Gérard Larcher
Gérard Larcher | |
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President of the French Senate | |
Assumed office 1 October 2014 |
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President | François Hollande |
Preceded by | Jean-Pierre Bel |
In office 1 October 2008 – 1 October 2011 |
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President | Nicolas Sarkozy |
Preceded by | Christian Poncelet |
Succeeded by | Jean-Pierre Bel |
Senator of Yvelines | |
Assumed office 1 October 2007 |
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In office 2 October 1985 – 30 April 2004 |
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Personal details | |
Born | Flers, Orne, France |
14 September 1949
Political party | The Republicans |
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 The Republicans, he was a Senator for the Yvelines département from 1986 to 2004 and has been again since 2007.
Contents
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 supported 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, he was one of the youngest French senators. Appointed Secretary of the Senate in 1989, he was re-elected as a Senator in 1995 and elected as Vice President of the Senate in 1997. In 2001, he was appointed as President of the Senate's 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 cabinet of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He retained his place in the government in June 2005, after the appointment of Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister.
In May 2007, the new President, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested he enter the government of François Fillon as Minister of Agriculture, but Gérard Larcher declined and preferred to sit in the Senate. In the following months, he prepared his candidacy for President of the Senate, to succeed Christian Poncelet. On 31 July 2008, he was declared a candidate for the UMP primary to elect the President of the Senate, against former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. On 24 September, he was elected as the UMP's candidate for the Presidency of the Senate with 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
- Delegate Minister for Labor Relations : 2004-2005
- Delegate Minister for Employment, Labor and for Employability of young : 2005-2007
Senate mandates
Senate of France
- Senator of Yvelines : 1986-2004
- Vice President of the Senate : 1997-2001
- Président of the Economic Affairs Commission in the Senate : 2001-2004
- Senator of Yvelines : 2004
- Senator of Yvelines : Since 2007
- President of the Senate of France : 2008-2011
- President of the Senate of France : Since 2014
Regional Council
- Regional councillor of Île-de-France : 1985-1992
Municipal Council
- Municipal councillor of Rambouillet : Since 1983
- Mayor of Rambouillet : 1983-2004
- Deputy Mayor of Rambouillet : 2004-2007
- Mayor of Rambouillet : 2007-2014
References
- ↑ "Séance du 1er octobre 2008 (compte rendu intégral des débats)", Senate website (French).
- ↑ Fabio Benedetti-Valentini, "French Senate Elects Jean-Pierre Bel First Socialist President", Bloomberg, 2 October 2011.
External links
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | President of the French Senate 2008-2011 |
Succeeded by Jean-Pierre Bel |
Preceded by | President of the French Senate 2014-present |
Incumbent |
Order of precedence | ||
Preceded by as Prime Minister | Order of precedence of France as President of the Senate |
Succeeded by Claude Bartolone as President of the National Assembly |
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- Articles with French-language external links
- 1949 births
- People from Orne
- French Lutherans
- Rally for the Republic politicians
- Union for a Popular Movement politicians
- Gaullism, a way forward for France
- Government ministers of France
- Presidents of the Senate (France)
- French Senators of the Fifth Republic
- Mayors of places in France
- Converts to Lutheranism from Roman Catholicism
- Living people