France
Macron’s party renames itself Renaissance
Emmanuel Macron, President of France, in a speech in Paris. photo
© Ludovic Marin/AFP POOL/AP/dpa
The party of France’s head of state has given itself a promising-sounding name: “Renaissance”. According to its Prime Minister Borne, it is the “start of a new stage in the transformation” of the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s party has renamed itself Renaissance (in English: rebirth) and merged with two small partner parties. That was decided at a party congress on Saturday evening in Paris. The political movement founded by Macron in 2016 was previously called La République en Marche (LREM), which means “The Republic in Motion” in German.
As part of the name change, the small partners Agir and Territoire de Progrès are now being integrated into the Mitte party. The party already used the name Renaissance for its list in the 2019 European elections. Although the presidential party has a majority in the National Assembly of the French Parliament, it has not had an absolute majority since the general election in June.
“This is the start of a new stage in the transformation of our country,” said Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne at the congress. “Today we have turned a new page in our political history,” she said. With the transformation into Renaissance, the movement had “grown up”.
Borne named the fight against climate change, which requires courageous and radical decisions, and the achievement of full employment as the focal points of the newly formed party. The creation of jobs brings progress and secures the welfare state. It is also about equal opportunities: Society must become fairer and more brotherly, access to education and health care must be improved.
The Prime Minister also stressed the importance of France’s anchoring in Europe. “There is no strong France without a powerful Europe.”
According to political analysts, Macron’s renaming is less about the new party name promising a golden age and more about securing the power of his movement beyond the end of his two-term presidential term in 2027.