The Centrists

The Centrists – New Centre
Les Centristes
LeaderHervé Morin
FounderHervé Morin
Founded29 May 2007 (as New Centre)
11 December 2016 (as The Centrists)
Split fromUnion for French Democracy
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
National affiliationUDI (2012–2017)
UDC (2017–present)
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
Colours  Light blue
National Assembly
2 / 577
Senate
8 / 348
European Parliament
0 / 81
Presidency of Regional Councils
1 / 17
Presidency of Departmental Councils
2 / 95
Website
www.les-centristes.fr

The Centrists (French: Les Centristes, pronounced [le sɑ̃tʁist], LC), known as The Centrists – New Centre (Les Centristes – Nouveau Centre [le sɑ̃tʁist nuvo sɑ̃tʁ], LC-NC) since 2018, formerly known as New Centre (Nouveau Centre, NC) and European Social Liberal Party (Parti Social Libéral Européen [paʁti sɔsjal libeʁal øʁɔpeɛ̃], PSLE), is a centre-right political party in France formed by the members of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) – including 18 of the 29 members of the UDF in the National Assembly) – who did not agree with François Bayrou's decision to found the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and wanted to support the newly-elected president Nicolas Sarkozy, continuing the UDF–Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) alliance.

The party was founded on 29 May 2007 during a press conference and renamed on 11 December 2016.