Union for a Popular Movement instance of political party
The Union for a Popular Movement (French: Union pour un mouvement populaire, French pronunciation: ​[ynjɔ̃ puʁ œ̃ muvmɑ̃ pɔpylɛʁ]; UMP, French pronunciation: ​[y.ɛmpe]) was a centre-right political party in France belonging to the Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was one of the two major parties in French politics along with the Socialist Party (PS). The UMP was formed in 2002 as a merger of several centre-right parties under the leadership of President Jacques Chirac. In May 2015, the party was succeeded by The Republicans.Nicolas Sarkozy, then the president of the UMP, was elected President of France in the 2007 French presidential election, until he was later defeated by PS candidate François Hollande in the 2012 presidential election. After the November 2012 party congress, the UMP experienced internal fractioning and was plagued by monetary scandals which forced its president, Jean-François Copé, to resign. After Sarkozy's re-election as UMP president in November 2014, he put forward an amendment to change the name of the party to The Republicans, which was approved and came into effect on 30 May 2015.The UMP enjoyed an absolute majority in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2012, and was a member of the European People's Party (EPP), the Centrist Democrat International (CDI) and the International Democrat Union (IDU).Name change and dissolution
After the election of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France (2007–2012), as president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in November 2014, he put forward a request to the party's general committee to change its name to the Republicans as well as the statutes of the party. With the name already chosen Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, vice president of the UMP, presented Nicolas Sarkozy and the party's political bureau a project of new statutes. The proposed statutes provided for, among others, the election of the presidents of the departmental federations by direct suffrage, the end of the political currents and consulting members on election nominations.Critics of Sarkozy claimed it was illegal for him to name the party "Republicans" because every French person is a republican in that they support the values and ideals of the French Republic that emanated from the French Revolution, and as such the term is above party politics. The new name was adopted by the bureau on 5 May 2015 and approved by the party membership on 28 May by an online yes vote of 83.28% on a 45.74% participation after a court ruling in favor of Sarkozy. Similarly the new party statutes are adopted by 96.34% of voters and the composition of the new party's political bureau by 94.77%.
The Republicans thus became the legal successor of the UMP as the leading centre-right party in France.Ideology and platform
The UMP was a party of the centre-right belonging to the Gaullist lineage, and was variously described as liberal-conservative, conservative, conservative-liberal, and Christian democratic.The UMP believed that each individual's destiny must be unencumbered and it rejects political systems which "stifle economic freedom". It said that work, merit, innovation and personal initiative must be encouraged to reduce unemployment and boost economic growth; but at the same time, it maintained that adherence to the rule of law and the authority of the state is necessary. In a Gaullist tradition, the UMP supported solidarity, with the state guaranteeing social protection of less fortunate individuals. But in a more liberal vein, the party always denounced l'assistanat, a French term which can refer to "welfare handouts".
The party took more nationalist positions at times, and often adopted tough stances against immigration and illegal immigration. It strongly supported the integration and assimilation of immigrants into French society and always denounced communitarianism as a danger to the French nation-state. However, the UMP traditionally was a strong proponent of European integration and the European Union, albeit sometimes with a hint of traditional Gaullist souverainism.Under Nicolas Sarkozy's leadership, the UMP adopted a liberal and security-oriented platform. His platform in the 2007 and 2012 presidential elections emphasised the ideas of personal responsibility and individual initiative. He developed the idea of "working more to earn more", promising that overtime hours would not be taxed and employers exonerated from non-wage labour costs. Under his presidency, the government's short-lived tax cap for high-income earners was denounced by the left but also several centrist and centre-right politicians within or outside the UMP.
Having gained his popularity as a 'hardliner' Interior minister, Sarkozy's policies also carried a strong law-and-order and tough on crime orientation. He supported tougher sentences for criminals and repeat offenders. As candidate and President, he placed heavy emphasis on immigration and national identity, presenting immigration as a danger to French identity and as source of increased criminality. As President, he imposed stricter limits on family reunification, created a Ministry of Immigration, and National Identity for three years between 2007 and 2010, launched a controversial national dialogue on national identity and expelled thousands of Roma from illegal camps.Critics of the right-wing government denounced what they felt was a rapprochement with the controversial far-right National Front (FN). While several members of the UMP's right-wing have indicated that they would favour local alliances with the FN and prefer to vote for a FN candidate over a Socialist Party or left-wing candidate in runoff elections between the left and the FN; the party's official position continues to reject alliances with the FN at any level but also opposes so-called "republican fronts" with the left against the FN.
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