Union for a Popular Movement

Infobox French Political Party
party_name = Union pour un Mouvement Populaire
party_
party_wikicolourid = UMP
leader = Collegial leadership composed of Patrick Devedjian, Jean-Claude Gaudin, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Pierre Méhaignerie
foundation = November 17, 2002
ideology = Liberal conservatism [ [http://www.parties-and-elections.de/france.html Parties and Elections in Europe ] ] , Gaullism, Christian democracy, Liberalism
european = European People's Party
europarl = European People's Party - European Democrats
international = Centrist Democrat International, International Democrat Union
président = Nicolas Sarkozy
colours = Blue, Red
headquarters = 55, rue La Boétie
75384 Paris Cedex 08
website = [http://www.u-m-p.org www.u-m-p.org]
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The Union for a Popular Movement ("Union pour un Mouvement Populaire", UMP) is a centre-right French political party.

Founded in 2002, the party has an absolute majority in the National Assembly and a plurality in the Senate. Its candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of France in 2007. The UMP is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI) and of the International Democrat Union (IDU).

History

Premises

Since the 1980s, the political groups of the parliamentary right joined forces around the values of economic liberalism and the building of Europe. Their rivalries had contributed to their defeat in the 1981 and 1988 elections. Some politicians advocated the formation of a united right-wing party. Before the 1993 legislative election, the Gaullist-conservative Rally for the Republic (RPR) and the centrist Union for French Democracy (UDF) formed an electoral alliance, the Union for France. But it was divided between the followers of Jacques Chirac and the supporters of Edouard Balladur. After their defeat in the 1997 legislative election, the right-wing parties created the Alliance for France.

Foundation

Before the 2002 presidential campaign, the supporters of President Chirac who were divided in three right-wing parliamentary parties, founded an association, named Union on the Move ("Union en mouvement") [http://www.france-politique.fr/histoire-ump.htm France politique - chronologie UMP] ] . After Chirac's re-election, in order to prepare the legislative election, the Union for the Presidential Majority ("Union pour la majorité présidentielle") was created. It was re-named Union for a Popular Movement some months later, establishing the UMP as a permanent organization rather than simply as the umbrella organization for Jacques Chirac's supporters. The UMP was founded as a merger of the Gaullist-conservative Rally for the Republic (RPR), the conservative-liberal Liberal Democracy (DL), a sizeable portion of the centrist Union for French Democracy (UDF), more precisely the UDF's Christian Democrats (such as Philippe Douste-Blazy and Jacques Barrot), the social-liberal Radical Party and the centrist Popular Party for French Democracy (both associate parties of the UDF until 2002).

The party was thus born out of the meeting of four major French political traditions: Gaullism, Liberalism (also known as "Republicanism" in France), Christian Democracy ("Popularism") and Radicalism.

As indicated by its initial name, the UMP generally supported the policies of President Jacques Chirac. However, in 2004, the party showed increasing signs of independence. The unpopularity with the electorate of Jacques Chirac and Jean-Pierre Raffarin's government led most members of the UMP to support Nicolas Sarkozy, a rival of Chirac. The party also publicly disapproved of Turkey's proposed membership in the European Union, which Chirac had previously endorsed several times publicly.

Nicolas Sarkozy

The first president of the UMP, Alain Juppé, a close associate of Jacques Chirac, resigned on 15 July 2004 after being convicted of political corruption in January of the same year. On 29 November 2004, Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he would officially take over the presidency of the UMP and resign his position as finance minister, ending months of speculation.

In the 2004 French regional elections the UMP suffered a heavy blow, winning the presidencies of only 2 out of 22 regions in Metropolitan France and only half of the departments (the right had previously won numerous departmental presidencies). The failure of the referendum on the European Constitution of 25 May 2005 led to the fall of the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin and to the formation of a new cabinet, presided by another UMP politician, Dominique de Villepin.

On 22 April 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy won the plurality of votes in the first round of the 2007 presidential election. In the second round he faced Socialist Candidate Ségolène Royal. On May 6, 2007 he won the presidential election, garnering 53.06% of the vote. As a consequence, he resigned from the presidency of the UMP on 14 May 2007, two days before becoming President of the French Republic. On 17 June, in the legislative election, UMP again gained a majority in the National Assembly with 313 out of 577 seats, though it was less than expected following opinion polls and lost about 40 to 60 seats.

In the municipal and cantonal elections held in March 2008, the party suffered a blow, as a result of the unpopularity of Nicolas Sarkozy. It lost numerous cities, such as Toulouse and Strasbourg and also lost 8 departmental presidencies to the left.

Factions

*Liberal Conservatives (conservatives, liberal-conservatives, conservative-liberals): Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean-Claude Gaudin, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Édouard Balladur, Dominique Bussereau, Michel Barnier, Dominique Perben, Jean-François Mattei, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Charles Millon, Alain Lamassoure, Brice Hortefeux, François Baroin, Rachida Dati, Joseph Daul, Rama Yade, Bernard Accoyer, Margie Sudre, Marie-Hélène Descamps

*The Reformers (classical liberals, libertarians ): Hervé Novelli, Gérard Longuet, Alain Madelin, Patrick Devedjian, Philippe Cochet, Jean-Pierre Soisson, Jean-Pierre Gorges, Claude Goasguen, Pierre Lellouche, Luc Chatel, Louis Giscard d'Estaing, Jean-Jacques Descamps

*Democratic and Popular (christian democrats, centrists): Philippe Douste-Blazy, Pierre Méhaignerie, Adrien Zeller, Jacques Barrot, Nicole Fontaine, Pierre-André Wiltzer, Marc-Philippe Daubresse, Alain Joyandet, Antoine Herth

*Neo-Gaullistes (rightish Gaullistes, secular-minded conservatives): Jacques Chirac, Dominique de Villepin, Alain Juppé, Jean-Louis Debré, Michèle Alliot-Marie, Patrick Ollier, François Baroin, Jean Tiberi, Xavier Bertrand, Xavier Darcos, Valérie Pécresse, Christine Albanel, Éric Wœrth, Roger Karoutchi, Josselin de Rohan, Adrien Gouteyron, Yves Jego

*Social-Gaullistes (leftish Gaullistes, social-democrats): François Fillon, Roselyne Bachelot, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Hamlaoui Mekachera, Philippe Dechartre, Jean Mattéoli, Bernard Reygrobellet, Yves Guéna, Alain Terrenoire, Jean Peyrelevade

*Radicals and Centrists (social-liberals): André Rossinot, François Loos, Jean-Louis Borloo, Renaud Dutreil, Serge Lepeltier

*Democratic Convention (centrists, christian-democrats, liberals): Hervé de Charette

*The Free Right (conservative liberals, libertarians, souverainists): Rachid Kaci, Alexandre Del Valle, Étienne Blanc, François d'Aubert

*Forum of Social Republicans (social-conservatives, christian-democrats): Christine Boutin, Jean-Frédéric Poisson, Charles de Champeaux

*National Centre of Independents (conservative-liberals, national-conservatives, souverainists): Philippe Dominati, Christian Vanneste

*Rally for France (national-conservatives, souverainists): Charles Pasqua, Lionnel Luca, Jacques Myard, Jean-Jacques Guillet, Philippe Pemezec

*Blue Ecologie (centrist-ecologists): Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Patrice Hernu

Associate parties

The Radical Party (whose members are divided between UMP and UDF [ [http://www.france-politique.fr/histoire-parti-radical.htm France politique - chronologie Parti Radical] ] ), the Forum of Social Republicans, Arise the Republic, the National Centre of Independents, the Rally for France and Blue Ecologie are associate parties to UMP.

Major officeholders

* Nicolas Sarkozy (President of the Republic)
* François Fillon (Prime Minister)
* Bernard Accoyer (President of the National Assembly)
* Christian Poncelet (President of Senate)
* Jean-Louis Debré (President of the Constitutional Council)

Leadership

Presidents

*Alain Juppé (2002−2004)
*Nicolas Sarkozy (2004−2007)
*collegial leadership [In July 2007 Jean-Claude Gaudin, acting President, declared that "Nicolas Sarkozy remains, morally, President of the UMP" and the party endorsed this statement by not chosing a nominal leader as replacement for Sarkozy. The is composed of General Secretary Patrick Devedjian and Vice Presidents Jean-Claude Gaudin, Pierre Méhaignerie and Jean-Pierre Raffarin.] (2007− )

Vice Presidents

*Jean-Claude Gaudin (2002− )
*Jean-Pierre Raffarin (2007− )
*Pierre Méhaignerie (2007− )

General Secretaries

*Philippe Douste-Blazy (2002−2004)
*Pierre Méhaignerie (2004−2007)
*Patrick Devedjian (2007− )

References

ee also

*Politics of France
*List of political parties in France

External links

* [http://www.u-m-p.org Official website]