Fran?ois Hollande
File:Fran?ois Hollande (Journ?es de Nantes 2012).jpg
Fran?ois Hollande
24th President of France
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 May 2012
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault
Preceded by Nicolas Sarkozy
Co-Prince of Andorra
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 May 2012
Serving with Joan Enric Vives Sic?lia
Prime Minister Antoni Mart?
Representative Sylvie Hubac
Preceded by Nicolas Sarkozy
President of the General Council of Corr?ze
In office
20 March 2008 – 15 May 2012
Preceded by Jean-Pierre Dupont
Succeeded by G?rard Bonnet
First Secretary of the Socialist Party
In office
27 November 1997 – 27 November 2008
Preceded by Lionel Jospin
Succeeded by Martine Aubry
Mayor of Tulle
In office
17 March 2001 – 17 March 2008
Preceded by Raymond-Max Aubert
Succeeded by Bernard Combes
Deputy of the National Assembly
for Corr?ze's 1st Constituency
In office
12 June 1997 – 15 May 2012
Preceded by Raymond-Max Aubert
Succeeded by Sophie Dessus
In office
12 June 1988 – 16 May 1993
Preceded by Proportional representation
Succeeded by Raymond-Max Aubert
Personal details
Born (1954-08-12) 12 August 1954 (age 59)
France
Political party Socialist Party
Domestic partner S?gol?ne Royal (1978?2007)
Val?rie Trierweiler
(2005?present)
Children Thomas
Cl?mence
Julien
Flora
Alma mater HEC Paris
Institut d'?tudes Politiques de Paris
?cole nationale d'administration
Signature API's signature
Styles of
Fran?ois Hollande
x50px
Reference style Son Excellence (Monsieur)
Spoken style Monsieur le Pr?sident

Fran?ois G?rard Georges Nicolas Hollande (French pronunciation: ​[f???swa ?l??d]; born 12 August 1954) is the 24th and current President of France. He was also the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008 and as a Deputy of the National Assembly of France for Corr?ze'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 Corr?ze from 2008 to 2012. As president of France, Fran?ois Hollande is also ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra.

He was elected President of France on 6 May 2012, defeating the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, and was sworn in on 15 May.[1] He is the second Socialist President of the Fifth French Republic, after Fran?ois Mitterrand who served from 1981 to 1995. He is also the first President to be elected without having prior experience as a Minister and / or Junior Minister since Paul Deschanel in 1920.

Contents

Early life and background[edit]

Fran?ois Hollande, Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, was born to an upper-middle-class family. His mother, Nicole Fr?d?rique 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 far right in local politics."[2][3][4][5][6] Hollande was raised Catholic but is now an agnostic.[7] The family moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, a highly exclusive suburb of Paris, when Hollande was 13.[8]

Education[edit]

He attended Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle boarding school, then HEC Paris, the Institut d'?tudes politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies), and the ?cole nationale d'administration. He graduated from ENA in 1980[9][10] and chose to enter the prestigious Cour des comptes. 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[edit]

After volunteering as a student to work for Fran?ois 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 Corr?ze 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.

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 Corr?ze 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[edit]

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 Corr?ze 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, S?gol?ne 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 Delano?, 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 Corr?ze in April 2008, a position he holds to this day. In 2008 he supported the creation of the first European Prize for Local History (?tienne Baluze Prize), founded by the "Soci?t? des Amis du mus?e du clo?tre" of Tulle, on the suggestion of the French historian Jean Boutier. Fran?ois Hollande awarded the first prize on 29 February 2008 to the Italian historian Beatrice Palmero in the General Council of Corr?ze.

2012 presidential campaign[edit]

Following his re-election as President of the General Council of Corr?ze 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 International Monetary Fund 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 S?gol?ne Royal.[14]

Hollande's presidential campaign was managed by Pierre Moscovici and St?phane 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 Orl?ans.[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 Steinbr?ck, 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. Fran?ois 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, Fran?ois Hollande was elected President of the French Republic with 51.7% of the vote.[1]

President of France[edit]

Hollande (right) and outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy at ?lys?e Palace on inauguration day, 15 May.

Fran?ois 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 Beno?t Puga to be his military chief of staff, Pierre-Ren? 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 airplane transporting him was hit by lightning.[29] The plane returned safely to Paris where he took another flight to Germany.

Policies[edit]

Personal life[edit]

Hollande with his former partner, S?gol?ne Royal, at a rally for the 2007 elections.

For over 30 years, his partner was fellow Socialist politician S?gol?ne Royal, with whom he has four children?? Thomas (1984), Cl?mence (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.[40]

A few months after his split from S?gol?ne Royal was announced, a French website published details of a relationship between Hollande and French journalist Val?rie 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, Val?rie Trierweiler confirmed and openly discussed her relationship with Hollande in an interview with the French weekly T?l? 7 Jours. She remains an employee of the magazine Paris Match.

Honours and decorations[edit]

National honours[edit]

Ribbon bar Honour Date Comment
Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg Grand Master Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour 2012 ? automatic upon taking presidential office
National Order of Merit Grand Cross Ribbon.png Grand Master Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit 2012 ? automatic upon taking presidential office

Foreign honours[edit]

Ribbon bar Country Honour Date
80px  Poland Knight Grand Cross Order of the White Eagle 16 November 2012 [41][42]
ITA OMRI 2001 GC BAR.svg  Italy Knight Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Italian Republic 21 November 2012

Works[edit]

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

References[edit]

  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 (22 January 2012). "Francois Hollande stages first major rally in 2012 French presidential race". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 6 May 2012.  Text " World news " ignored (help)
  3. ^ Willsher, Kim (16 October 2011). "French presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy v Fran?ois Hollande". The Guardian (London). 
  4. ^ "EN IMAGES. Fran?ois Hollande, une carri?re 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: Fran?ois Hollande". New Statesman. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  7. ^ "Prince et chanoine : les nouveaux m?tiers de Hollande". Direct Matin. Retrieved 2012-06-18. 
  8. ^ "Global Players: Francois Hollande". Thomaswhite.com. Retrieved 2012-05-15.  Text " Thomas White International " ignored (help)
  9. ^ Sponsored by (10 March 2012). "The French elite: Old school ties". The Economist. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  10. ^ "HEC Paris?? Grande Ecole?? Foire aux questions" (in (French)). Hec.fr. Retrieved 3 January 2012. 
  11. ^ Erlanger, Steven (15 April 2012). "The Soft Middle of Fran?ois Hollande". The New York Times. p. 50. Retrieved 7 May 2012. 
  12. ^ Albinet, Alain (31 March 2011). "L'appel de Tulle de Fran?ois Hollande". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 29 June 2011. 
  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, Fran?ois Hollande...." 
  14. ^ Love, Brian (16 September 2011). "Hollande to run for presidency for French left". Reuters. Retrieved 16 October 2011. 
  15. ^ (French)Botella, Bruno. "Fran?ois Hollande recrute deux pr?fets pour sa campagne". acteurs publics. Retrieved 18 February 2012. 
  16. ^ Erlanger, Steven (22 January 2012). "Fran?ois Hollande, Challenging Sarkozy, Calls for Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2012. 
  17. ^ a b Clavel, Geoffroy (22 January 2012). "Fran?ois 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?? Fran?ois Hollande". Retrieved 18 February 2012. 
  20. ^ Laubacher, Paul. "?ducation : Fran?ois Hollande fait de l'?cole primaire une priorit?". Le Nouvel Observateur (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2012.  Unknown parameter |ann?e= ignored (help)
  21. ^ "Politique : Sarkozy se voit ? l'?lys?e pour encore "sept ans et demi"". Le Figaro. Retrieved 14 April 2012. 
  22. ^ ""Gemeinsam eine Menge bewegen"" (in (German)). Spd.de. Retrieved 6 May 2012.  Text " Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) " ignored (help)
  23. ^ Traynor, Ian (26 March 2012). "Roll over, Merkozy: Fran?ois Hollande finds a German ally of his own". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 6 May 2012.  Text " World news " ignored (help)
  24. ^ "Fran?ois Hollande en visite en Tunisie?? France / Tunisie?? RFI". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  25. ^ "Cheer for Fran?ois Hollande in France. But he won't change Europe". The Guardian (London). 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2012.  Text " Martin Kettle " ignored (help); Text " Comment is free " ignored (help)
  26. ^ "4 March 2012?? Opinion Way" (PDF). Retrieved 19 April 2012. 
  27. ^ "Elections Pr?sidentielle R?sultats?? FRANCE 24". France24.com. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  28. ^ Le cabinet du Pr?sident de la R?publique 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. "Fran?ois 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. ^ [1][dead link]
  34. ^ lefigaro.fr. "Le Figaro - France : Le mariage et l'adoption homosexuels pour d?but 2013". Lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 
  35. ^ Posted: 08/27/2012 11:32 am (2012-08-27). "France's Gay Marriage Bill To Be Introduced In October". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2012-10-23. 
  36. ^ Samuel, Henry (26 January 2012). "Fran?ois Hollande outlines manifesto for French presidency challenge?? Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  37. ^ lefigaro.fr. ""2% de croissance": Hollande s'explique". Le Figaro. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  38. ^ "Occitan Nation Party?? Press release : Presidential election?? occitan" (in French). Lo.lugarn-pno.over-blog.org. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  39. ^ "14?15 September 2011: French presidency candidate Fran?ois Hollande on regional languages ? Sorosoro". Sorosoro.org. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2012. 
  40. ^ Sciolino, Elaine (19 June 2007). "French Socialists? First Couple Disclose a Parting of Ways". New York Times. p. A3. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  41. ^ Orders exchange between Polish and French Presidents (photo) ? prezydent.pl
  42. ^ Orders exchange between Polish and French Presidents (photo) ? Knight Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Italian Republic elysee.fr

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Party political offices
Preceded by
Lionel Jospin
First Secretary of the Socialist Party
1997?2008
Succeeded by
Martine Aubry
Preceded by
S?gol?ne Royal
Socialist Party nominee for President of France
2012
Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by
Raymond-Max Aubert
Mayor of Tulle
2001?2008
Succeeded by
Bernard Combes
Preceded by
Jean-Pierre Dupont
President of the General Council of Corr?ze
2008?2012
Succeeded by
G?rard Bonnet
Acting
Preceded by
Nicolas Sarkozy
President of France
2012?present
Incumbent
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Nicolas Sarkozy
Co-Prince of Andorra
2012?present
Served alongside: Joan Enric Vives Sic?lia
Incumbent
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Nicolas Sarkozy
Honorary Canon of the Basilica of St. John Lateran
2012?present
Incumbent

Template:Fran?ois Hollande