Richard Ferrand

Richard Ferrand
Minister of Territorial Cohesion
In office
17 May 2017 – 19 June 2017
Prime Minister Édouard Philippe
Preceded by Emmanuelle Cosse
General Secretary of La République En Marche!
Assumed office
1 October 2016
President Emmanuel Macron
Catherine Barbaroux (Acting)
Preceded by Ludovic Chaker
Member of the National Assembly
for Finistère's 6th constituency
Assumed office
19 June 2012
Preceded by Christian Ménard
Personal details
Born (1962-07-01) 1 July 1962
Rodez, France
Political party Socialist Party (1980–2017)
La République En Marche (2016–present)
Alma mater University of Toulouse
University of Paris

Richard Ferrand (born 1 July 1962) is a French politician. He serves as a member of the National Assembly for Finistère and a departmental councillor for Finistère and as a regional councillor for the Brittany Region.[1] A longtime Socialist, he was the General Secretary of La République En Marche! from its foundation, and became leader of the REM group of the National Assembly in June 2017.

Early political career

Richard Ferrard joined the Socialist Party (PS) in 1980 and was elected as the councillor in the township of Carhaix-Plouguer in 1998 as his first elected office. In the municipal elections in 2001 and 2008, Ferrand lost in both times, obtaining 31% of the vote in 2008.[2]

In the 2010 regional elections, he was one of the PS nominees for the Finistère department. He became councillor for the region on 21 March 2010 and has since chaired the socialist and related group.[3]

In 2007, Ferrand ran for Finistère's 6th constituency under the PS banner. He lost to Christian Ménard who achieved 50.19% of the vote.[4] In 2012, Ferrand ran in the same constituency for PS where he got 32.2% of the vote in the first round and then 58.3% of the vote in the second round.[5]

National Assembly

In the National Assembly, Ferrand was a member of the SER (Socialist, Ecologist and Republican) group and sits on the Social Affairs Committee. He has never worked in the agricultural or agri-food sector, but is co-chairman of the agricultural and agro-food industries group. He particularly involves himself in social issues and the use of cheaper labour than currently available.

While on the Social Affairs Committee, Ferrand was an EU-appointed rapporteur on resolutions around workers and the use of cheaper European labor.[6] In his report, he stated that European workers feel detached due to the lack of social cohesion and the use of cheaper labour to replace them. He advocates measures to limit the replacement of workers.

Despite Ferrand's opposition to the Bonnets Rouges movement against the recent eco-tax, which was started by the Fillon government and further expanded upon by the Ayrault government,[7] he took a stand against the expansions, saying they underline the complexity of the tax system. He supports amendments to the eco-tax. After there was a postponement of the eco-tax, Ferrand and other Breton politicians asked Minister of Energy, Ségolène Royal to rethink the tax plan.[8]

On 3 October 2014, the Prime Minister Manuel Valls appointed him along with the minister of economy, Emmanuel Macron to work on a plan to reform regulations based around labour. He was tasked with looking at the "legal framework that restricts labour from developing" while paying attention to the different situations from many different regions.[9] After consulting many trade unions, experts and other associations, he submitted the report that stresses that reforming the regulated labor market is needed but "reform, don't break, this includes twenty-eight proposals that are aimed particularly at promoting young people's access to the job market."[10]

This reform was eventually put to the National Assembly where it was amended by the members of the assembly which resulted in the "Act for Growth, Activity and Equal Opportunity" or the Macron law which was lobbied against by unions and other organizations.[11]

Ferrand was then appointed as the general rapporteur, one of the biggest reforms within the first five years of President Hollande's term with over 300 articles and sectors such as: transport, savings, labor courts, housings and qualified professions being reformed. More than one hundred and eleven hours went into debate in the National Assembly over the reform. The text was eventually adopted including measures that were originally not there but added during parliamentary debate such as: Letting commercial stores open on Sundays, liberalization of transport services and encouraging qualified professions to allow young people into the profession.

General Secretary of En Marche!

On 16 October 2016, Ferrand was appointed General Secretary of En Marche! by Emmanuel Macron, someone he worked with heavily when he was the minister for Economy.[12] The following month, Ferrand resigned from leading the PS group in the regional council for Finistère,[13] and confirmed that he quit the PS on 9 May 2017.[14]

Leader of the REM group in the National Assembly

On 24 June 2017, it was announced that Ferrand was officially elected leader of La République En Marche! group in the National Assembly with 306 votes and 2 abstentions.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "M. Richard Ferrand". National Assembly. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  2. ↑ l'Intérieur, Ministère de. "Résultats des élections municipales 2008" (in French). Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "Élections régionales. Les socialistes victorieux dans le Finistère". Ouest-France.fr (in French). Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  4. ↑ l'Intérieur, Ministère de. "Résultats des élections législatives 2007" (in French). Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  5. ↑ nationale, Assemblée. "Finistère - 6e circonscription - Résultats". www.elections-legislatives.fr (in French). Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "N° 1175 - Rapport de M. Richard Ferrand sur la proposition de résolution européenne de M. Gilles Savary, Mme Chantal Guittet et M. Michel Piron, rapporteur de la commission des affaires européennes sur la proposition de directive relative à l'exécution de la directive sur le détachement de travailleurs (n°1088)". www.assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Je partage la position de Pierre Maille, Président du Conseil général du Finistère – Richard Ferrand". www.richardferrand.fr (in French). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "Écotaxe. Des députés PS bretons demandent une mise à plat du dispositif". Le Telegramme (in French). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Lettre Mission" (PDF).
  10. ↑ "Remise du rapport sur les professions réglementées". Le portail des ministères économiques et financiers (in French). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  11. ↑ Bissuel, Bertrand (28 January 2015). "Le lobbying " sans précédent " des notaires contre la loi Macron". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  12. ↑ Pietralunga, Cédric (26 October 2016). "Emmanuel Macron nomme ses " ambassadeurs "". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  13. ↑ archive.wikiwix.com, Wikiwix's cache http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=http://www.rennes.lemensuel.com/actualite/article/2016/11/21/le-macroniste-richard-ferrand-pousse-a-la-demission-de-la-presidence-du-groupe-ps-a-la-region.html. Retrieved 2 May 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ Ludwig Gallet (9 May 2017). "Législatives: Richard Ferrand, secrétaire général d'En Marche, a quitté le PS". L'Express. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  15. ↑ http://www.france24.com/en/20170624-france-ferrand-former-minister-macron-lawmakers-french-parliament-lrem
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