Marie-George Buffet (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Kosellek; born 7 May 1949) is a French politician. She was the head of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...

(PCF) from 2001 to 2010. She joined the Party in 1969, and she served in the government as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports from 4 June 1997 to 5 May 2002. Buffet was re-elected on 16 June 2002 to another five-year term in 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 r ...

as a representative of

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...

. She stood down from Parliament at the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France were held on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in A ...

Life and career

Buffet was born in Sceaux,

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west ...

. Her father Paul Kosellek is of Polish descent. Buffet was elected in 2001 as National Secretary of the Party, succeeding Robert Hue, who assumed the newly created presidency of the party. When Hue resigned after his poor score in the 2002 presidential elections, the post of president was removed, leaving Buffet as sole leader of the Party. As head of the French Communist Party, Buffet speaks regularly on a variety of topics relating to the plight of the working people. Most of Buffet's speeches tend to focus upon practical implementations of the taxpayer's duty to provide for workers. Other issues that Buffet is interested in and has spoken on are the

Bolkestein Directive The Bolkestein directive (officially Services in the Internal Market Directive''2006/123/EC is an European Union law, EU law aiming at establishing a single market for Service (economics), services within the European Union (EU). Drafted under ...

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

directive issued by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

), energy initiatives, and ideological issues linked with stopping privatization and aiding the lower classes or working people. As a member of the French National Parliament, Buffet has begun to recognize the need to organize with the Communist and Socialist parties of other states within the EU. This can be seen in the ''Marie-George Buffet Statement'', which came out in June 2005. It constitutes a comment on the aftermath of the referendum on the establishment of further free trade rulings inside the European Union, one which was rejected by the a significant part of the

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * ...

. Buffet sees this French Communist victory as a victory for communists across Europe. She remarked: :''I invite from the bottom of my heart men and women and organizations of the left, even those who might have voted "yes", to take your place, to participate with us in this noble adventure to construct another Europe, a genuine left wing alternative.'' In 2009, she condemned as "irresponsible" and "criminal" statements by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

which claimed that condoms promote AIDS, although they in fact help prevent it. On 28 February 2013, The ''Commission des affaires culturelles et de l’éducation'', of which Buffet is part, voted in favour of an amendment proposed by

Martine Faure Martine Faure (born 30 September 1948) was a member of the National Assembly of France. She represented the Gironde department, as a member of the Socialist Party. She was the deputy for Gironde's 9th constituency from 2007 to 2012 and, aft ...

, and favoured by Yves Durand, Martine Martinel and Buffet among others, that replaced the biological concepts of "sex", with the sociological concepts of "

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

" in the national elementary curriculum.assemblee-nationale.fr: "Commission des affaires culturelles et de l’éducation Jeudi 28 février 2013 Séance de 14 heures 30 Compte rendu n° 31 Présidence de M. Patrick Bloche, président"
search on "AC 421" The elementary curriculum was successfully revised in September 2013 under the name " l'ABCD de l'egalite".gouvernement.fr: "Les ABCD de l’égalité : un outil pour lutter dès l’école contre les inégalités filles-garçons"
consulted July 2014

2007 presidential bid

In 2006, Buffet took part in a "rally of the anti- liberal left", in an attempt to reconcile the PCF, the rest of the radical left, and anti-

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

militants, by the nomination of a common candidate for the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, ...

. As Buffet was voted as candidate by most members of the rally, several other participants fell out, denouncing the Communist Party's influence, effectively crippling the "anti-liberal left" and leaving Buffet as candidate for the sole PCF. Buffet had to compete with the radical-left candidacies of

Olivier Besancenot Olivier Christophe Besancenot (; born 18 April 1974) is a French left-wing political figure and trade unionist, and the founding main spokesperson of the New Anticapitalist Party (''Nouveau parti anticapitaliste'', NPA) from 2009 to 2011. He w ...

José Bové Joseph "José" Bové (born 11 June 1953) is a French farmer, politician and syndicalist, member of the alter-globalization movement, and spokesman for Via Campesina. He was one of the twelve official candidates in the 2007 French presidential elec ...

and Arlette Laguiller. She ended up receiving 1.93% of the popular vote (707,268 votes), the lowest result ever for a Communist presidential candidate in France.

Political career

Governmental function Minister of Youth and Sports : 1997-2002. Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' Member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are know ...

for

: Elected in 1997, but she became minister in June / And since 2002. Elected in 1997, reelected in 2002, 2007, 2012. ''Regional Council'' Regional councillor of Ile-de-France : 1998-2002 (Resignation). ''Municipal Council'' Deputy-mayor of Chatenay-Malabry : 1977-1983. Municipal councillor of

Le Blanc-Mesnil () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle Airport and le Bourget Airport. Name The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th centu ...

: Since 2001. Reelected in 2008. Political functions National Secretary (Leader) of the

: 2001-2010.

References

External links

Official French National Assembly page

Speeches - Personal info page on National Assembly web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffet, Marie-George 1949 births Living people People from Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine French people of Polish descent French Communist Party politicians Politicians from Île-de-France Politicians of the French Fifth Republic Candidates in the 2007 French presidential election Women members of the National Assembly (France) French socialist feminists Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic 21st-century French women politicians Women government ministers of France Women opposition leaders Members of Parliament for Seine-Saint-Denis