National Republican Movement - History

History

Initially, Bruno Mégret was the chairman, with Serge Martinez vice-chairman, Jean-Yves Le Gallou, executive director and Franck Timmermans secretary-general. Other notable members of the party included Jean Haudry, Pierre Vial, Jean-Claude Bardet, Xavier Guillemot, Christian Bouchet and Maxime Brunerie. In 2000, the party had less than 5000 members, while its youth movement, the Movement National de la Jeunesse, headed by Philippe Schleiter, nephew of Robert Faurisson, had 1500 members. The student union Renouveau Etudiant had close ties with the MNR thanks to Pierre Vial. The party was initially known as the Front National-Mouvement National, but was forced to change its name to Mouvement National Républicain on October 2, 1999 after being sued by Le Pen for trademark infringement.

In 2000, via the organisation Promouvoir, the MNR sued successfully for the ban of the film Baise-moi to minors. During the 2004 campaign for the regional elections, the MNR campaigned under the "No to Islamization" slogan. In 2005, it campaigned against the proposed European Constitution and the possible integration of Turkey in the European Union; Bruno Mégret said that the Europeans, including France, were lying to the Turks by having them believe they could integrate within the EU, whereas public opinion would surely reject Turkey's membership in a referendum. As a result of MNR's low electoral results, Franck Timmermans and a few other former MNR members formed a new party in 2005, called the Parti populiste (Populist Party, PP) which tends to get closer of original Front national (Timmermans will later join Front national's cantonal campaign by representing it in Saint-Nazaire, as other candidates in Northern France on March 2008).

As the Front national organized its traditional May 1 rally in Paris, to honor the memory of Joan of Arc, his president Jean-Marie Le Pen explicitly called to a union of all patriots, in the context of the near to come French presidential election of 2007. MNR, via Bruno Mégret, asked positively to this proposition, as the scissionists of the Parti populiste. The Union des patriotes (Patriots union) get official on December 20, 2006 by a symbolic reconciliation in Le Pen Montretout's castle in Saint-Cloud, where both Le Pen and Mégret presented the initiative to the press ; gathered with their respective wives. The basic project was, for the MNR, to give a support of some 140 signatures of great electors to Jean-Marie Le Pen's presidential candidature - he needs 500. Finally MNR only succeeded to give 45.

Front national and Mouvement national républicain made parallel campaigns with their respective militants for Jean-Marie Le Pen's candidature, excepted for a major Front national's rally in Lyon on March 11, 2007 where Mégret made an apparition within the guest (however, he didn't speak at the tribune). As a result, Mégret regularly criticizes this situation, like during interventions en French television channels LCI and I>télé, where he exposes what he thinks to be Louis Aliot's (Front national general secretary), and, mostly Marine Le Pen's strategy to minimize the contribution and the efficiency of the Union des patriotes.

On March 6, 2008, Jean-Marie Le Pen claimed that the MNR was funded illegally by the UIMM, the steel industry branch of the Medef. Bruno Mégret denied these accusations, and counter-claimed that it was foolish for Jean Marie Le Pen to make such claims, as he has been already alleged to be funded by Saddam Hussein and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon. In an interview to France 2 on the same day, Le Pen precised that he had not claimed Bruno Mégret was personally receiving funds from UIMM.

Later in 2008, Bruno Mégret stepped down from party leadership and retired from political life. It is unknown whether his party will survive his departure.