Jean-Pierre Chevènement
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| Jean-Pierre Chevènement | |
 Jean-Pierre Chevènement |
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Mayor of Belfort, 1983-1997, 2001-2007
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| Born | 9 March 1939 Belfort, France |
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| Political party | Citizen and Republican Movement |
Jean-Pierre Chevènement (born 9 March 1939 in Belfort) is a French politician.
The Chevènement family is of Swiss origin. Their original name – Schwennemann [1] – had been gallicized to Chevènement by the 18th century.
Chevènement is on the political left, and somewhat nationalist, which he describes as "republican"; he is a Eurosceptic. He has been Mayor of Belfort since 1983 and was a Deputy in the National Assembly from 1973 to 2002.
Chevènement joined the French Section of Workers' International (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière or SFIO) and founded the Center of Socialist Studies, Research and Education (Centre d'études, de recherche et d'éducation socialistes or CERES). The organization constituted the left wing of the SFIO, and promoted the alliance with the Communist Party.
In 1969 the SFIO was superseded by the Socialist Party (Parti socialiste or PS). Two years later, CERES supported the takeover of the party by François Mitterrand. It took a major part in drawing up the socialist plan for the winning 1981 elections.
Chevènement was Minister of Research and Industry from 1981 to 1983, when he resigned because he did not agree with the change in economic policy made by President Mitterrand in order to stay in the European Monetary System. However, he returned to the cabinet as Minister of National Education from 1984 to 1986.
Appointed Minister of Defence in 1988, he served until 1991, when he resigned due to his opposition to the Gulf War. After this he voted against the Maastricht Treaty, an issue on which Mitterrand and the PS led the "yes" campaign. In 1993 he left the PS and founded a new political party: the Citizens' Movement (Mouvement des citoyens or MDC).
In 1997 he became Minister of the Interior, but he resigned for the third time in 2000 because of his opposition to the conciliatory policy of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin towards the Corsican nationalists.
He was a candidate at the 2002 presidential election. He put himself forward as the leader of the "republicans" against what he called the "Chirac/Jospin duo". He created the Republican Pole, which brought together left-wing and right-wing politicians. He won 5% of the vote. Lionel Jospin accused him to be responsible for his elimination in the first round of the presidential race. Consequently, at the June 2002 legislative election, the PS invested a candidate against him in the Belfort constituency. In this, he was defeated by the UMP candidate and lost his parliamentary seat.
Finally, the Republican Pole split and Chevènement created the Citizen and Republican Movement (Mouvement républicain et citoyen or MRC), which described itself as a left-wing party. Isolated in the political arena, he reconciled with the PS when, after to have evoke a new presidential candidacy, he renounced to support Ségolène Royal's candidacy at the 2007 presidential election. In spite of the PS support, he failed to reconquer his parliamentary seat at the 2007 legislative election. He announced he will not candidate for another term as Mayor of Belfort.
On 2 September 1998 Chevènement underwent surgery to his gall bladder. He then had a severe allergic reaction to the anesthetic, causing him to lapse into a coma for 8 days. He began to recover, leaving the hospital on October 22, but he could not work in his ministry for another four months. He subsequently described himself as a "miracle of the Republic", giving rise to his occasional nickname of the "Republican miracle".
In 2004 he established the Foundation "Res Publica", which aims to promote the 'republican model' (le modèle républicain) and to define a long-term political vision. Chevènement states, however, that Res Publica is not a political party.
| Preceded by André Giraud |
Minister of Defence 1988-1991 |
Succeeded by Pierre Joxe |
| Preceded by Jean-Louis Debré |
Minister of the Interior 1997-2000 |
Succeeded by Daniel Vaillant |
