Alain Juppé

Alain Juppé
Prime Minister of France
In office
17 May 1995 – 2 June 1997
President Jacques Chirac
Preceded by Édouard Balladur
Succeeded by Lionel Jospin
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
In office
27 February 2011 – 15 May 2012
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister François Fillon
Preceded by Michèle Alliot-Marie
Succeeded by Laurent Fabius
In office
29 March 1993 – 18 May 1995
President François Mitterrand
Prime Minister Édouard Balladur
Preceded by Roland Dumas
Succeeded by Hervé de Charette
Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs
In office
14 November 2010 – 27 February 2011
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister François Fillon
Preceded by Hervé Morin (Defence)
Succeeded by Gérard Longuet
Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development
In office
18 May 2007 – 18 June 2007
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister François Fillon
Preceded by Nelly Olin (Environment)
Succeeded by Jean-Louis Borloo (Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Sea)
Mayor of Bordeaux
Assumed office
8 October 2006
Preceded by Hugues Martin
In office
19 June 1995 – 13 December 2004
Preceded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Succeeded by Hugues Martin
Government Spokesperson
In office
20 March 1986 – 10 May 1988
President François Mitterrand
Prime Minister Jacques Chirac
Preceded by Georgina Dufoix
Succeeded by Claude Évin
Minister of the Budget
In office
20 March 1986 – 10 May 1988
President François Mitterrand
Prime Minister Jacques Chirac
Preceded by Henri Emmanuelli
Succeeded by Pierre Bérégovoy
Personal details
Born Alain Marie Juppé
(1945-08-15) 15 August 1945
Mont-de-Marsan, France
Political party RPR (Before 2002)
UMP (2002–2015)
Les Républicains (2015-present)
Spouse(s) Christine Leblond (1965–1993)
Isabelle Legrand-Bodin (1993–)
Children Laurent
Marion
Clara
Alma mater ENS
IEP de Paris
ENA
Religion Roman Catholicism

Alain Marie Juppé (French: [alɛ̃ ʒype]; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician.

He was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralyzed the country, and became very unpopular. He left office after the victory of the left in the snap 1997 elections. He had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995, and as Minister of the Budget and Spokesman for the Government from 1986 to 1988. He was President of the political party Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) from 2002 to 2004 and mayor of Bordeaux from 1995 to 2004.

In December 2004, Juppé was convicted of mishandling public funds. His political career was subsequently suspended until he was re-elected as Mayor of Bordeaux in October 2006, a position he retains as of 2015. He served briefly as Minister of State for Ecology and Sustainable Development in 2007, but resigned in June 2007 after failing in his bid to be re-elected in the 2007 legislative election. He was Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012.

Early life

Alain Juppé was born in the commune of Mont-de-Marsan in the department of Landes in south-west France.

Political career

First steps in politics and government (1976-1995)

Alain Juppé's profession, outside politics, is Inspector of Finances, a position from which he was on leave to hold his various elected and appointed offices. He retired from the Inspection of Finances on 1 January 2003.[2]

As a senior civil servant, he met Jacques Chirac at the end of the 1970s and became his adviser in the city council of Paris. In 1981, he was selected to be one the first Young Leaders of the French-American Foundation.[3] He was minister of budget and spokesperson of Jacques Chirac's government from 1986 to 1988. Then, he was secretary general of the Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République or RPR) political party from 1988 to 1995. In 1993, he was made Édouard Balladur's Foreign Minister.

In August 2008, he was named in a Rwandan government report on the alleged French connection in the Rwanda genocide during his tenure as Foreign Minister.[4]

Prime Minister (1995-1997)

Because he supported Jacques Chirac against Edouard Balladur during the 1995 presidential campaign, he succeeded him as Prime Minister, also becoming president of the RPR. Jacques Chirac claimed Alain Juppé was "the best among us".

However, in November/December 1995, his plan for Welfare State reform caused the biggest social conflict since May 68 and, under duress, abandoned it. He became the most unpopular Prime minister of the Fifth Republic (challenged only by Édith Cresson). In spring 1997, President Chirac dissolved the National Assembly but lost the legislative election. Alain Juppé was succeeded by the Socialist Lionel Jospin. Furthermore, Juppé left the leadership of the RPR.

He campaigned for the unification of all the parties of the centre right behind Jacques Chirac. In this, he was considered the architect of the Union for the Presidential Majority which became the Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire or UMP), and was its first president from 2002 to 2004.

As a member of the National Assembly (as representative of Paris from 1986 to 1997, then representative of Gironde), he was elected Mayor of Bordeaux in 1995, succeeding former Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

Criminal conviction (1999-2006)

In 2004, Alain Juppé was tried for the felony of abuse of public funds, when he was head of the RPR and the RPR illegally used personnel provided by the City of Paris for running its operations. He was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month suspended jail sentence, the deprivation of civic rights for five years, and the deprivation of the right to run for political office for 10 years. He appealed the decision, whereby his disqualification from holding elected office was reduced to one year and the suspended sentence cut to 14 months. He announced he would not appeal the ruling before the Court of Cassation. (See Corruption scandals in the Paris region) As a consequence, Alain Juppé resigned his mayorship of Bordeaux and his position of head of the Bordeaux urban community.

The court commented:

It is regrettable that at the time when the legislative body became aware of the need to end criminal practices which existed for the financing of political parties, Mr Juppé did not apply to his own party the very rules that he had voted for in Parliament.
It is equally regrettable that Mr Juppé, whose intellectual qualities are unanimously recognized, did not judge appropriate to assume before Justice his entire criminal responsibility and kept on denying established facts.
However, Mr Juppé has given himself for many years to the service of the State, while he did obtain no personal enrichment from these crimes he committed for the benefit of his political party, for which he should not be a scapegoat.[5]

Some commentators, such as Jean-Marc Ayrault, head of the National Assembly group of the Socialist Party, have argued that Juppé, in this judicial group, paid for a wider responsibility than his own.[6]

Some law professors argued that the Versailles court could not legally exempt Juppé from a disposition of the Electoral Code article L7,[7][8] which bars any person sentenced for illegal taking of interests from being on an electoral roll for a period of 5 years, also preventing that person from running for office. Another disposition of the Electoral Code[9] specifies that any person deprived of the right to be on an electoral roll for a certain period following a judicial sentence is deprived of the right of running for the French National Assembly for double that period, which would bar Juppé for 10 years. When Alain Juppé registered again as a voter, other voters sued to have his registration cancelled; however, the Bordeaux court of small claims ruled against them.[10] Some of the plaintiffs declared they would appeal the decision before the Court of Cassation. Another possible issue is that should Alain Juppé be elected to national office, the Constitutional Council could cancel the election on grounds that Juppé was illegally registered as a voter. President Jacques Chirac could have used his right of pardon in favor of Juppé, but this would have probably been politically disastrous. (Le Canard Enchaîné, 22 December 2004).

Juppé considered giving classes on public administration at a variety of prominent United States and Quebec universities and colleges, including the UQÀM in Montreal, some of which were initially receptive to having a former prime minister be a member of their faculty. However, following Juppé's conviction, his appointment was contested by some teachers.[11] Juppé was finally taken in by the École nationale d'administration publique in Montreal where he served as a full-time faculty member for the academic year 2005–2006.

Come back in politics (2006-2012)

Juppé was re-elected as Mayor of Bordeaux in October 2006, suggesting that voters had forgiven him for the conviction.

In May 2007, he was appointed Minister of State, Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development in the Government of François Fillon, being in fact the number two of the Government in protocolar order. This is the third time in the history of Fifth Republic (after Michel Debré and Laurent Fabius) that a former Prime Minister returned as a Minister in another government (although some Presidents of the Council of the Fourth Republic were Ministers of the Fifth Republic).

Juppé ran unsuccessfully in the 2007 legislative elections, and as a consequence announced his resignation from the government.[12] Prime Minister Fillon had announced that all ministers that chose to run in these elections and were beaten would have to leave the government, for it meant that these ministers did not enjoy the confidence of the people.[13]

On 9 March 2008, Juppé was reelected as Mayor of Bordeaux, winning 56% of the popular vote in the first round.[14]

Presidential ambition (2012-present)

Juppé has announced his intention to contest the 2016 Republicans (formerly UMP) internal election which will decide who will be the candidate of the right-wing for the 2017 presidential election. The most popular politician in France, he is described by The Daily Telegraph as "a consensual conservative seen as less divisive than Nicolas Sarkozy".[15][16]

Political positions

In March 2009, he criticized Pope Benedict XVI over his comments that condoms will only worsen the AIDS crisis, saying that as a Christian, he felt that such declarations were totally unacceptable.[17] He was also awarded on behalf of the Republic of Armenia the Mesrob Mashdots Medal for his service in strengthening and deepening the cooperation between the governments of Armenia and France.[18]

In 2011, interviewed on the public television channel France 2, Mr Juppé strongly advocated for the creation of a European federation to respond to the euro crisis.[19]

List of terms

Governmental functions

Prime Minister : 1995–1997.

Minister of Budget and government spokesman : 1986–1988.

Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1993–1995.

Minister of ecology, Development and sustainable Planning : May–June 2007.

Minister of State, Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs : 2010–2011.

Minister of State, minister of Foreign and European Affairs : 2011–2012.

Electoral mandates

European Parliament

Member of European Parliament : 1984–1986 (Became minister in 1986) / June–October 1989 (Resignation).

National Assembly of France

Member of the National Assembly of France for Paris (18th constituency) : Elected in March 1986 (Became minister in March 1986) / 1988–1993 (Became minister in 1993). Elected in 1986, reelected in 1988, 1993.

Member of the National Assembly of France for Gironde (2nd constituency) : 1997–2004 (Resignation, involved in judicial affairs in 2004). Reelected in 2002.

Regional Council

Regional councillor of Ile-de-France : March–April 1992 (Resignation).

Municipal Council

Mayor of Bordeaux : 1995–2004 (Resignation, involved in judicial affairs in 2004) / Since 2006. Reelected in 2001, 2006, 2008, 2014.

Municipal councillor of Bordeaux : 1995–2004 (Resignation, involved in judicial affairs in 2004) / Since 2006. Reelected in 2001, 2006, 2008.

Deputy-mayor of Paris XVIIIe : 1983–1995. Reelected in 1989.

Councillor of Paris : 1983–1995. Reelected in 1989.

Urban community Council

President of the Urban Community of Bordeaux : 1995–2004 (Resignation, involved in judicial affairs in 2004) / Since 2014. Reelected in 2001, 2014.

Vice-president of the Urban Community of Bordeaux : 2006-2014. Reelected in 2008.

Member of the Urban Community of Bordeaux : 1995–2004 (Resignation, involved in judicial affairs in 2004) / Since 2006. Reelected in 2001, 2006, 2008, 2014.

Political functions

President of the Rally for the Republic : 1994–1997.

President of the Union for a Popular Movement : 2002–2004 (Involved in judicial affairs in 2004).

Juppé's first cabinet, 18 May – 7 November 1995

Changes

Juppé's second cabinet, 7 November 1995 – 4 June 1997

References

  1. ↑ http://www.frenchamerican.org/youngleadersclasses
  2. ↑ Decision from the Minister of Economy, finances and industry of 13 November 2002, admitting Alain Juppé into retirement.
  3. ↑ "Young Leaders". French-American Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  4. ↑ Le Rwanda menace de poursuivre Balladur, Juppé, Védrine et Villepin – L'EXPRESS. Lexpress.fr. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Info et Actualité en direct – Toutes les actualités et infos – TF1 News. News.tf1.fr. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  6. ↑ Info et Actualité en direct – Toutes les actualités et infos – TF1 News. News.tf1.fr. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  7. ↑ (French) Détail d'un code. Legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  8. ↑ (French) Détail d'un article de code. Legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  9. ↑ article LO130
  10. ↑ Huit électeurs déboutés concernant l'inéligibilité d'Alain Juppé at the Wayback Machine (archived October 17, 2005)
  11. ↑ Le Canard Enchaîné, 16 February 2005
  12. ↑ Reuters, Alain Juppé battu annonce sa démission du gouvernement, 17 June 2007
  13. ↑ François Fillon précise le calendrier des réformes, Les Échos, 23 May 2005
  14. ↑ "Bordeaux : un triomphe pour Alain Juppé", Les Echos, 10 March 2008
  15. ↑ "Ex-PM Juppé announces bid for 2017". France24. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Marion Maréchal-Le Pen: the new wonder-girl of France's far-right". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  17. ↑ Pour Alain Juppé, le pape "vit dans une situation d'autisme total". LeMonde.fr. Retrieved on 9 April 2011.
  18. ↑ Alain Juppé Awarded Mesrop Mashtots Medal. Hetq.am/eng. Retrieved on 7 October 2011.
  19. ↑ http://www.eurointelligence.com/eurointelligence-news/archive/single-view/article/greek-forecasts-spook-the-world.html, 3 October 2011.

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Political offices
Preceded by
Roland Dumas		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1993–1995 		Succeeded by
Hervé de Charette
Preceded by
Édouard Balladur		 Prime Minister of France
1995–1997 		Succeeded by
Lionel Jospin
Preceded by
Nelly Olin
as Minister of the Environment		 Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development
2007 		Succeeded by
Jean-Louis Borloo
as Minister of Ecology, Energy,
Sustainable Development and Sea
Preceded by
Hervé Morin
as Minister of Defence		 Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
Gérard Longuet
Preceded by
Michèle Alliot-Marie		 Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
2011–2012 		Succeeded by
Laurent Fabius
Party political offices
Preceded by
Jacques Chirac		 President of Rally for the Republic
1994–1997 		Succeeded by
Philippe Séguin
New office President of Union for a Popular Movement
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
Jean-Claude Gaudin
Acting
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