Origins, objectives… What is the purpose of the summer universities of French political parties?

A true tradition of French political life, franceinfo explains the history of summer universities, while the Socialist Party has just launched its own, in Blois.

The Socialist Party has just launched its edition in Blois, Thursday August 29, that of France Insoumise took place from August 22 to 25, the deputies of the former presidential majority will gather, on September 10 and 11 in Yvelines. It is an essential step at the start of each school year: the summer universities organized by the political parties. A tradition that dates back to 1975, in Montpellier, with the summer universities of the “young Giscardians” (Valery Giscard-d’Estaing was elected president a year earlier).

It was also one of his sons who led this gathering of barely 400 young people, who wanted to learn how to become “real” activists, through round tables and workshops. Members of the government also participated: Secretary of State Jean-Pierre Soisson gave his advice to the younger generation at the time.

Very gradually, the other political parties organized their summer universities in turn. The RPR, in 1982, then the Socialist Party in 1988, and the Communist Party, even later, in 1998. In the early years, these meetings kept a “young activists” theme, but things evolved little by little. The summer universities gained importance, with rituals: we were most often at the seaside. For example, the socialists settled for years in La Rochelle. The number of participants exploded with several thousand people and this sequence increasingly took the form of a political comeback for the different parties.

This is when the political bigwigs arrive in force. They take off their ties, their white shirts are more or less widely open on a tan worked on during the summer, but the issues of apparatus are regularly at the heart of the summer universities. For the UMP, in 2005, in La Baule, it is the Villepin-Sarkozy confrontation: Dominique de Villepin is filmed coming out of the ocean and running on the beach, while Nicolas Sarkozy waits for him on the terrace, face closed to have a coffee.

On the left, we can also remember the gloomy atmosphere of the summer universities in La Rochelle at the end of August 2014. The PS rebels were then opposed to President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls. A few days earlier, Arnaud Montebourg had denounced the government’s economic policy at the Fête de la Rose in Frangy-en-Bresse. The Minister of the Economy then provoked a government crisis and left his post. Emmanuel Macron took his place. Ten years ago, the socialists were already divided during their summer university.