François Patriat

François Patriat
Patriat in 2008
President of the Rally of Democrats, Progressive and Independent group in the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 June 2017
Preceded byPosition established
Member of the French Senate for Côte-d'Or
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 October 2008
President of the Regional Council
of Burgundy
In office
2 April 2004 – 31 December 2015
Preceded byJean-Pierre Soisson
Succeeded byMarie-Guite Dufay (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté)
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office
25 February 2002 – 6 May 2002
Prime MinisterLionel Jospin
Preceded byJean Glavany
Succeeded byHervé Gaymard
Secretary of State for Small and medium-sized businesses, Trade and Crafts
In office
18 October 2000 – 25 February 2002
Prime MinisterLionel Jospin
Preceded byMarylise Lebranchu
Succeeded byChristian Pierret
Mayor of Chailly-sur-Armançon
In office
17 March 1989 – 11 March 2001
Succeeded byAndré Loizon
Member of the National Assembly
for Côte-d'Or
In office
12 June 1997 – 18 November 2000
Preceded byAlain Suguenot
Succeeded byJean-Claude Robert
Constituency5th
In office
2 July 1981 – 1 April 1993
Preceded byJean-Philippe Lecat
Succeeded byAlain Suguenot
Constituency3rd (1981–1986)
At-large (1986–1988)
5th (1988–1993)
Personal details
Born (1943-03-21) 21 March 1943 (age 81)
Semur-en-Auxois, France
Political partyRenaissance (since 2017)
Other political
affiliations		Socialist Party (1974–2017)
Alma materÉcole nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort

François Patriat (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa patʁija]; born 21 March 1943) is a French politician of Renaissance (RE, formerly LREM) who has been serving as president of the party's group in the Senate since 2017. He has represented the Côte-d'Or department in the Senate since 2008. Patriat also served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in 2002 and President of the Regional Council of Burgundy from 2004 until 2015. He was a member of the Socialist Party before joining La République En Marche! in 2017.

Early life and education

Born in Semur-en-Auxois, Côte-d'Or, Patriat graduated from École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA) in 1968.

Political career

Early beginnings

Patriat joined the Socialist Party (PS) in 1974 and was elected to the General Council of Côte-d'Or for the canton of Pouilly-en-Auxois in 1976, a position he retained until 2008. In 1981, he was elected to the National Assembly. In 1989, Patriat became Mayor of Chailly-sur-Armançon, an office he held until 2001.

Ministership under Prime Minister Jospin

In 2000, Patriat was appointed Secretary of State in charge of small and medium-sized businesses, trade and crafts at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry under minister Laurent Fabius in the government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. In 2002, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. He left office when Jean-Pierre Raffarin became prime minister.

Regional Council of Burgundy

In the 2004 regional elections, Patriat led a list that defeated the list conducted by incumbent Regional Council President Jean-Pierre Soisson. Reelected in 2010, he left the position in 2015, before the region was merged with Franche-Comté.

Ahead of the 2012 French presidential election, Patriat publicly endorsed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the Socialist Party's candidate.[1]

Member of the Senate, 2014–present

Patriat was elected to the Senate in 2008. Reelected in 2014, he joined La République En Marche! (REM) in 2017. After supporting Emmanuel Macron's successful candidacy for the presidency of the French Republic in the 2017 presidential election and rallying enough of his fellow senators to form a group affiliated with REM in the Senate,[2] he became the new group's president.[3][4]

Since November 2017, Patriat has been part of LREM's executive board under the leadership of the party's successive chairmen Christophe Castaner and Stanislas Guerini.[5]

References

  1. ^ Samuel Laurent (6 May 2010), L'offensive médiatique tous azimuts de Dominique Strauss-Kahn Le Monde.
  2. ^ Emile Picy and Michel Rose (26 June 2017), President Macron to have own party group in French upper house Reuters.
  3. ^ (in French) "François Patriat prend ses distances avec le PS et se rapproche d'Emmanuel Macron". BFMTV.com. 7 March 2017.
  4. ^ (in French) Laurent de Boissieu. "En Marche (EM)". france-politique.fr. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  5. ^ Le Conseil de La République En Marche ! La République En Marche!, press release of 16 October 2017.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
2002 		Succeeded by