Gilbert Collard

Gilbert Collard
Collard at the 2010 Paris Book Fair
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2019
Constituency	France
Secretary-General of the Rassemblement bleu Marine
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 September 2012
President	Marine Le Pen
Preceded by	Position established
Member of the National Assembly for Gard's 2nd constituency
In office 19 June 2012 – 1 July 2019
Preceded by	Étienne Mourrut
Succeeded by	Nicolas Meizonnet
Personal details
Born	Gilbert Georges Jean Camille René Collard (1948-02-03) 3 February 1948 Marseille, France
Political party	National Rally (since 2018)
Other political affiliations	French Section of the Workers' International (1964–1969) Socialist Party (1969–1992) Independent (1992–2017) National Front (2017–2018)
Spouse	Anne-Marie Collard (m. 1987)
Residence(s)	Gallician, Gard
Alma mater	Aix-Marseille University Panthéon-Assas University
Profession	Barrister
Website	www.gilbertcollard.fr

Gilbert Georges Jean Camille René Collard (born 3 February 1948) is a French writer, barrister and politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of the National Rally (RN), he previously was the member of the National Assembly for the second constituency of Gard from 2012 until 2019. Collard has also served as Secretary-General of the Rassemblement bleu Marine (RBM) since 2012, a right-wing political association and think-tank supporting Marine Le Pen, officially distinct from the National Rally, the political party she leads.

Biography

Early life and education

Gilbert Collard was born in Marseille. He studied law at Aix-Marseille University and Panthéon-Assas University. In his youth, he was a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and subsequent Socialist Party (PS) until 1992.

Career and first involvement in politics

Gilbert Collard speaking to the press on 22 April 2012, the day of the first round of the presidential election, as a supporter of Marine Le Pen.

Collard started his career as a barrister in Marseille in 1971. He quickly became a well-known lawyer at the national level, often speaking in the media about cases he defended. He most notably had Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Pasqua, Marine Le Pen, Valérie Bègue, as well as Paul Aussaresses as clients. In 2001, he was an independent candidate for Mayor of Vichy. He was elected to the city's council but declined the mandate.

Member of the National Assembly

Collard later moved to Gallician, a town in Gard; he was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the RBM in the 2012 legislative election, at the same time as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen in Vaucluse. He succeeded Étienne Mourrut of the Union for a Popular Movement, whom he had defeated.

Since the 2014 municipal elections, Collard has also been a councillor of Saint-Gilles, Gard. On 17 April 2017, during a Marine Le Pen rally for the upcoming presidential election, an anti-fascist disrupter threw a Molotov cocktail towards him; he sustained minor injuries amid a quick reaction by police officers. Gilbert Collard was reelected to the National Assembly in the 2017 legislative election. He officially joined the National Rally, then called National Front, later the same year.

Member of the European Parliament

Collard stood as a candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election. Following his election he resigned from the National Assembly.