Gérard Larcher

Gérard Larcher
President of the French Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 October 2014
President François Hollande
Preceded by Jean-Pierre Bel
In office
1 October 2008 – 1 October 2011
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Preceded by Christian Poncelet
Succeeded by Jean-Pierre Bel
Senator of Yvelines
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 October 2007
In office
2 October 1985 – 30 April 2004
Personal details
Born 14 September 1949
Flers, Orne, France
Political party UMP
Spouse(s) Christine Weiss
Children 3

Gérard Larcher (born 14 September 1949) is a French politician who has been President of the Senate of France since 2014. He previously served in the same post from 2008 to 2011. A member of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement, he was a Senator for the Yvelines département from 1986 to 2004 and has been again since 2007.

Biography

Early life

Gérard Larcher was born in Flers, Orne to a Catholic family. He is the son of Philippe Larcher, director of a textile factory and former mayor of Saint-Michel-des-Andaines, a small town in the Orne.

Upon his second marriage with Christine Weiss, a dentist, he converted to Protestantism. From this union were born three children : Aymeric, Dorothée and Charlotte.

Graduated from the National Veterinary School of Lyon (ENVL), Larcher worked from 1974 to 1979 in the France team of equestrian sports.

Political career

Local mandates

In 1976, he joined, as a high school student, the movement of young Gaullists, because he admired Charles de Gaulle and approve the policy of the founder of the Fifth Republic.

In 1983, he was elected Mayor of Rambouillet, in Yvelines. Two years later, he was elected regional councilor of Ile-de-France.

On 28 September 1986, for the first time, Gérard Larcher was elected Senator of Yvelines for the Rally for the Republic (RPR). Aged 37, is one of the youngest French senators. Appointed secretary of the Senate in 1989, he was re-elected Senator in 1995 and elected Vice President of the Senate in 1997. In 2001, he was appointed Président of the Economic Affairs Commission.

Government minister

In March 2004, after the defeat of the right in regional elections, Gérard Larcher was appointed Delegate Minister to the Minister of Social Affairs, in the thir cabinet of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He retains his place in the government in June 2005, after the appointment of Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister. Larcher has good relations with the social partners, that meets regularly during minister's mandate.

In May 2007, the new President, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested he enter the government of François Fillon as Minister of Agriculture, but Gérard Larcher refuses and prefers to find his senatorial office. In the following months, he prepares his candidacy for President of the Senate, for succeed to Christian Poncelet. On 31 July 2008, he declared candidate for the UMP primary to elect the President of the Senate, against former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. On 24 September, he was appointed UMP candidate for the Presidency of the Senate by 78 votes against 56 votes for Raffarin and 17 votes for Senator Philippe Marini.

President of the Senate

Gérard Larcher was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2008 receiving 173 votes against 134 votes for Socialist candidate Jean-Pierre Bel.[1]

The left won a Senate majority in the September 2011 Senate election, and Jean-Pierre Bel was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2011. He received 179 votes against 134 votes for Larcher, who was the right's candidate; a centrist, Valerie Letard, received 29 votes.[2]

After the victory of the right in September 2014 Senate elections, Larcher was again nominated for the post of President of the Senate by members of the UMP group, and he was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2014.

Political career

Governmental function

Senate mandates

Senate of France

Regional Council

Municipal Council

References

  1. ↑ "Séance du 1er octobre 2008 (compte rendu intégral des débats)", Senate website (French).
  2. ↑ Fabio Benedetti-Valentini, "French Senate Elects Jean-Pierre Bel First Socialist President", Bloomberg, 2 October 2011.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Christian Poncelet		 President of the French Senate
2008-2011 		Succeeded by
Jean-Pierre Bel
Preceded by
Jean-Pierre Bel		 President of the French Senate
2014-present 		Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Manuel Valls
as Prime Minister		 Order of precedence of France
as President of the Senate 		Succeeded by
Claude Bartolone
as President of the National Assembly