European Democratic and Social Rally

The European Democratic and Social Rally (French: Rassemblement démocratique et social européen, RDSE) is a social-liberalparliamentary group representing the Radical tradition in the French Senate.

In the Chamber of Deputies of France during the French Third Republic, the Democratic Left was formed in 1905 by moderate republicans who were members of the centrist to centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance (ARD).

The group was established in 1892 under the name of Democratic Left and since 1901 it consisted basically of the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (Rad.) and it is thus the oldest political group in the Senate.

In 1989 the group changed its denomination to European Democratic Rally, in 1995 it changed again to the current one. The group was led by Jacques Pelletier, a Radical, from 1982 to 1988 and then from 1998 to his death in 2007. He was replaced by Pierre Lafitte, a Radical too, who was defeated in the 2008 election. Since 2008 the group has been led by Yvon Collin, a member of the Radical Party of the Left (PRG).

Historical members of the party include Arthur Ranc, Émile Combes, Georges Clemenceau, Paul Doumer, Gaston Doumergue, Édouard Herriot, Henri Queuille, Gaston Monnerville, François Mitterrand, Edgar Faure, Jean-Pierre Fourcade and Jean François-Poncet. Between 1946 and 1964 François Mitterrand, at the time member of the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), was a leading member of the Rally of Left Republicans (RGR), the alliance between the Radicals and UDSR.

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