François Asselineau (, born 14 September 1957) is a French politician and an Inspector General for finances. Asselineau was a member of the

Rally for France The Rally for France (french: Rassemblement pour la France (RPF); also briefly known in 2003 as Rally for France and European Independence or ) was a political party in France of the right. It was founded in 1999 by the Gaullist and former Interi ...

(RPF) and UMP before creating his own

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

the Popular Republican Union (Union Populaire Républicaine or UPR). His movement promotes

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

's unilateral withdrawal from the European Union, the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU pol ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

. Asselineau has been described as a souverainist but does not self-identify as such. He identifies neither as right-wing nor left-wing.France’s 'Frexit' presidential candidate
''

La Croix La Croix primarily refers to: * ''La Croix'' (newspaper), a French Catholic newspaper * La Croix Sparkling Water, a beverage distributed by the National Beverage Corporation La Croix or Lacroix may also refer to: Places * Lacroix-Barrez, a munic ...

'', 10 March 2017. Asselineau has had a troubled relationship with the media, which he has repeatedly accused of "

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

". In his critique he includes

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

, which had once considered him insufficiently noteworthy to justify a page in the encyclopedia. The activism of his supporters to try and increase media coverage of Asselineau and the UPR has been noted by some observers., at 2 mn 10" (accessed on October 4th, 2014). He ran in the 2017 French presidential election, presenting himself as the "

Frexit Frexit (a portmanteau of "French" or "France" and "exit") is the hypothetical French withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The term is similar to ''Brexit'', which denotes the UK leaving the EU. The term was mostly used during the campaign l ...

candidate". He was eventually eliminated in the first round, earning 0.92% of the votes. For the 2022 presidential election he failed to secure 500 sponsorships from elected officials in order to run.

Education

Asselineau enrolled in HEC Paris where he graduated in 1980 with the MSc in Management. He enrolled at the École nationale d'administration (promotion "Léonard de Vinci", 1985).

Career

Asselineau started his career in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

in the department of economic expansion for National Service Overseas (CSNE). Served in 1985 as inspector General in the ''

inspection générale des Finances An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...

''. From 1989 to 1990, he was chief of mission for the National Credit. He was also president of the direction of the ''Society for Economical and Financial Analysis and Diagnostic'' (SADEF). In 1991, he became chief of mission of the Asia-Oceania office at the ''Direction of Foreign Economical Relation'' (DREE) in the Ministry of Economy and Finance under the

Pierre Bérégovoy Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy (; 23 December 1925 – 1 May 1993) was a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under President François Mitterrand from 2 April 1992 to 29 March 1993. He was a member of the Socialist Party (Fran ...

government. From 1994 to 1995, he served as counsellor for international affairs in the Ministry of Industry under the Edouard Balladur government. In June 1995, he was named director of the office of the Ministry of Tourism. In 1996, he moved to the ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was in charge of economic matters for Asia, Oceania and Latin America until the

dissolution of parliament The dissolution of a legislative assembly is the mandatory simultaneous resignation of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy, the new assemb ...

by Jacques Chirac in 1997.

Political career

In 1999, François Asselineau got involved in politics by becoming a member of the

(RPF), a party created by Charles Pasqua and Philippe de Villiers. He became a member of the national bureau, director of studies and spokesman of the party until autumn 2005. On July 27, 2000, he became vice-director of the general council of the Hauts-de-Seine. He was in charge of economic and international affairs. On May 23, 2001, Charles Pasqua nominated François Asselineau as the director of his office of the presidency of the general council of Hauts-de-Seine where he worked until March 30, 2004 when Nicolas Sarkozy took over the position of Charles Pasqua. On October 20, 2004, Nicolas Sarkozy appointed Asselineau as the director of the general delegation for economic intelligence within the Minister of Economy and Finance. In November 2006, Asselineau joined the steering committee of ''Rally for an Independent and Sovereign France'' (RIF), a party created by

Paul-Marie Coûteaux Paul-Marie Coûteaux (born 31 July 1956, in Paris) is a French politician and author. He served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009 for the Movement for France, and since 2022 has been a member of Reconquête. Early life ...

Municipal councillor

On March 19, 2001, he was elected as a member of the council of Paris in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. His list, a right-wing dissident list made with an agreement between

Jean Tiberi Jean Tiberi (born January 30, 1935) is a French politician who was mayor of Paris from May 22, 1995 to March 24, 2001. , he was mayor of the 5th arrondissement of Paris and deputy to the French National Assembly from the second district of Pari ...

and Charles Pasqua, was third with 15,78% in a triangular against a Rally for the Republic (RPR) list and unified left list composed with

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(PS). His campaign was marked by a radical rhetoric on security, with posters denouncing "six years of socialist laxity", supposed drug trafficking, alleged prostitution and an asserted lack of police forces. On December 31, 2004, Asselineau decided to join the group

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Soci ...

(UMP) at the Council of Paris. On November 3, 2006, he decided to quit the group and seat with the ''non-inscrits'' just after

Françoise de Panafieu Françoise de Panafieu (born 12 December 1948) is a French politician, member of The Republicans (LR) party and mayor of the 17th arrondissement of Paris between 2001 and 2008. Political career De Panafieu was a member of the French Cabinet ...

, for whom he worked, was elected president of the council of Paris for the

(UMP). In September 2007, Asselineau participated in a dissident political group named ''Paris Libre'' with several other ex-UMP members. The group ran several lists against the

(UMP), and Asselineau ran a list in the 17e arrondissement de Paris against

. However, he then backtracked, denouncing consequent pressure on the members of his list.

Creation of the UPR

On March 25, 2007, for the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty signature, he created the Popular Republican Union (UPR).

Election results

In January 2011, François Asselineau announced his intention to run for the

2012 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 22 April 2012 (or 21 April in some overseas departments and territories), with a second round run-off held on 6 May (or 5 May for those same territories) to elect the President of France (who is a ...

, and confirmed this intention in December 2011. However, he was only able to garner 17 of the required 500 endorsements from elected politicians necessary to be on the ballot. As a result, Asselineau called for a boycott of the presidential election. Following the

Cahuzac affair On 19 March 2013 Jérôme Cahuzac resigned as a minister in charge of fighting against tax fraud due to tax fraud allegations. He later admitted that he had held a secret foreign bank account for about 20 years. As a consequence, he was officiall ...

and the resignation of Jérôme Cahuzac, for whom Asselineau had worked as a civil servant in the Ministry of Finance, Asselineau ran for the legislative by-election in

Lot-et-Garonne's 3rd constituency The 3rd constituency of Lot-et-Garonne (French: ''Troisième circonscription de Lot-et-Garonne'') is a French legislative constituency in the Lot-et-Garonne ''département''. Like the other 576 French constituencies, it elects one MP using a ...

, with Régis Chamagne. They failed to reach the second round with a score of 189 votes (0.58%). Asselineau ran for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

as the head of the list for the Île-de-France constituency. He hoped that the UPR's agenda could rally voters disappointed by the current political system. Asselineau complained to the CSA for not having had access to mainstream media; he also claimed that the principle of equity for all candidates was actually undermined by the media, that tended to give voice to parties that were already well-known.Yann Thompson
Européennes: la galère des petits candidats
France Télévisions, 21 May 2014 He scored 0.56% of votes cast in his constituency.

Political views

François Asselineau's ' souverainiste' platform has two main targets, 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 ...

and the United States. He insists that France should leave the

, the European Union, and

.François Asselineau fact sheet
on the website of the French version of the magazine Slate, retrieved on 12 March 2012 According to Asselineau, the EU and NATO "as seen from Washington...are the political and military side of the same coin, that of the enthrallment of the European continent to their 'buffer zone' so as to surround and contain the Russian continental power". He says the process leading to European unification was launched solely upon orders from the American government. Asselineau denies he is a " eurosceptic", preferring to call himself a "euro-atheist".Qui est François Asselineau ?
, ''Valeurs actuelles'', September 22d, 2014 He said on the French TV program '' On n'est pas couché'' that he opposes military intervention in Syria and Iraq. Asselineau claims the 1944 Conseil national de la Résistance as the source of inspiration for his presidential program in 2012, including " re-nationalisations" and "quality public services".Ève Moulinier, ''

Le Dauphiné libéré ''Le Dauphiné libéré'' is a provincial daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on local news and events. The paper is published in Grenoble, France. History and profile Founded in 1945, it takes the name from the former province of ...

'', 12 February 2012, page 4 Asselineau does not say what should be done about "the major national issues such as

nuclear power in France Since the mid 1980s, the largest source of electricity in France is Nuclear power, with a generation of 379.5 TWh in 2019 and a total electricity production of . In 2018, the nuclear share was 71.67%, the highest percentage in the world. Sinc ...

, the French debt crisis or the decisions to be made about

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

, hichshould be addressed through

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

s", "once France has left the European Union". Asselineau opposes French COVID-19 immunity passports. In July 2021, Asselineau tested positive for the disease and advocated the use of Ivermectin as treatment.

Controversies

Accusations of sexual harassement

In May 2020, Asselineau's former driver and press secretary filed a complaint against him for sexual harassement and sexual assault. Another complaint is filed by another former collaborator against Asselineau for psychological and sexual harassement. Since 5 February 2021, Asselineau has been under investigation and placed under judicial supervision for the alleged sexual assault, sexual and moral harassement of two of his former collaborators. He has denied all the allegations made against him.

Electoral performance

References

External links

Blog of François Asselineau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asselineau, Francois 1957 births Living people Politicians from Paris Politicians of the French Fifth Republic École nationale d'administration alumni HEC Paris alumni Euroscepticism in France Rally for France politicians Popular Republican Union (2007) politicians French conspiracy theorists Candidates in the 2017 French presidential election