Patrick Kanner

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Patrick Kanner
Senator for Nord
Assumed office
1 October 2017
President of the Socialist group
in the Senate
Assumed office
23 January 2018
Preceded byDidier Guillaume
Minister of the City, Youth and Sports
In office
26 August 2014 – 10 May 2017
Prime MinisterManuel Valls
Bernard Cazeneuve
Preceded byNajat Vallaud-Belkacem
Succeeded byLaura Flessel
President of the General Council of Nord
In office
31 March 2011 – 22 September 2014
Preceded byBernard Derosier
Succeeded byDidier Manier
Personal details
Born (1957-04-29) 29 April 1957 (age 66)
Lille, France
Political partySocialist Party
Alma materLille 2 University of Health and Law

Patrick Kanner (French pronunciation: [patʁik ka.ne]; born 29 April 1957) is a French politician serving as president of the Socialist group and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate since 2018. A member of the Socialist Party, he has represented the department of Nord since 2017.[1][2] Kanner previously served as President of the General Council of Nord from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of the City, Youth and Sports from 2014 to 2017.

Early life and education[edit]

Kanner is the son of Polish Jews who fled Nazism to France. He grew up in Lille and studied at Lille 2 University of Health and Law.

Political career[edit]

Career in local politics[edit]

Kanner was elected to the municipal council of Lille in 1989. He became Mayor Pierre Mauroy's youngest adjoint the same year, a position he kept when Martine Aubry assumed the mayorship in 2001. In 1998, he was also elected to the General Council of Nord.

Career in government[edit]

Elected to the presidency of the Nord General Council in 2011, Kanner became Minister of the City, Youth and Sports in the Second Valls government, succeeding Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. He remained in office in the Cazeneuve government.

Senator for Nord[edit]

In 2017, Kanner was elected to the Senate. Following the announced retirement of Didier Guillaume, he was elected president of the Socialist group in the Senate with 47 votes, against Laurence Rossignol with 25 votes, on 23 January 2018.[3]

Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2017 primaries, Kanner endorsed Manuel Valls as the party's candidate for the presidential election later that year.[4]

In the Socialist Party's 2018 convention in Aubervilliers, Kanner publicly endorsed Stéphane Le Foll as candidate for the party's leadership.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Patrick Kanner". Government of France. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  2. ^ D. Bell; B. Criddle (18 November 2014). Exceptional Socialists: The Case of the French Socialist Party. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-137-31868-8.
  3. ^ Tristan Quinault-Maupoil (23 January 2018). "Patrick Kanner élu président du groupe PS au Sénat". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  4. ^ Grégoire Poussielgue and Pierre-Alain Furbury (15 December 2016), Primaire du PS : Valls engrange les soutiens Les Échos.
  5. ^ Pierre Lepelletier (7 March 2018), Congrès du PS : qui soutient qui ? Le Figaro.