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
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
including representatives of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(PS).
History
The first
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 ...
of socialists in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
of the Third Republic was formed following the 1927 senatorial elections with a total of 14 members, after the election of 2 socialists in the 1921 renewal and the 1924 renewal bringing the total to 6 senators. Before the formal constitution of a group in the Senate, the elected socialists sat with the Democratic, Radical, and Radical-Socialist Left group. Though initially disorganized, the senators of the group recognized themselves under the common label of "socialist".Camille Reboul presided over the group from its foundation, and was later succeeded in this position by
André Morizet
André Morizet (26 January 1876 – 30 March 1942) was a French politician. He served as a member of the Senate (France), French Senate from 1927 to 1942, representing Seine (department), Seine.
Works
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References
1876 births
19 ...
. Tensions within the group led to the dissent of seven "neo-socialists" in 1933, halving the size of the group; however, the impact of this split was ultimately limited as the
SFIO
The C programming language provides many standard library functions for file input and output. These functions make up the bulk of the C standard library header . The functionality descends from a "portable I/O package" written by Mike Lesk at ...
was able to ensure the survival of the socialist group in the Senate. The group remained roughly the same in size through the end of the Third Republic, with 16 members after the renewals of both
1929
This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
and
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
; it subsequently adopted the appellation of the SFIO in 1934, was reduced to 13 members after the 1935 renewal, and rebounded to 15 senators after the 1938 renewal.
During the Fourth Republic, a socialist group was formed in the Council of the Republic, with 64 seats following senatorial elections on 8 December 1946, and 62 seats following senatorial elections on 7 November 1948, doing better than its tripartite partners as a result of its good local implantation. The group subsequently maintained 56 seats following senatorial elections on 18 May 1952, 56 seats following senatorial elections on 19 June 1955, and 60 seats following senatorial elections on 8 June 1958.
Antoine Courrière was the first president of the socialist group in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
of the Fifth Republic, presiding until his death on 20 September 1974. Following senatorial elections two days later,Marcel Champeix was elected president of the group on 2 October. After his defeat on 28 September 1980, Champeix was replaced by
André Méric
André Méric (14 August 191314 August 1993) . was a French politician who was
Secretary of State in the government, and was succeeded by Claude Estier, who was elected president of the group on the same day. After Estier decided not to represent himself in the 2004 renewal, he was succeeded by
Jean-Pierre Bel
Jean-Pierre Bel (born 30 December 1951) is a French retired politician who served as President of the Senate from 2011 to 2014 (the sole non-right-wing in the Fifth Republic). From the Ariège department, Bel is a member of the Socialist Party ...
, elected by the socialists in a four-way contest on 28 September.
Bel remained president of the group until 30 September 2011, after which he took office as
president of the Senate
President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...
on 1 October; the left, long a minority a Senate, took control of the high chamber for the first time in the history of the republic after the 2011 renewal, with the number of
Europe Ecology – The Greens
The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...
senators swinging from 4 to 10 and the continuation of the communist group. With Bel at the perch, François Rebsamen was elected president of the group on 1 October, and on 25 September, the group was reformed as the Socialist group, associated and attached Europe Ecology The Greens group (''groupe socialiste, apparentés et groupe Europe Écologie Les Verts rattaché''); after the formation of an independent ecologist group on 11 January 2012, the socialist faction was renamed to the socialist and associated group (''groupe socialiste et apparentés''). After Rebsamen was appointed to the government, he left his seat in the Senate on 14 April 2014, and was succeeded by
Didier Guillaume
Didier Guillaume (; 11 May 1959 – 17 January 2025) was a French politician who briefly served as minister of state of Monaco from 2024 until his death in 2025. He previously served as the minister of agriculture and food in the government of ...
the following day. The left's control of the Senate was ephemeral, with the chamber decisively returning to the control of the right after the 2014 renewal. Following the renaming of the UMP to as the Republicans, its associated group in the Senate was also renamed on 2 June, followed soon thereafter on 10 June by the renaming of the socialist group to the Socialist and Republican group (''groupe socialiste et républicain''). On 27 June 2017, 23 socialists left for the La République En Marche group on the day of its foundation. After the retirement of Guillaume from politics,
Patrick Kanner
Patrick Kanner (; born 29 April 1957) is a French politician serving as president of the Socialist and Republican group, Socialist group and Leader of the Opposition in the French Senate, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (France), Senate sin ...
was elected president of the group with 47 votes, against Laurence Rossignol with 25 votes, on 23 January 2018.