National Centre of Independents and Peasants
Centre national des indépendants et paysans |
|
---|---|
President | Gilles Bourdouleix |
Founder | René Coty |
Founded | 6 January 1949 | (as CNI)
Merger of | Democratic Alliance, Republican Party of Liberty |
Headquarters | 6, rue Quentin Bauchart 75008 Paris |
Youth wing | Youngs Independents and Peasants |
Ideology |
Civic nationalism Ordoliberalism Traditionalism Agrarianism |
Political position | Right-wing |
International affiliation | None |
Colours | Blue, white, red (French Tricolour) |
National Assembly |
1 / 577
|
Senate |
0 / 348
|
European Parliament |
0 / 74
|
Regional Councils |
0 / 17
|
Departmental Councils |
0 / 101
|
Website | |
www |
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The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans, CNIP or CNI) is a liberal-conservative and conservative-liberal political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (the heir of the French Republican conservative-liberal tradition, many party members came from the Democratic Republican Alliance) with the Peasant Party and the Republican Party of Liberty.
It played a major role during the Fourth Republic (before 1958), since the Fifth Republic, its importance has decreased significantly. The party has mostly run as a minor ally of bigger centre-right parties. The CNI and its predecessors have been classical liberal and economically liberal parties opposed to the dirigisme of the left, centre and Gaullist right.
The CNI was founded in January 1949 with the aim of uniting centre-right and right-wing parliamentarians, dispersed between a plethora of parties such as the Republican Party of Liberty and other modérés (moderates). It adopted its current name in 1951 after it merged with Paul Antier's small Peasant Party.
As the leading right-wing during the Fourth Republic, it won around 14% of the vote in 1951 and 1956 and participated in Third Force government coalitions, taking a major role in governments at the beginning of the 1950s. Antoine Pinay, its most popular figure, was Prime Minister in 1952, followed by Joseph Laniel from 1953-1954. René Coty, a CNIP parliamentarian, was elected President of France in 1953. The party's power declined after the Dien Bien Phu military disaster in Indochina in 1954, and it remained in opposition for most of the last two years of the Fourth Republic after the 1956 elections.