European Democratic and Social Rally
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The European Democratic and Social Rally (Rassemblement démocratique et social européen, RDSE) is a parliamentary group in the French Senate.
It 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. Between 1946 and 1964 the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR) was a member. In 1989 the group changed its denomination, taking 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.
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. François Mitterrand was a leading member of the Rally of Republican Lefts, the alliance between the Radicals and his UDSR, from 1946 to 1965.
[edit] Composition
The group currently is a bipartisan outfit, comprising:
- the Radical Party of the Left (close ally of the Socialist Party) – 7 senators
- the Radical Party (associated to the Union for a Popular Movement) – 4 senators
- the Movement for France (right-wing ally of the Union for a Popular Movement) – 1 senator
- United Guadaloupe, Socialism and Realities (a social-democratic party close to the Socialist Party) – 1 senator
- Democratic Forces of Guiana (a social-democratic party of the Modern Left, close to the Union for a Popular Movement) – 1 senator
- right-wing independends (Divers droite) – 2 senators
Before joining the group of the Union for a Popular Movement in 2002, three more senators of the Radical Party were members of RDSE, while a centrist senator of the Union for French Democracy joined briefly the group from 2001 to 2002. Two more senators of the Movement for France sit in the Senate without being members of any group.
As French politics is becoming increasingly a two-party system, this heterogeneous group is a sort of anachronism. Moreover, differently from other political groups, RDSE is characterized by no party discipline as its members have freedom of vote.
[edit] Denominations
- Democratic Left (Gauche démocratique), 1892–1907
- Radical and Radical-Socialist Left (Gauche démocratique radicale et radicale-socialiste), 1907–1949
- Rally of Republican Lefts and the Democratic Left (Rassemblement des Gauches Républicaines et de la Gauche Démocratique), 1949–1952
- Democratic Left and Rally of Republican Lefts (Gauche démocratique et du Rassemblement des gauches républicaines), 1952–1956
- Democratic Left (Gauche démocratique), 1956–1989
- European Democratic Rally (Rassemblement démocratique européen), 1989–1995
- European Democratic and Social Rally (Rassemblement démocratique et social européen), 1995–...
