Independent Republicans
|
Independent Republicans
Républicains Indépendants |
|
|---|---|
| President | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Dissolved | 1977 |
| Split from | National Centre of Independents and Peasants |
| Succeeded by | Republican Party |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
The Independent Republicans (French: Républicains Indépendants, RI) were a liberal-conservative political group in France founded in 1962, which became a political party in 1966 known as the National Federation of the Independent Republicans (Fédération nationale des républicains et indépendants, FNRI). Its leader was Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
In 1977 it became the Republican Party which joined the Union for French Democracy (UDF) the following year. Eventually, through Liberal Democracy, the Republicans joined the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in 2002.
The Independent Republicans came from the liberal-conservative National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP). In 1962, the CNIP chose to leave Charles de Gaulle's coalition due to his Euroscepticism and the presidentialisation of the regime. But, the CNIP ministers refused to leave the cabinet and the "presidential majority". Under the leadership of the Minister of Economy and Finances Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, they created the group of the Independent Republicans. It was the small partner of the Gaullists which tried to influence the executive's policy in favour of economic liberalism and European federalism.
The relation with the Gaullists tensed when Giscard was dismissed from the cabinet in 1966. The group became a political party, the National Federation of the Independent Republicans (FNRI), directed by the general secretary Michel Poniatowski. Giscard defined the Independent Republicans as "liberal, centrist and pro-European". It stood in the parliamentary majority, but chosen a critical attitude. Giscard summed up his opinion about the Gaullist policy by a "yes, but...".
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