assembly	20/577
senate	17/348
Number of members	10,000 (2017)
MEPs	1/79
European party	ALDE
EP Group	RE
Website	lemouvementradical.fr

The Mouvement radical (social libéral) (MRSL for short; German  "Radical Movement - Social-Liberal" ) is a small liberal party of the political center in France. It was created in December 2017 as a merger of the Parti radical valoisien (PRad) and the Parti radical de gauche (PRG), both of which were in the tradition of the historical Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste . However, most members of the PRG left the joint party in February / March 2019 and returned to their previous party. The MRSL works closely with President Emmanuel Macron's La République en marche (LREM) party and is represented in the Castex cabinet . At the European level, it belongs to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

background

The Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste (Parti radical for short; German often called "Radikalsozialisten") was founded in 1901 as one of the first political parties in the modern sense in France. Their ideology, radicalism , can be compared with left-wing liberalism or freedom in German-speaking countries. It played an important role during the Third French Republic . However, their importance waned in the course of the Fourth Republic (after 1945) and even more so after the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958. The Parti radical split in 1972 into a left and a right wing: The Parti radical de gauche was the closest partner of the in the following decades Parti socialiste ; while the Parti radical valoisien was in alliance with the bourgeois parties ( UDF , later UMP and finally UDI ).

The presidential and parliamentary elections in 2017 brought about a profound upheaval in the French party system: The conservative Républicains that emerged from the UMP and even more so the socialists lost their importance massively; while the right-wing extremist Front national , the new center party La République en Marche of President Macron and the left movement La France insoumise rose.

history

Against this background, the two parties came closer to the “radical” line of tradition after 45 years of separation. The two honorary chairmen Jean-Michel Baylet (PRG) and André Rossinot (PRad) played a leading role . The parties finally merged on December 9, 2017 to form the Mouvement radical, which is subtitled as “social libéral”. However, there were also opponents of the merger in both of the previous parties. Part of the Valoisiens founded the association "Génération 1901" (a reference to the founding date of the historical Radical Party), which remained in the UDI; while a group of PRG members founded the splinter party "Les Radicaux de gauche".

The unified party was initially led by the two chairmen of the previous parties , Laurent Hénart (PRad) and Sylvia Pinel (PRG), as a dual leadership . The Mouvement was represented in the Philippe II cabinet with Annick Girardin as Minister for Overseas Territories and Jacques Mézard as Minister for Regional Development (Mézard left the government in October 2018). In November 2018, the MRSL became a full member of the European association of liberal parties, ALDE .

Party headquarters at n ° 1, Place de Valois

For a transition period until the beginning of 2019, the internal party structures of the two predecessor parties still existed. At the end of this phase, the majority of PRG members, including co-chair Sylvia Pinel, decided to leave the joint party in February 2019 and re-establish the PRG as a separate party. The most important point of contention was the close cooperation between the MRSL and the presidential party La République en marche, which, from the point of view of the former Valoisiens and co-chair Laurent Hénart, should also be reflected in a joint list ("renaissance") for the 2019 European elections . But that went too far for the left wing. Instead, he remembered his membership of the center-left camp and ran for the European elections together with the socialists and the new Place publique party led by Raphaël Glucksmann .

Laurent Hénart has since been the sole party leader of the Mouvement radical. The Minister Annick Girardin stayed with the MRSL despite being a former PRG member. Thus the MRSL is still represented in the government, while the PRG went into opposition. Girardin has been Minister for the Sea in the Castex cabinet since the cabinet reshuffle in July 2020 .

The MRSL MPs in the National Assembly belong to the Libertés et Territoires faction , which also includes representatives from Les Centristes and other small parties. The Senators of the MRSL have joined the Rassemblement démocratique et social européen (RDSE) group. The Movement radical has taken over the former party headquarters of the Parti radical in a historic building on Place de Valois in Paris' 1st arrondissement .

Web links

• Party website

Individual evidence

1. ^ Name according to the statutes of the party
2. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink France. Economy, society, politics, culture, mentalities. 4th edition, JB Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart 2018, pp. 153–154.
3. ^ Le Parti radical, plus vieux parti de France. In: Nouvel Observateur (online), March 9, 2019.
4. ↑ Arnaud Focraud: Les radicaux se retrouvent après 45 ans de séparation. In: Le Journal du Dimanche (online), December 9, 2017.
5. ↑ Après quarante-cinq ans de schisme, le Parti radical de gauche et le Parti radical valoisien se réunissent. In: Le Monde (online), December 10, 2017.
6. ↑ ALDE Party - Member Parties , accessed on May 27, 2019.
7. ↑ Pinel retourne au PRG avec la "grande majorité des anciens radicaux de gauche". France24, February 8, 2019.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Européennes: les Radicaux votent samedi sur leur soutien à LREM. In: Nouvel Observateur (online), March 8, 2019.
9. ↑ Emmanuel Galiero: Le Mouvement Radical prepare les Européennes. In: Le Figaro (online), June 8, 2018.