The Centrists (, , ), known as The Centrists – New Centre ( , ) since 2018, formerly known as New Centre (, ) and European Social Liberal Party ( , ), is a

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 ...

political party in France formed by the members of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...

(UDF) – including 18 of the 29 members of the UDF 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 repr ...

) – who did not agree with

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (France ...

's decision to found the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and wanted to support the newly-elected president

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, continuing the UDF–

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP) alliance. The party was founded on 29 May 2007 during a press conference and renamed on 11 December 2016.

History

The Centrists trace their history to the major centrist and

Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

political parties in the Fourth and Fifth Republics. The parties maintained a separate existence from the

Gaullist Gaullism ( ) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withdrew French forces from t ...

parties in the early years of the Fifth Republic primarily because of de Gaulle's strong opposition to European integration. However the major centrist party, the

(UDF), began to lose importance after UDF leader

Valéry Giscard Valery () is a male given name and occasional surname. It is derived from the Latin name ''Valerius''. The Slavic languages, Slavic given name Valeriy or Valeri is prevalent in Russia and derives directly from the Latin. Given name * Valery Afana ...

was defeated by

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

in the 1981 presidential election and as the Gaullist

Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic ( ; RPR ) was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaul ...

(RPR) become more pro-European during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2002, the RPR suggested a merger with the UDF but then–UDF leader Francois Bayrou refused. The RPR itself merged with smaller parties in 2002 to become the

(UMP). At the same time, the UDF served as a junior partner for the UMP and supported UMP governments. UMP prime ministers usually appointed several UDF politicians to their governments to cement that support. In 2005, Bayrou became increasingly critical of the UMP government and ended his support of the Gaullist party in 2006. In the 2007 elections that followed, most UDF deputies running for reelection ran with the UMP in order to gain UMP support and ensure their prospects of reelection. The remains of the UDF renamed itself the New Centre and succeeded in electing 22 deputies to the National Assembly. Bayrou opposed the alliance with the UMP and formed a new party, the Democratic Movement (MoDem). During the legislative elections in June 2007, 17 NC deputies were elected, in addition to five unaffiliated deputies elected under the "Majorité Présidentielle" banner. Only three MoDem deputies were elected, even though they won 7.6% of the first round vote and the NC-PSLE won about 2.3%. However, fewer than one hundred NC candidates were standing, compared to over 500 for the MoDem. Minister of Defense Hervé Morin was elected by the first round in

Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.François Sauvadet, Charles de Courson were also elected by the first round. In total, six NC-PSLE members were elected by round one. In the second round, 11 additional deputies were elected, giving the party a total of 17 deputies. With other deputies elected under various banners, the party formed a parliamentary group of 22 members, including MoDem candidates Jean-Christophe Lagarde.

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

MoDem deputy Abdoulatifou Aly joined the group before defecting back to the MoDem. In a 2008 by-election in the Rhone, the party gained a seat after the UMP incumbent's election was invalidated. In his second cabinet, the Prime Minister François Fillon appointed three NC members Hervé Morin as Defense Minister, André Santini as State Secretary for Public Servants and Valérie Létard as State Secretary for Social Solidarity. The party held its foundation congress in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

in 2008, where Hervé Morin was elected president of the party. In the

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

and

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

elections held in 2008, the party held most if its seats, but lost

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

and

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

to the PS. It did gain, however, the cities of

Agen Agen (, , ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485. Geography The city of Agen l ...

and Châtellerault. It lost the department of the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

but gained the

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

, where François Sauvadet was elected as departmental president. In the 2009 European elections the party joined the presidential majority alliance and three NC members were elected as MEPs. In May–June 2011 the party joined the Alliance with the Radical Party, as an alternative to the UMP.http://www.partiradical.net/images/stories/evenement/invitationlancementdelalliance.pdf

Ideology

The Centrists' political ideas are in large part inspired by those of

in his 2007 presidential campaign. It supports a

social market economy The social market economy (SOME; ), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system with social policies and enough re ...

, which seeks to find a compromise between

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and

laissez-faire capitalism ''Laissez-faire'' ( , from , ) is a type of economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or regulations). As a system of thought, ''laissez-faire' ...

. In this regard, it supports

social welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...

and a competitive market economy. It also supports a looser application of the French 35-hour workweek, a reduction in the

payroll tax Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees. They are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the ...

, a French equivalent to the American

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...

and a reduction of the

government debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occu ...

and more budgetary regulation. The Centrists supports a diversification of energy sources to cut by four

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

by 2050. In this regard, it supports the development of

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

and further development of fluvial and railway transportation of goods and people. It supports a greater role for the French Parliament and some in the party favour the introduction of a German-style

mixed member proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces p ...

(MMP) system for parliamentary elections. Like many French centrist parties descended from the centrist

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

ideals, it is strongly Europhilic and supports increased European control over the economy, environment, immigration, energy and research.

Elected officials

*Ministers: Maurice Leroy *Deputies: Jean-Pierre Abelin, Thierry Benoit ( AC), Christian Blanc, Pascal Brindeau, Hervé de Charette, Charles de Courson, Stéphane Demilly, Jean Dionis du Séjour, Raymond Durand, Philippe Folliot (AC), Francis Hillmeyer, Michel Hunault, Olivier Jardé, Yvan Lachaud, Jean-Christophe Lagarde, Claude Leteurtre, Hervé Morin, Nicolas Perruchot, Jean-Luc Préel, François Rochebloine, Rudy Salles, André Santini, François Sauvadet, Francis Vercamer, Philippe Vigier *Senators: Jean-Paul Amoudry, Claude Biwer, Jean Boyer,

Daniel Dubois Daniel Dubois (born 6 September 1997) is a British professional boxer. He has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title ( Regular ver ...

, Jean-Léonce Dupont, Hervé Maurey, Catherine Morin-Desailly, Jean-Jacques Pignard, Yves Pozzo di Borgo, André Villiers *MEPs:

Damien Abad Damien Abad (; born 5 April 1980) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the Borne government, government of Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2022. Abad previously served as Member of ...

, Sophie Briard-Auconie, Jean-Marie Cavada (AC)

Leaders

Popular support

It is hard to pinpoint the geographic distribution of the LC's vote since most of its candidates run without UMP opposition. The party is strong institutionally in the

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...

, where it holds two of the department's three seats and the presidency of the general council.

Departmental Council

National Assembly

European Parliament

Financing

In order to obtain public financing, The Centrists have signed a convention with Fetia Api, a very small party in

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. 23 parliamentarians (18 of the French National Assembly and 5 from the Senate) declared they belong to Fetia Api for this reason.

References

External links

Official website
{{French centrist parties 2007 establishments in France Centrist parties in France Centre-right parties in Europe Conservative liberal parties Liberal parties in France Political parties established in 2007 The Centrists