Rachida Dati

Rachida Dati
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office July 2009
Constituency	Île-de-France
Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice
In office 18 May 2007 – 23 June 2010
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Preceded by	Pascal Clément
Succeeded by	Michèle Alliot-Marie
Personal details
Born	(1965-11-27) 27 November 1965 Saint-Rémy, Burgundy, France
Nationality	French
Political party	UMP
Children	Zohra (b. 2009)
Alma mater	University of Burgundy Pantheon-Assas University

Rachida Dati (French pronunciation: ​[ʁa.ʃi.da.da'ti]; 27 November 1965) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament, representing Île-de-France. Before her election, she held the cabinet post of Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice. She was a spokesperson for Nicolas Sarkozy during the French presidential election of 2007. After his victory, Sarkozy appointed her to his Government on 18 May 2007.

She was elected mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris on 29 March 2008.

Life and career

Dati was born in Saint-Rémy, Saône-et-Loire, to a Moroccan father, a bricklayer named Mbarek, and an Algerian mother, named Fatima-Zohra. Rachida Dati is the second child of a family of 12. She spent her childhood in Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy.^{[citation needed]}

After attending Catholic school, she began work at 16 as a paramedical assistant. She then worked for three years as an accountant at Elf Aquitaine while continuing her studies in economics and business management. She studied at the University of Dijon, then at Pantheon-Assas University.

After meeting Jean-Luc Lagardère in 1990, she entered the audit management team of Matra Nortel communication. She later spent a year in London at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in the records management and archiving department. In 1994, she was an auditing supervisor and secretary-general of the bureau of urban development studies at Suez (then Lyonnaise des Eaux). From 1995 to 1997, she worked as a technical advisor at the legal management division of the Ministry of Education.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, she was admitted to the École nationale de la magistrature, a public educational institution which offers courses necessary to become a magistrate. Upon leaving in 1999, she became a legal auditor at the Bobigny tribunal de grande instance (high court).

She went on to become judge for collective procedures at the tribunal de grande instance in Péronne and eventually an assistant to the attorney general of the Évry tribunal.

In 2002, she became Nicolas Sarkozy's advisor, working for him on an anti-delinquency project. In 2006, she joined the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. On 14 January 2007, she was named spokesperson for Sarkozy on the day he was chosen as UMP candidate for the presidential elections of April 2007.

After Sarkozy's victory on 6 May 2007, she was appointed Minister of Justice. Her rationalization of the court system was publicly opposed by judicial professionals.

On 23 January 2009 Nicolas Sarkozy announced that Dati would take the second position on the UMP candidate list for Île-de-France constituency in the European Parliament election in June 2009, to which she was elected. She left her post as minister after being elected as a European deputy.

Soon after she left the government, in summer 2009, Rachida Dati founded a consulting company called "La Bourdonnais consultant," which she had to dissolve at the beginning of 2010 to be able to resume the profession of lawyer, which she had to do by special dispensation (like other former magistrates). She sits on the editorial board of the French version of the Huffington Post, where she will write a weekly column about women's issues.

On 9 February, 2013, Rachida Dati announced she was a candidate for mayor of Paris in the 2014 local elections but she later announced her retirement because "the press had already chose Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet".

Style

Dati has been criticized by the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné for her methods—perceived as rushed and uninsightful—,and her demeanour—seen as excessively authoritarian, and for her tendency to wear excessively expensive clothes such as by designer Christian Dior.

Family

In September 2008, Dati announced that she was pregnant and would be a single mother. She revealed her pregnancy to a group of reporters who questioned her about mounting rumours. "I want to remain careful, because . . . I am still in the risky stage. I am 42", she was quoted as saying. Her daughter, Zohra, was born in early 2009. As the name of the father was not revealed, many names circulated in gossip magazines. One book claimed her father to be Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri, prosecutor general of Qatar, while other sources named Jacques Essebag, Henri Proglio, and José María Aznar.

However in 2012, Rachida Dati started legal action against Dominique Desseigne, the chief executive of Groupe Lucien Barrière, to recognise paternity. In December 2012, a French court ordered Desseigne to undergo a paternity test to see if he fathered Dati's child.

Political career

Governmental functions

Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals : 2007–2009 (Resignation, became member of European Parliament in 2009).

Electoral mandates

European Parliament

Member of European Parliament : Since 2009.

Municipal Council

Mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris : Since 2008.

Councillor of Paris : Since 2008.

Diplomas

• Maîtrise en sciences économiques (4-year French degree in economics)
• Maîtrise en droit public (public law by VAE (Validation des Acquis de l'Experience))

Controversies

On 27 September 2010 Dati was reported to have mistakenly used the word 'fellatio' in place of 'inflation' in a description of the strategies of certain investment funds. The lapsus linguae was quickly picked up and posted on YouTube. Dati later laughed off the whole episode saying she had spoken too quickly. The French word for fellatio is "fellation", which sounds similar to the word "inflation".

On 25 April 2012 Dati attended a morning TV Show called "La Matinale" on Canal+ wearing a vest showing a large cannabis leaf on the back. Promotion of illegal drugs is forbidden in France so Ms Dati could risk prosecution with Jail sentence.

External links

• (French)*Rachida Dati-Xavier Bertrand : les deux voix de Sarkozy, Libération, 18 January 2007

Political offices
Preceded by Pascal Clément	Minister of Justice 2007–2009	Succeeded by Michèle Alliot-Marie