Gérard Longuet
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Gérard Longuet (; born 24 February 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine) is a French conservative politician who has served as a member of the Senate from 2001 to 2011 and again since 2012, representing
Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
. He served as Minister of Defense in the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
of
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...
from February 2011 until May 2012.


Political career


Early beginnings

When he was young, Longuet was part of a far-right movement called
Occident The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of ''Orient'', the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term ''occidental'' is often used to ...
. In 1968, he wrote the founding charter of the Groupe Union Défense (GUD), a far-right students' union.


Career in national politics

Longuet served as a member of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
for
Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
's (1st constituency) from 1978 to 1981 and from 1988 to 1993. In the government of
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Jacques Chirac, Longuet first was Secretary of State for Posts and Telecommunications (March–August 1986) before becoming Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (1986–1988). From 1990 to 1995, Longuet served as president of the Republican Party (PR). During that time, he was also Minister of Industry, Posts and Telecommunications, and Foreign Trade in the government of
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Édouard Balladur Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, c ...
from 1993 until he resigned in 1994. Ahead of the 1995 presidential campaign, he supported Balladur as center-right candidate; instead, Jacques Chirac won the party’s nomination and later the election. On the regional level, Longuet was a regional councillor of Lorraine from 1992 until his resignation in 2010. He served as president of the Regional Council of Lorraine from 1992 to 2004. From 2009 to 2011, Longuet served as the leader of the
Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...
(UMP) in the Senate.


Minister of Defense, 2011–2012

Shortly after taking office, Longuet oversaw the French Air Force’s involvement in the
2011 military intervention in Libya On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and fiv ...
. After the mission ended, he met his Libyan counterpart Osama al-Juwaili in 2012 to sign a letter of intent to improve maritime security and control Libya’s borders. Also early in his tenure, it was revealed that Longuet had spent a weekend in 2006 in a Tunisian palace at the expense of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...
, who was overthrown shortly after by a popular revolt. In January 2012, President Sarkozy dispatched Longuet and the head of the French army to Afghanistan to conduct a review of security after an Afghan soldier killed four French service members. Shortly after, Longuet announced that France would withdraw its combat forces from Afghanistan – at the time, 2,400 soldiers in
Kapisa Province Kapisa (Pashto/Dari: ) is the smallest of Afghanistan's thirty-four provinces and is located in the north-east of the country. It has an estimated population of 496,840 people and an area of , making it the most densely populated province apar ...
– by 2013. Also in early 2012, Longuet led efforts on an agreement between France and Britain to jointly work to develop unmanned drones as part of their military cooperation. Following the 2012 Malian coup d'état, Longuet rejected the desert
Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...
s' declaration of independence for what they called the state of
Azawad Azawad, or Azawagh (Tuareg: Azawaɣ, or Azawad; ar, أزواد) was a short-lived unrecognised state from 2012 to 2013. Azawagh (''Azawaɣ'') is the generic Tuareg Berber name of all Tuareg Berber areas, especially the northern half of Mali ...
.


Later career

As part of a reorganization of the Republicans' leadership under their chairman Jean-François Copé in January 2013, Longuet became – alongside
Christian Estrosi Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician who has served as Mayor of Nice since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government m ...
, Henri de Raincourt, Jean-Claude Gaudin, Brice Hortefeux and Roger Karoutchi – one of the party’s six vice-presidents and served until 2014. Ahead of the Republicans’ 2016 presidential primary, Longuet endorsed
François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...
as the party's candidate for the
2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of La République En Marche!, En Ma ...
. From 2017 to 2020, Longuet served as president of the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST).


Controversy


Legal issues

In 2005, Longuet was the only one among 47 persons prosecuted who was found not guilty in a trial over claims that construction companies had paid money to political parties in return for contracts.


Human rights

In 2008, Longuet compared homosexuality to
pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...
, and he said
gay pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to s ...
parades may lead
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
teenagers to suicide. He has said he doesn't remember saying it, even though there is footage of it.


Other activities

* John Cockerill, Independent Member of the Board of Directors * Carrefour de l'Horloge, Member


Personal life

Longuet’s
brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referre ...
is
Vincent Bolloré Vincent Bolloré (born 1 April 1952) is a French billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of the investment group Bolloré. As of September 2021, his net worth is estimated at US$9 billion. Early life Bolloré was born in Boulogne-B ...
.Jon Henley (18 August 2005)
An empire in his sights
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.


Overview

Electoral mandates ''European Parliament'' Member of
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
: 1984–1986 (He became minister in 1986). ''General council'' Vice-president of the General council of
Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
: 1982–1986. General councillor of
Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
: 1979–1992 / 1998–2001 (Resignation). Reelected in 1985, 1998. ''Municipal council'' Municipal councillor of
Bar-le-Duc Bar-le-Duc (), formerly known as Bar, is a Communes of France, commune in the Meuse (department), Meuse Departments of France, département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Grand Est in northeastern France. The lower, more moder ...
: 1983–1989.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longuet, Gerard 1946 births Living people French Ministers of Defence and Veterans Affairs French Ministers of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones People from Neuilly-sur-Seine Politicians from Île-de-France Republican Party (France) politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Lycée Henri-IV alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni Senators of Meuse (department) French Senators of the Fifth Republic