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| France's Les Républicains | |
|---|---|
| Name | Les Républicains |
| Native name | Les Républicains |
| Founded | 30 May 2015 |
| Predecessor | Union for a Popular Movement |
| Headquarters | Paris |
| Ideology | Conservatism, Gaullism, Liberal conservatism |
| Position | Centre-right to right-wing |
| European | European People's Party |
| Country | France |
France's Les Républicains is a major centre-right political party in France formed in 2015 as the successor to the Union for a Popular Movement. It has been a principal force in French politics alongside other mainstream parties and has provided presidents, prime ministers, and parliamentary leaders active in debates involving Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Jacques Chirac. The party operates within national institutions such as the National Assembly (France), the Senate (France), and regional councils, and engages in European politics through the European People's Party and interactions with groups including European Conservatives and Reformists.
Les Républicains traces its lineage to post‑World War II conservative currents including Gaullism, the Rally for the Republic, and the Union for French Democracy fragments that later coalesced into the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). Under leaders such as Nicolas Sarkozy, the UMP oversaw victories against Socialist Party governments and contested elections with figures like François Fillon, Alain Juppé, Jean-François Copé, and Brice Hortefeux. In 2015 the party rebranded amid tensions with Marine Le Pen's National Rally and emerging movements including La République En Marche!, prompting debates over alignments with Christian Democratic and liberal conservative tendencies represented by politicians such as Laurent Wauquiez and Valérie Pécresse. Electoral shocks such as the 2017 presidential defeat of François Fillon and the rise of Emmanuel Macron accelerated internal realignments, while subsequent regional and European elections featured contests with Rassemblement National and cooperation with centre-right allies and international partners like the European People's Party.
The party's platform combines strands of Gaullism, liberal conservatism, and social conservatism advanced by leaders from Jacques Chirac to Nicolas Sarkozy and François Fillon. Les Républicains advocate policies on taxation informed by debates between proponents like Alain Juppé and Bruno Le Maire, stances on immigration contested against positions of Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour, and security positions intersecting with proposals from figures such as Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Gérard Larcher. The party's approach to European integration has oscillated between pro‑European Union positions exemplified by collaboration with the European People's Party and more sovereigntist strains paralleling arguments by Thierry Mariani and critics of Treaty of Lisbon. Economic proposals range from market-oriented reforms resonant with Manuel Valls opponents to welfare and pension debates confronting unions like CGT and CFDT.
Les Républicains is structured with a president, a political bureau, federal federations across départements such as Paris, Bouches-du-Rhône, and Hauts-de-Seine, and youth wings interacting with institutions like the Conservative Political Action Conference equivalent networks. Presidents of the party have included Nicolas Sarkozy (as predecessor at UMP), Alain Juppé-era figures, and later leaders such as Laurent Wauquiez and Christian Jacob, with parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly (France) and the Senate (France) such as Bruno Retailleau and Gérard Larcher. The party's internal statutes govern candidate selection procedures for contests like the French legislative election, European Parliament election, 2019, and regional elections, and coordinate campaign apparatuses interfacing with media outlets such as Le Figaro, Le Monde, and France Télévisions.
Les Républicains and its predecessors won presidential victories with Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, legislative majorities in cycles such as 2002 and 2007, and produced prime ministers including François Fillon and Édouard Balladur allies. Since 2012 the party has experienced electoral setbacks against François Hollande's Socialist Party (France), the surge of Marine Le Pen's National Rally, and the 2017 breakthrough of Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche!, reflected in losses at the European Parliament election, 2019 and local contests against coalitions including New Popular Front-style groupings. The party retained influence in the Senate (France), and in regional councils such as Île-de-France regional council and departments such as PACA where candidates like Valérie Pécresse and Renaud Muselier have competed. Electoral strategy debates focus on alliances for runoffs under the two-round system and cooperation with parties like Mouvement Démocrate and UDI.
Factions range from liberal conservatives aligned with Alain Juppé and Bruno Le Maire to social conservatives and souverainists close to Laurent Wauquiez and hardline deputies who have courted figures like Éric Zemmour. The party hosts Gaullist currents recalling Charles de Gaulle's legacy, Christian-democratic groups linked to François Baroin, and economic liberal wings sympathetic to think‑tanks such as Institut Montaigne and Fondation pour l'innovation politique. Internal disputes over candidate primaries, responses to corruption scandals implicating past leaders, and strategy towards coalition-building with UDI or rapprochement with Rassemblement National have produced leadership contests, defections to La République En Marche!, and occasional reconciliations ahead of major elections.
Les Républicains maintain multifaceted relations: competitive rivalry with National Rally and La France Insoumise, coalition negotiations with centrist formations like Mouvement Démocrate and UDI, and parliamentary cooperation with European People's Party delegations including representatives from Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Partido Popular. At the European level the party's MEPs sit in groups that negotiate positions on the European Commission, the Common Agricultural Policy, and enlargement issues debated with Orbán Viktor's allies and critics from Angela Merkel's CDU era. Internationally, Les Républicains engage with transatlantic partners such as the Republican Party (United States) and conservative networks including International Democrat Union while reacting to geopolitical events involving NATO, the United Nations, and crises in regions like Syria and Ukraine.