Michèle Alliot-Marie
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Michèle Alliot-Marie | |
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In office 18 May 2007 – present |
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Prime Minister | François Fillon |
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Preceded by | François Baroin |
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In office 7 May 2002 – 18 May 2007 |
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Prime Minister | Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Dominique de Villepin |
Preceded by | Alain Richard |
Succeeded by | Hervé Morin |
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In office 29 March 1993 – 18 May 1995 |
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Prime Minister | Édouard Balladur |
Preceded by | Frédérique Bredin |
Succeeded by | Guy Drut |
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Born | September 10, 1946 Villeneuve-le-Roi, Val-de-Marne, France |
Political party | RPR, UMP |
Michèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie (born 10 September 1946) is the French Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories;[1] she is the first woman to hold that position and the first woman to lead a major French political party. She was Minister of Defence in Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin's cabinet and was the first woman to hold that position as well.[1]
Forbes magazine declared her the 57th most powerful woman in the world in 2006 and the 11th in 2007.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Villeneuve-le-Roi in the Val-de-Marne, her father was Bernard Marie, the Mayor of Biarritz. Before her career in politics, she was a senior lecturer at the University of Paris I, and also spent some time practicing law. She holds a doctorate of law, a doctorate in political science and Master's degree in ethnology.
[edit] Career
[edit] Local politician
Before her entry into national politics, Alliot-Marie was a municipal councillor in the town of Ciboure from 1983 to 1988 and for the town of Biarritz 1989 to 1992. From 1992 to 2002, she served as Mayor of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
[edit] Member of Parliament and governement minister
She was elected to the National Assembly to represent Pyrénées-Atlantiques in 1986 as a member of the gaullist RPR. She served as Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education in Jacques Chirac's second government from 1986 to 1988 and as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in Édouard Balladur's gouvernment from 1993 to 1995.
From 1989 to 1992 she was also a Member of the European Parliament.
[edit] President of the RPR
In 1999, she entered the challenge for the presidency of the RPR against Chirac's candidate and, to most insiders' surprise, won by a landslide, becoming the first woman to lead a major French political party. She remained president of the party until 2002 when it merged with the UMP, a merger she opposed at first.
[edit] Defense and Interior Minister
From 2002, she was Minister of Defense, France's first woman in this position. From May until June 2002, she was also the Minister of Veterans' Affairs. In 2006, Forbes magazine declared her the 57th most powerful woman in the world.
Although she publicly considered competing with Nicolas Sarkozy for the UMP’s nomination in the 2007 presidential election, she ruled herself out of the running in January 2007 and endorsed Sarkozy. Sarkozy and Alliot-Marie had a history of disagreements in the National Council.[1] She was appointed Interior Minister in François Fillon's government, the first woman to hold the position.[1]
[edit] Personal life
In the French media, she is nicknamed "MAM".
Her life partner is Patrick Ollier, an UMP deputy who briefly was President of the National Assembly in 2007 and has chaired the Economy Committee since then.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Preceded by Frédérique Bredin |
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports 1993-1995 |
Succeeded by Guy Drut |
Preceded by Nicolas Sarkozy |
President of Rally for the Republic 1999–2002 |
Succeeded by Serge Lepeltier (acting) |
Preceded by Alain Richard |
Minister of Defence 2002–2007 |
Succeeded by Hervé Morin |
Preceded by François Baroin |
Minister of the Interior and Overseas territories 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
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