The Centrist Union of Democrats for Progress (, UCDP) was a

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

in the

French Senate The Senate (, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' and ...

. Formed after the 1968 Senate elections, the UCDP succeeded the Popular Republicans and Democratic Centre (RPCD) group. It was composed quasi-exclusively of members of the

Centre des démocrates sociaux The Centre of Social Democrats (French: ''Centre des démocrates sociaux'', , CDS; also translated as the "Democratic and Social Centre") was a Christian-democratic and centrist political party in France. It existed from 1976 to 1995 and was base ...

(CDS), the

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 ...

component 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 ...

Alain Poher Alain Émile Louis Marie Poher (; 17 April 1909 – 9 December 1996) was a French politician who served as President of the Senate from 1968 to 1992. In this capacity, he was twice briefly acting President of France, in 1969 and 1974 following t ...

, who served twice as interim president of the Republic and long-time president of the Senate, was a member of the UCDP.

Presidents

*1968–1971:

André Colin André Colin (19 January 1910 – 29 August 1978) was a French politician. He served as a member of the National Assembly from 1945 to 1958, and as a member of the French Senate from 1959 to 1978, representing Finistère Finistère (, ; ) i ...

*1971–1974: Roger Poudonson *1974–1976:

André Fosset André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal, ...

*1976–1983: Adolphe Chauvin

References

{{France Senate Groups Centrist parties in France Parliamentary groups in France