What is Union for a Popular Movement?
The '''Union for a Popular Movement''' ([[French language|French]]: ''Union pour un Mouvement Populaire'', UMP), was the main [[France|French]] centre-right [[political party]]. It was formed in 2002. On 30 May 2015, it was replaced by [[The Republicans (France)|The Republicans]]. The party had an absolute majority in the [[French National Assembly|National Assembly]] but lost its majority in the [[French Senate|Senate]] in September 2011. The UMP is a member of the [[European People's Party]] (EPP), of the [[Christian Democrat International]] (CDI) and of the [[International Democrat Union]] (IDU). == History == Since the [[1980s]], the political groups of the parliamentary right joined forces around the values of economic liberalism and the building of Europe. Their rivalries had contributed to their [[French legislative election, 1981|1981]] and [[French legislative election, 1988|1988]] electoral defeats. Therefore, some politicians were in favour of the formation of a confederation, a party. UMP was founded from the merger of the Gaullist-conservative [[Rally for the Republic]] (''Rassemblement pour la République'', RPR), the conservative-liberal [[Liberal Democracy (France)|Liberal Democracy]] (''Démocratie Libérale'', DL), and a part of the centrist [[Union for French Democracy]] (''Union pour la Démocratie Française'', UDF). Many Christian Democrats (such as [[Philippe Douste-Blazy]] and [[Jacques Barrot]]), the social-liberal [[Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party|Radical Party]] and the centrist [[Popular Party for French Democracy]] (both associate parties to UDF until 2002) joined the party. The party was thus born out of the meeting of four major French political traditions: [[Gaullism]], [[Liberalism]] (Republicanism), [[Christian Democracy]] (Popularism) and [[Radicalism (historical)|Radicalism]]. The UMP generally supported the policies of President [[Jacques Chirac]]. However, in [[2004]], the party showed increasing signs of independence. The unpopularity with the electorate of J