François Hollande

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François Hollande
Hollande in Nantes (2012)
President of France
Assumed office
15 May 2012
Prime MinisterJean-Marc Ayrault
Preceded byNicolas Sarkozy
Co-Prince of Andorra
Assumed office
15 May 2012
Prime MinisterAntoni Martí
RepresentativeChristian Frémont
Preceded byNicolas Sarkozy
President of the General Council of Corrèze
In office
20 March 2008 – 15 May 2012
Preceded byJean-Pierre Dupont
Succeeded byGérard Bonnet (Acting)
First Secretary of the Socialist Party
In office
27 November 1997 – 27 November 2008
Preceded byLionel Jospin
Succeeded byMartine Aubry
Mayor of Tulle
In office
17 March 2001 – 17 March 2008
Preceded byRaymond-Max Aubert
Succeeded byBernard Combes
Deputy of the National Assembly
for Corrèze's 1st Constituency
In office
12 June 1997 – 15 May 2012
Preceded byRaymond-Max Aubert
Succeeded byTBD
In office
12 June 1988 – 16 May 1993
Preceded byProportional representation
Succeeded byRaymond-Max Aubert
Personal details
Born
François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande

(1954-08-12) 12 August 1954 (age 69)
Rouen, France
Political partySocialist Party
Domestic partner(s)Ségolène Royal (1978–2007)
Valérie Trierweiler
(2006 – present)
ChildrenThomas
Clémence
Julien
Flora
Alma materSchool of High Commercial Studies, Paris
Institute of Political Studies, Paris
National School of Administration, Strasbourg
Signature
Styles of
François Hollande
Reference styleSon Excellence (Monsieur)
Spoken styleMonsieur le Président
Styles of
François Hollande
Reference styleHis Serene Highness
Spoken styleYour Serene Highness

François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande a.k.a Mr. Penguin (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ɔlɑ̃d]; born 12 August 1954) is the 24th President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He previously served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008 and as a Deputy of the National Assembly of France for Corrèze's 1st Constituency from 1988 to 1993 and then again from 1997 to 2012. He also served as the Mayor of Tulle from 2001 to 2008 and the President of the General Council of Corrèze from 2008 to 2012.

He was elected President of France on 6 May 2012, defeating the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, and was inaugurated on 15 May.[1] He is the second Socialist President of the Fifth French Republic, after François Mitterrand who served from 1981 to 1995.

Early life and background

Hollande was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, to a middle-class family. His mother, Nicole Frédérique Marguerite Tribert (1927–2009), was a social worker, and his father, Georges Gustave Hollande, an ear, nose, and throat doctor who "had once run for the extreme right in local politics".[2][3][4][5][6] The surname "Hollande" is "believed to come from Calvinist ancestors who escaped Holland (the Netherlands) in the 16th century and took the name of their old country."[7] Hollande was raised Catholic but quietly rebelled against the strict religious brothers chosen by his father to educate him.[7] The family moved to Neuilly, a suburb of Paris, when Hollande was 13.[8]

Education

He attended Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle boarding school, then HEC Paris, École nationale d'administration, and the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies). He graduated from ENA in 1980.[9][10] He lived in the United States in the summer of 1974 while he was a university student.[11] Immediately after graduating, he was employed as a councillor in the Court of Audit.

Early political career

After volunteering as a student to work for François Mitterrand's ultimately unsuccessful campaign in the 1974 presidential election, Hollande joined the Socialist Party five years later. He was quickly spotted by Jacques Attali, a senior adviser to Mitterrand, who arranged for Hollande to stand for election to the French National Assembly in 1981 in Corrèze against future President Jacques Chirac, who was then the Leader of the Rally for the Republic, a Neo-Gaullist party. Hollande lost to Chirac in the first round, although he would go on to become a Special Adviser to the newly-elected President Mitterrand, before serving as a staffer for Max Gallo, the government's spokesman. After becoming a Municipal Councillor for Ussel in 1983, he contested Corrèze for a second time in 1988, this time being elected to the National Assembly. Hollande lost his bid for re-election to the National Assembly in the so-called "blue wave" of the 1993 election, described as such due to the number of seats gained by the Right at the expense of the Socialist Party.

First Secretary of the Socialist Party

As the end of Mitterrand's term in office approached, the Socialist Party was torn by a struggle of internal factions, each seeking to influence the direction of the party. Hollande pleaded for reconciliation and for the party to unite behind Jacques Delors, the President of the European Commission, but Delors renounced his ambitions to run for the French Presidency in 1995, leading to Lionel Jospin's resuming his earlier position as the leader of the party. Jospin selected Hollande to become the official party spokesman, and Hollande went on to contest Corrèze once again in 1997, successfully returning to the National Assembly. That same year, Jospin became the Prime Minister of France, and Hollande won the election for his successor as First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, a position he would hold for eleven years. Because of the very strong position of the Socialist Party within the French Government during this period, Hollande's position led some to refer to him the "Vice Prime Minister". Hollande would go on to be elected the Mayor of Tulle in 2001, an office he would hold for the next seven years.

The immediate resignation of Jospin from politics following his shock defeat by far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round of the 2002 presidential election forced Hollande to become the public face of the party for the 2002 legislative election but, although he managed to limit defeats and was re-elected in his own constituency, the Socialists lost nationally. In order to prepare for the 2003 Party Congress in Dijon, he obtained the support of many notable personalities of the party and was re-elected First Secretary against opposition from left-wing factions. After the triumph of the Left in the 2004 regional elections, Hollande was cited as a potential presidential candidate, but the Socialists were divided on the European Constitution, and Hollande's support for the ill-fated "yes" position in the French referendum on the European Constitution caused friction within the party. Although Hollande was re-elected as First Secretary at the Le Mans Congress in 2005, his authority over the party began to decline from this point onwards. Eventually his domestic partner, Ségolène Royal, was chosen to represent the Socialist Party in the 2007 presidential election, where she would lose to Nicolas Sarkozy. Hollande was widely blamed for the poor performances of the Socialist Party in the 2007 elections, and he announced that he would not seek another term as First Secretary. Hollande publicly declared his support for Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, although it was Martine Aubry who would go on to win the race to succeed him in 2008.

Following his resignation as First Secretary, Hollande was immediately elected to replace Jean-Pierre Dupont as the President of the General Council of Corrèze in April 2008, a position he holds to this day. In 2008 he supported the creation of the first European Prize for Local History (Étienne Baluze Prize), founded by the "Société des Amis du musée du cloître" of Tulle, on the suggestion of the French historian Jean Boutier. François Hollande awarded the first prize on 29 February 2008 to the Italian historian Beatrice Palmero in the General Council of Corrèze.

2012 presidential campaign

Main article: François Hollande presidential campaign, 2012
See also: French presidential election, 2012

Following his re-election as President of the General Council of Corrèze in March 2011, Hollande announced that he would be a candidate in the upcoming primary election to select the Socialist and Radical Left Party presidential nominee.[12] The primary marked the first time that both parties had held an open primary to select a joint nominee at the same time. He initially trailed the front-runner, former Finance Minister and IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Following Strauss-Kahn's arrest on suspicion of sexual assault in New York City in May 2011, Hollande began to lead the opinion polls. His position as front-runner was established just as Strauss-Kahn declared that he would no longer be seeking the nomination. After a series of televised debates throughout September, Hollande topped the ballot in the first round held on 9 October with 39% of the vote, not gaining the 50% required to avoid a second ballot, which he would contest against Martine Aubry, who had come second with 30% of the vote.

The second ballot took place on 16 October 2011. Hollande won with 56% of the vote to Aubry's 43% and thus became the official Socialist and Radical Left Party candidate for the 2012 presidential election.[13] After the primary results, he immediately gained the pledged support of the other contenders for the party's nomination, including Aubry, Arnaud Montebourg, Manuel Valls and 2007 candidate Ségolène Royal.[14]

Hollande's presidential campaign was managed by Pierre Moscovici and Stéphane Le Foll, a Member of Parliament and Member of the European Parliament respectively.[15] Hollande launched his campaign officially with a rally and major speech at Le Bourget on 22 January 2012 in front of 25,000 people.[16][17] The main themes of his speech were equality and the regulation of finance, both of which he promised to make a key part of his campaign.[17]

On 26 January he outlined a full list of policies in a manifesto containing 60 propositions, including the separation of retail activities from riskier investment-banking businesses; raising taxes for big corporations, banks and the wealthy; creating 60,000 teaching jobs; bringing the official retirement age back down to 60 from 62; creating subsidised jobs in areas of high unemployment for the young; promoting more industry in France by creating a public investment bank; granting marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples; and pulling French troops out of Afghanistan in 2012.[18][19] On 9 February, he detailed his policies specifically relating to education in a major speech in Orléans.[20]

On 15 February, incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he would run for a second and final term, strongly criticising Hollande's proposals and claiming that he would bring about "economic disaster within two days of taking office" if he won.[21]

Hollande visited Berlin, Germany, in December 2011 for the Social Democrats Federal Party Congress, at which he met Sigmar Gabriel, Peer Steinbrück, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Martin Schulz;[22][23] he also travelled to Belgium before the United Kingdom in February 2012, where he met with Opposition Leader Ed Miliband; and finally Tunisia in May 2012.[24][25]

Opinion polls showed a tight race between the two men in the first round of voting, with most polls showing Hollande comfortably ahead of Sarkozy in a hypothetical second round run-off.[26]

The first round of the presidential election was held on 22 April. François Hollande came in first place with 28.63% of the vote, and faced Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round run-off.[27] In the second round of voting on 6 May 2012, François Hollande was elected President of the French Republic with 51.7% of the vote.[1]

President of France

François Hollande was elected President of France on 6 May 2012. He was inaugurated on 15 May, and shortly afterwards appointed Jean-Marc Ayrault to be his Prime Minister. He also appointed Benoît Puga to be his military chief of staff, Pierre-René Lemas as his General Secretary and Pierre Besnard as his Head of Cabinet.[28] On his first official visit to a foreign country in his capacity as President of France, the aeroplane transporting him was hit by lightning.[29] The plane returned safely to Paris where he took another flight to Germany.

Policies

Personal life

Hollande with his former partner, Ségolène Royal, at a rally for the 2007 elections

For over 30 years, his partner was fellow Socialist politician Ségolène Royal, with whom he has four children – Thomas (1984), Clémence (1985), Julien (1987) and Flora (1992). In June 2007, just a month after Royal's defeat in the French presidential election of 2007, the couple announced that they were separating.[37]

A few months after his split from Ségolène Royal was announced, a French website published details of a relationship between Hollande and French journalist Valérie Trierweiler. This disclosure was controversial, as some considered it to be a breach of France's strict stance on the privacy of politicians' personal affairs. In November 2007, Valérie Trierweiler confirmed and openly discussed her relationship with Hollande in an interview with the French weekly Télé 7 Jours.

Honours and decorations

Works

Hollande has had a large number of books and academic works published, including:

  • L'Heure des choix. Pour une économie politique (The hour of choices. For a political economy), with Pierre Moscovici, 1991. ISBN 2-7381-0146-1
  • L'Idée socialiste aujourd'hui (The Socialist Idea Today), Omnibus, 2001. ISBN 978-2-259-19584-3
  • Devoirs de vérité (Duties of truth), interviews with Edwy Plenel, éd. Stock, 2007. ISBN 978-2-234-05934-4
  • Droit d'inventaires (Rights of inventory), interviews with Pierre Favier, Le Seuil, 2009. ISBN 978-2-02-097913-9
  • Le rêve français (The French Dream), Privat, August 2011. ISBN 978-2-7089-4441-1
  • Un destin pour la France (A Destiny for France), Fayard, January 2012. ISBN 978-2-213-66283-1
  • Changer de destin (Changing destiny), Robert Laffont, February 2012. ISBN 978-2-221-13117-6

References

  1. ^ a b "Socialist Hollande triumphs in French presidential poll – FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012". FRANCE 24. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. ^ Angelique Chrisafis in Le Bourget. "Francois Hollande stages first major rally in 2012 French presidential race | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  3. ^ Willsher, Kim (16 October 2011). "French presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy v François Hollande". The Guardian. London.
  4. ^ "EN IMAGES. François Hollande, une carrière au parti socialiste – Presidentielle 2012" (in French). leParisien.fr. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  5. ^ Email Us (21 April 2012). "We all know Sarko, but who's the other guy?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  6. ^ "The NS Profile: François Hollande". New Statesman. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b Chrisafis, Angelique. "François Hollande: from marshmallow man to Sarkozy's nemesis?". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  8. ^ "Global Players: Francois Hollande | Thomas White International". Thomaswhite.com. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  9. ^ Sponsored by. "The French elite: Old school ties". The Economist. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  10. ^ "HEC Paris – Grande Ecole – Foire aux questions" (in Template:Fr icon). Hec.fr. Retrieved 3 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  11. ^ Erlanger, Steven (15 April 2012). "The Soft Middle of François Hollande". The New York Times. p. 50. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  12. ^ Albinet, Alain (31 March 2011). "L'appel de Tulle de François Hollande". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 29 June 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
  13. ^ Erlanger, Steven (7 September 2010). "French Unions in National Strike on Pensions". New York Times. p. A4. Retrieved 4 December 2010. [Socialist party leader Martine] Aubry has presidential ambitions... Her rivals included the former leader of the party, François Hollande....
  14. ^ Love, Brian (16 September 2011). "Hollande to run for presidency for French left". Reuters. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  15. ^ Template:FrBotella, Bruno. "François Hollande recrute deux préfets pour sa campagne". acteurs publics. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  16. ^ Erlanger, Steven (22 January 2012). "François Hollande, Challenging Sarkozy, Calls for Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  17. ^ a b Clavel, Geoffroy (22 January 2012). "François Hollande, French Presidential Candidate, Says 'Finance' Is His Adversary". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  18. ^ Erlanger, Steven (26 January 2012). "Sarkozy's Main Rival Offers Proposals for Lifting France's Economy". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  19. ^ "Presidential program – François Hollande". Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  20. ^ Laubacher, Paul. "Éducation : François Hollande fait de l'école primaire une priorité". Le Nouvel Observateur (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |année= ignored (|date= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Politique : Sarkozy se voit à l'Élysée pour encore "sept ans et demi"". Le Figaro. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  22. ^ "„Gemeinsam eine Menge bewegen" | Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD)" (in Template:De icon). Spd.de. Retrieved 6 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  23. ^ Traynor, Ian (26 March 2012). "Roll over, Merkozy: François Hollande finds a German ally of his own | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  24. ^ "François Hollande en visite en Tunisie – France / Tunisie – RFI". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  25. ^ "Cheer for François Hollande in France. But he won't change Europe | Martin Kettle | Comment is free". The Guardian. 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  26. ^ "4 March 2012 – Opinion Way" (PDF). Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  27. ^ "Elections Présidentielle Résultats – FRANCE 24". France24.com. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  28. ^ Le cabinet du Président de la République elysee.fr 15.05.2012
  29. ^ Hollande's plane hit by lightning, reports say – BBC News Europe
  30. ^ Fouquet, Helene (26 January 2012). "Socialist Hollande Pledges Tax Breaks End, Eased Pension Measure". Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  31. ^ a b EurActiv.com, based on reporting by EurActiv.fr. "François Hollande: Towards a European 'New Deal'?". EurActiv. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  32. ^ "Unpopular French President Nicolas Sarkozy Desperately Woos Les Gais". Queerty.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  33. ^ "François Hollande outlines manifesto for French presidency challenge – Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  34. ^ lefigaro.fr. ""2% de croissance": Hollande s'explique". Le Figaro. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  35. ^ "Occitan Nation Party – Press release : Presidential election – occitan" (in French). Lo.lugarn-pno.over-blog.org. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  36. ^ "14–15 September 2011: French presidency candidate François Hollande on regional languages « Sorosoro". Sorosoro.org. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  37. ^ Sciolino, Elaine (19 June 2007). "French Socialists' First Couple Disclose a Parting of Ways". New York Times. p. A3. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to François Hollande.
Party political offices
Preceded by First Secretary of the Socialist Party
1997–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Socialist Party nominee for President of France
2012 		Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Tulle
2001–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the General Council of Corrèze
2008–2012 		Succeeded by
Gérard Bonnet Acting
Preceded by President of France
2012–present 		Incumbent
Regnal titles
Preceded by Co-Prince of Andorra
2012–present
Served alongside: Joan Enric Vives Sicília 		Incumbent
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Honorary Canon of the Basilica of St. John Lateran
2012–present 		Incumbent


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