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The 'Radical Party' (''Parti radical'', also called ''Parti radical valoisien'') is a French liberal party of the center-right, which is the inheritor of the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party founded in 1901. The Parti radical valoisien was created in 1971 following the split between the left-wing of the Radicals, who formed the Left Radical Party (PRG), and the right-wing, who created the Parti radical valoisien.

Contents

Inheritance

Scission and creation of the new Radical Party (1970-1979)

Integration to the UDF

Association with the UMP

Name

Youth party

2007 elections

List of presidents

External links

Inheritance

Main articles: Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party

Scission and creation of the new Radical Party (1970-1979)

The Radical Party had lost much of its influence after World War II, despite Pierre Mendès-France's attempts to revitalize it by anchoring it to the left-wing. On 29 October 1969, Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, issued from the left-wing, became its leader and was the craftsman of its definitive shift to the right-wing. In 1971, a minority of the old Radical Party who wanted to be a part of the left-wings Common Program spinned-out to create the Movement of the Left Radicals (MRG). They would support the candidate of the left-wings, François Mitterrand, at the 1974 presidential election.
Henceforth, the classic 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 French Communist Party (PCF) — which was the foundations of the 1972 Common Program — the Radicals were still anti-Gaullists. They supported most reforms of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's presidency (in particular the authorization of the contraceptive pill, recognition of women's rights, etc.). This evolution, brought by Servan-Schreiber's influence, would end with the latter's failure during the 1979 European elections.

Integration to the UDF

The Parti radical valoisien maintained his influence by participating to the creation of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's Union for French Democracy (UDF) in 1978. It was one of its six components, along with the centrists of the ''Centre des démocrates sociaux'', the liberals of the Republican Party and of the ''Fédération nationale des Clubs Perspectives & Réalités'', 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)/UDF.

Association with 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 Democracy 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. It was then headed by Jean-Louis Borloo and André Rossinot.

Name

Following the left-wing scission in 1971 which led to the creation of the Left Radical Party (PRG), the Parti radical valoisien maintained the judicial rights to the official name of Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and is its legal continuation. The Valoisien Radicals do not use the term "Socialist" anymore since 1981, although the term is still present in their official denomination.

Youth party

The youth organizations of the Radicals called for, on 16 May 2007, for the "re-unification" of the Radical Party and of the Left Radical Party, claiming as common values Republicanism and European federalism.

2007 elections

Today, the party claims 8,000 members. It presented 37 candidates at the 2007 legislative elections, of whom six were elected at the first round, and 17 in total. The party also has 5 senators registerred in the RDSE senatorial group which gathers left and right-wing radicals, two senators registered at the UMP group (Jean-Paul Alduy and Pierre Jarlier and one MEP (registered at the European People's Party). Furthermore, its leader, Jean-Louis Borloo, is currently Minister of the Environment in François Fillon's cabinet.

List of presidents

★ Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber : 1971-1975

★ Gabriel Péronnet : 1975-1977

★ Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber : 1977-1979

★ Didier Bariani : 1979-1983

★ André Rossinot : 1983-1988

★ Yves Galland : 1988-1993

★ André Rossinot : 1993-1997

★ Thierry Cornillet : 1997-1999

★ François Loos : 1999-2003

★ André Rossinot : 2003-2005

★ Jean-Louis Borloo and André Rossinot Co-presidents : 2005-

External links

★ Official website