Étienne Blanc (born 29 August 1954) is a French politician who has served as a Senator for

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

since 2020. A member of The Republicans (LR), he previously served as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Divonne-les-Bains Divonne-les-Bains (; Arpitan: ''Digouona''), popularly known as Divonne, is a commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 9,788. Divonne-les-Bains is a spa town situate ...

(1991–2019) and represented the 3rd constituency of

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

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 rep ...

(2002–2016). Blanc was also First Vice President of the

Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes The Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (french: Conseil régional d'Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) is the deliberative assembly of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeast-central France France (), officially the French Republic ...

from 2016 to 2020.

Political career

A member 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 ...

, which became The Republicans in 2015, Blanc represented the 3rd constituency of the

department in the

from 2002 until his resignation in 2016, triggered by his will to focus on his activities on the regional level. He also served as Mayor of

from 1991 until 2019. Following the 2015 regional elections,

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes since 2016. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 following the ...

was elected to the presidency of the

on 4 January 2016. Blanc became his deputy, as he was elected First Vice President of the Regional Council the same day. He had previously been a regional councillor of

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône ...

from 1992 to 2002. Blanc was The Republicans' candidate for Mayor of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

in the 2020 municipal election, in which the list he led placed second before merging with the list of La République En Marche! (LREM) led by

Yann Cucherat Yann Cucherat (born 2 October 1979) is a French gymnast. He won a bronze medal in parallel bars at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics ...

. He was elected to the municipal council for the 3rd arrondissement. On 4 July 2020, he took office as a municipal councillor and group president in the municipal council. In the 2020 Senate election, he was returned to the

French Parliament The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris ...

for

. He later resigned as Wauquiez's deputy. In the 2021 The Republicans congress, he supported Michel Barnier. In late 2021, he resigned from the group presidency in the municipal council of Lyon following favourable comments he made on

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on ''Face à l'Info'', a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to ...

, which displeased members of his group. Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, Blanc publicly declared his support for Michel Barnier as the Republicans’ candidate.Christine Ollivier, Robin D'Angelo and Sarah Paillou (31 October 2021)
Soutien de Barnier mais proche de Zemmour : le drôle de jeu du sénateur Etienne Blanc
''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du dimanche'' (English: ''Sunday's newspaper'') is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. History and profile ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' was created by Pierre Lazareff in 1948. He was managing editor of '' Fran ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc, Etienne 1954 births Living people People from Givors Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians 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 Members of Parliament for Ain French Senators of the Fifth Republic Senators of Rhône (department) Regional councillors of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mayors of places in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes University of Lyon alumni