Nicolas Bay
| Nicolas Bay MEP | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Nicolas Bay in Valenciennes | |
| General Secretary of the National Front | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 30 November 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Steeve Briois |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1 July 2014 | |
| Constituency | North-West France |
| Regional Councillor | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 21 March 2010 | |
| Constituency | Upper Normandy |
| Municipal Councillor | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 23 March 2014 | |
| Constituency | Elbeuf |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nicolas Bay 21 December 1977 Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Political party | National Front (1992–1999) National Republican Movement (1999–2008) National Front (2008-present) |
| Alma mater | Paris West University Nanterre La Défense |
| Occupation | Politician |
Nicolas Bay (born December 21, 1977 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines) is a French politician close to the National Front.
Biography
Bay, a business leader, was the leader of the National Front's youth wing (FNJ) in the Yvelines and Ile-de-France region.
In 1998 he founded, along with Guillaume Peltier the Youth Christian Action Association (AJAC), a movement which opposed the PACS and euthanasia. It claimed around 250 members and was close to the National Republican Movement (MNR), led by Bruno Megret.
In 1998, during the FN split, he joined Bruno Mégret's National Republican Movement, first as deputy national director of the National Movement of Youth (youth branch of the MNR) and later as responsible for elections within the party. He was one of the two MNR municipal councillors elected in Sartrouville (Yvelines) in the French municipal elections, 2001 when his list won 11.3% of the votes. He was candidate in the Yvelines' 5th constituency in the 2002 elections. In the 2004 regional election he was the MNR's top candidate in Ile-de-France, winning 1.18% of the vote. As the MNR's top candidate in the Île-de-France European constituency in the 2004 European election, he won only 0.28% of the vote. He retained his seat in the Sartrouville municipal council in the 2008 local elections, but his list won only 5.2% of the vote. As a result, he is the MNR's only local councillor in French municipalities with more than 3,000 inhabitants.
Upon Mégret's resignation from the leadership of the MNR in May 2008, Bay and his allies won leadership of the party. However, due to his increasing contacts with the FN and Marine Le Pen in particular, the party council decided to remove him from the party in September 2008. Although he is not a member of the FN, instead head of a political club ('National Convergences'), he was on the FN's list (led by Marine Le Pen) in the North-West constituency in the 2009 European election.
Despite protests from within the party, he was selected to be National Front's candidate in Haute-Normandie for the 2010 regional elections.[1]