Paul-Marie Coûteaux

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Paul-Marie Coûteaux
Paul-Marie Coûteaux

Paul-Marie Coûteaux (born on 31 July 1956 in Paris) is a French politician, writer, and since 1999 Member of the European Parliament for Ile-de-France with the Mouvement pour la France, Member of the Bureau of the Independence and Democracy and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.

He is a substitute for the Committee on Development and a member of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (including Libya).

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[edit] Political career

Between 1993 and 1995, Coûteaux was a technical adviser in the office of the President of the National Assembly. Between 1992 and 1993 he was a technical adviser in the office of the UN Secretary-General.

A Gaullist associated with Action française, Coûteaux directed the RPR journal Une certaine idée. In 1998, he criticized the generation of May 1968 in his essay Traité de savoir-disparaître à l'usage d'une vieille génération.

Coûteaux has advised a number of different governments, including those of Michel Jobert from 1981 through 1983, Philippe de Saint-Robert from 1984 through 1987, and Philippe Séguin in the French National Assembly from 1993 through 1996.

In 1999, he joined Charles Pasqua after the former's rupture with the RPR, and was elected to the European Parliament on the list headed by Charles Pasqua and Philippe de Villiers. Although he was a member of the Rassemblement pour la France, originally founded by Pasqua, Coûteaux eventually left this party. too. In 2001, he founded the political party Entente souverainiste, which would in 2003 become the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance et la souveraineté de la France. The party denounced the "resignation of those who have are in charge of the national interest and the common good of all Frenchmen." He now heads the souverainiste weekly L'Indépendence.

In 2004, he was reelected to the European Parliament on the list headed by Philippe de Villiers.

In 2005, he successfully campaigned for a "no" vote against the French referendum on the European Constitution. Although he called for the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to take a harder line against rioters during the 2005 civil unrest in France, Coûteaux also called for Sarkozy's resignation, arguing that the Interior Minister's policies since 2002 had replaced a policy upholding law and order with an immigration policy that overvalues Islam by proposing to directly finance mosques to give the right to vote in municipal elections to non-citizen immigrants.

See also: European Parliament election, 2004 (France)

[edit] Education

  • 1977: Graduate of the Institute of Political Studies
  • 1978: Master's degree in public law (Bordeaux
  • 1979: Postgraduate diploma in international relations
  • 1980: Graduate of the ENA (National College of Administration
  • 1982: Senior administrator, Ministry for Education
  • 1984: Head of the office of the Commissioner-General for the French language, reporting to the Prime Minister
  • 1988: Special adviser to the Africa director, Foreign Ministry
  • 1989: Special adviser in the office of the Minister for Defence
  • 1995: Visiting lecturer at the University of Paris VIII

[edit] Decorations

  • 1998: Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters

[edit] Other

  • Author of five books
  • Columnist on Valeurs Actuelles and presenter on France Culture
  • Regular guest on Philippe de Saint-Robert's show Libre Journal on Radio Courtoisie.

[edit] External links

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