Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician.

Politician

Madelin was minister of Industry in

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's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister

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 ...

's cabinet from 1993 to 1995, and a minister of Economy and Finances in Prime Minister

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans (France), The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced 1995 strikes ...

's cabinet. He resigned after only three months, citing economic policy differences with Alain Juppé. He was 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 ...

from 1978 to 2007 as representative for

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

's fourth constituency. The district includes the town of

Redon Redon (; ) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Redon borders the Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique departments. It is situated at the junction of t ...

, where he was mayor from 1995 until 2000. Madelin unsuccessfully ran in 1996 for president of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to ...

(UDF), and was defeated by

François Léotard François Gerard Marie Léotard (; born 26 March 1942, in Cannes) is a retired French politician. Singer and actor Philippe Léotard (1940–2001) was his brother. Member of the Republican Party, the liberal-conservative component of the ...

. He was elected as leader of the Parti Républicain, a part of the UDF coalition, which he renamed Démocratie Libérale. In 1998, Démocratie Libérale split from the UDF. Madelin's obtained slightly less than 4% of the vote in the 2002 presidential election and merged his party into the UMP. After 2002, although his former supporter

Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. Howeve ...

became Prime minister, and as a result of the end of Démocratie Libérale, Madelin's influence in French national politics dwindled. As a

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...

, he was a strong supporter of

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...

economics and was also a candidate in the

2002 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 April 2002, with a runoff election between the top two candidates, incumbent Jacques Chirac of the Rally for the Republic and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front, on 5 May. This presidential ...

as the leader of the

Liberal Democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...

party, where he scored 3.91% on the first round. Following the election, he became 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 ...

(UMP). Madelin is the French major politician the most in favor of the international policies of the United States, and supported the United States-led

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. Because of this, he has, in the past, generally been considered with favor by the US press. He did not seek reelection in the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative el ...

, ending his involvement in partisan politics.

Political career

Governmental functions Minister of Industry and Tourism : 1986–1988. Minister of Enterprise and Economic Development, small and medium enterprises, Trade and Crafts : 1993–1995. Minister of Economy and Finance : May–August 1995 (Resignation). 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 ...

: June–November 1989 (Resignation) / 1999–2002 (Resignation). Elected in 1989, reelected in 1999. ''National Assembly of France'' Member of the National Assembly of France for

: 1978–1986 (Became minister in 1986) / 1988–1993 (Became minister in 1993) / 1995–2007. Elected in 1978, reelected in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002. ''Regional Council'' Vice-president of the

Regional Council of Brittany The Regional Council of Brittany (, ) is the regional legislature of the region of Brittany in France. It is composed of 83 councillors, elected in 2015, in office for six years until 2021. Seats By Departments *17 councillors for Côtes-d' ...

: 1992–1998. Regional councillor of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

: 1986–1998. Reelected in 1992. ''General Council'' General councillor of

: 1994–1995 (Resignation). ''Municipal Council'' Mayor of

: 1995–2001. Municipal councillor of Redon : 1995–2001. Political functions President of

Liberal Democracy (France) Liberal Democracy (french: Démocratie Libérale, DL) was a conservative-liberal political party in France existing between 1997 and 2002. Headed by Alain Madelin, the party replaced the Republican Party, which was the classical liberal compone ...

: 1997–2002. Vice-president of the

: 1991–1996. Vice-president of the

Republican Party (France) The Republican Party (french: Parti républicain, PR) was a conservative-liberal political party in France founded in 1977. It replaced the National Federation of the Independent Republicans that was founded in 1966. It was created by the then- ...

: 1986–1997. "Honorary member" of the

Club de l'horloge The Carrefour de l'Horloge (literally ''The Clock Crossroad''), formerly Club de l'Horloge (1974–2015), is a French far-right national liberal think tank founded in 1974 and presided by Henry de Lesquen. The organization promotes an "integral n ...

Books

Madelin wrote several books and essays including: * ''Freeing Schools'' ( Editions Robert Laffont, 1984) * ''My Fellow Countryman'' (Editions Lattès, 1994) * ''When the Ostriches Raised Their Heads'' (Editions Robert Laffont, 1995) * ''The Origins of the French Liberal Model'' (Editions Plon-Perrin, 1997) * ''The Right of the weakest'' (1999) * ''When the ostrich will take their retirement'' (Editions du Seuil, 2003) * ''Should we delete the school map?'' (Magnard, 2009)

References

External links

Alain Madelin
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Madelin, Alain 1946 births Living people Politicians from Paris Independent Republicans politicians Republican Party (France) politicians Liberal Democracy (France) politicians Mayors of places in Brittany French Ministers of Commerce and Industry French Ministers of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones French Ministers of Finance Deputies of the 6th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 7th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 8th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 9th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 10th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Candidates in the 2002 French presidential election Union for French Democracy MEPs Liberal Democracy (France) MEPs Republican Party (France) MEPs MEPs for France 1989–1994 MEPs for France 1999–2004 French anti-communists Carrefour de l'horloge people Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni Member of the Mont Pelerin Society