Jean-Pierre Chevènement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jean-Pierre Chevènement
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 Jean-Pierre Chevènement |
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Mayor of Belfort, 1983-1997, 2001-2007
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| Born | 9 March 1939 Belfort, France |
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| Political party | Citizen and Republican Movement |
Jean-Pierre Chevènement (born 9 March 1939[1]) is a French politician. He was Minister of Defense from 1988 to 1991 and Minister of the Interior from 1997 to 2000. He was a presidential candidate in 2002 and since 2008 has been a member of the Senate.
The Chevènement family is of Swiss origin, with their original name, Schwennemann, having been gallicized to Chevènement. Chevènement was born in Belfort near the Swiss border, speaks German, and studied in Vienna.[2]
Chevènement is on the political left, and somewhat nationalist, which he describes as "republican"; he is a Eurosceptic.[2] He has been Mayor of Belfort from 1983 to 2008 and was a Deputy in the National Assembly from 1973 to 2002.
Chevènement joined the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and founded the Center of Socialist Studies, Research and Education (Centre d'études, de recherche et d'éducation socialistes or CERES). The organization constituted the left wing of the party, and promoted the alliance with the Communist Party.
In 1969 the SFIO was superseded by the Socialist Party (Parti socialiste or PS). Two years later, CERES supported the takeover of the party by François Mitterrand. It took a major part in drawing up the socialist plan for the winning 1981 elections.
Chevènement was Minister of Research and Industry from 1981 to 1983, when he resigned, for the first of three times over his career, because he did not agree with the change in economic policy made by President Mitterrand in order to stay in the European Monetary System.[3] He has said that "a minister has to keep his mouth shut; if he wants to open it, he resigns".[4] However, he returned to the cabinet as Minister of National Education from 1984 to 1986.[5]
Appointed Minister of Defence in 1988, he served until 1991, when he resigned due to his opposition to the Gulf War.[3] After this he opposed the Maastricht Treaty, an issue on which Mitterrand and the PS led the "yes" campaign.[6] In 1993 he left the PS and founded a new political party: the Citizens' Movement (Mouvement des citoyens or MDC).
Chevènement and the MDC participated to the formation of the Plural Left coalition. When it won the 1997 legislative election he became Minister of the Interior, but he resigned for the third time in 2000 because of his opposition to giving increased autonomy to Corsica.[3]
On 2 September 1998, Chevènement underwent surgery to his gall bladder. He then had a severe allergic reaction to the anesthetic, causing him to lapse into a coma for 8 days.[7][8] He began to recover, leaving the hospital on 22 October, but he could not work in his ministry for another four months.[9] As a result of this episode he gained the nickname "the miracle of the republic".[3]
He was a candidate at the 2002 presidential election. He put himself forward as the leader of the "republicans" against what he called the "Chirac/Jospin duo". He created the Republican Pole, for more left wing nationalists.[10] He won 5% of the vote.[11] Many Socialists blamed Chevènement for being responsible for the elimination of Lionel Jospin in the first round of the presidential race.[12] Consequently, at the June 2002 legislative election, the PS invested a candidate against him in the Belfort constituency. In this, he was defeated by the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidate and lost his parliamentary seat.
Finally, the Republican Pole split and Chevènement created the Citizen and Republican Movement (Mouvement républicain et citoyen or MRC), which described itself as a left-wing party. He reconciled with the PS when, after raising the possibility of a new presidential candidacy, he renounced this to support Ségolène Royal's candidacy in the 2007 presidential election.[12] In spite of the PS support, he failed to retake his parliamentary seat at the 2007 legislative election. He announced that he would not stand as a candidate for another term as Mayor of Belfort.
In 2004 he established the Foundation "Res Publica", which aims to promote the 'republican model' (le modèle républicain) and to define a long-term political vision. Chevènement states, however, that Res Publica is not a political party.
In the Senate election held on 21 September 2008, Chevènement was elected as a Senator from the Territory of Belfort,[1] defeating his opponent, Socialist candidate Yves Ackerman.
[edit] References
- ^ a b List of Senators re-elected in 2008 (PDF file), Senate website (French).
- ^ a b Laughland, John (2001-11-17). "The conservative socialist". The Spectator. p. 16.
- ^ a b c d "Campaigning In France, An Old Hand Is a Wild Card". The New York Times. 2002-04-14. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/world/campaigning-in-france-an-old-hand-is-a-wild-card.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1. Retrieved on 2009-04-16.
- ^ "Minister quits in Corsica protest". The Daily Telegraph. 2001-06-19. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/reunionfrance/1368231/Minister-quits-in-Corsica-protest.html. Retrieved on 2000-04-16.
- ^ Aplin, Richard; Montchamp, Joseph (1999). A Dictionary of Contemporary France. Taylor & Francis. p. 104. ISBN 1579581153. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CQ-c6BnUUcgC.
- ^ Bremner, Charles (1992-09-01). "Mitterrand `yes men' rally to the cause;French Referendum;Maastricht treaty". The Times.
- ^ "French Minister in coma". Birmingham Post. 1998-09-04. p. 9.
- ^ "French minister out of coma". The Irish Times. 1998-09-11. p. 11.
- ^ "People". The Irish Times. 1999-01-05. p. 9.
- ^ Bremner, Charles (2002-06-17). "Left out in the cold after worst defeat in decades". The Times. p. 14.
- ^ a b Wendlandt, Astrid (2006-12-11). "Royal gets boost as leftist rival quits French race". The Independent. p. 19.
| Preceded by Alain Savary |
Minister of Education 1984-1986 |
Succeeded by René Monory |
| Preceded by André Giraud |
Minister of Defence 1988-1991 |
Succeeded by Pierre Joxe |
| Preceded by Jean-Louis Debré |
Minister of the Interior 1997-2000 |
Succeeded by Daniel Vaillant |
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