Michèle Alliot-Marie
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Michèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie (born 10 September 1946) is the French Minister of Defence, and the first woman to lead a major French political party.
Born in Villeneuve-le-Roi in the Val-de-Marne, her father was Bernard Marie, the Mayor of Biarritz. Before her career in politics, she was a senior lecturer at the University of Paris I, and also spent some time practicing law. She holds a doctorate of law, a doctorate in political science and Master's degree in ethnology.
Before her entry into national politics, she was a municipal councillor in the town of Ciboure from 1983 to 1988, and for the town of Biarritz 1989 to 1992. She was elected to the National Assembly to represent Pyrénées-Atlantiques in 1986 as a member of the gaullist RPR. From 1989 to 1992 she was also a Member of the European Parliament. From 1992 to 2002, she served as Mayor of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
Jacques Chirac appointed her a Secretary of State, i.e. a junior minister working under the Minister of National Education from 1986 to 1988. She served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports under Édouard Balladur from 1993 to 1995. In 1999 she was elected, to most insiders' surprise, as the president of the RPR by a landslide, and became the first woman to lead a French political party. She remained president of the party until 2002 when it merged with the UMP, a merger she opposed at first. Since 2002 she has been Minister of Defense, France's first woman in this position. From May until June 2002, she was also the Minister of Veterans' Affairs.
Alliot-Marie ruled herself out of the running for President of France in the 2007 election in January, 2007. She endorsed Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2006, Forbes magazine declared her the 57th most powerful woman in the world.
She is nicknamed MAM. Her life partner is Patrick Ollier, a UMP MP.
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| Preceded by Frédérique Bredin |
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports 1993-1995 |
Succeeded by Guy Drut |
| Preceded by Nicolas Sarkozy |
President of Rally for the Republic 1999–2002 |
Succeeded by None. Party merged within Union for a Popular Movement |
| Preceded by Alain Richard |
Minister of Defence 2002 – present |
Incumbent |
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