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The European Democratic and Social Rally (French: Rassemblement démocratique et social européen, RDSE) is a social-liberal parliamentary group representing the Radical tradition in the French Senate.
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Chamber of Deputies
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).
Senate
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.
Composition
The group is currently a bipartisan outfit. As French politics is becoming increasingly close to 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 are always free to vote as they please.
Since 2008 the group, which has been predominantly Radical and centre-right in 2004–2008, has opened its doors to other parties of the left, has now a centre-left majority and is increasingly similar to other miscellaneous left-wing groups in the National Assembly.
Before joining the group of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in 2002, most senators of the Radical Party were members of RDSE, while a centrist senator of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) joined briefly the group from 2001 to 2002. Between 2008-2011, five Radical senators out of six are members of the UMP group and only one is still a member of RDSE. Since 2011, only one single UMP senator is member of RDSE.
2004–2008
In 2004–2008 RDSE was composed of 17 senators, including:
2008–2011
In 2008-2011 RDSE was composed of 18 senators, including:
Since 2011
Since 2011 RDSE has been composed of 19 senators, including:
(Left)
(Right)