Gérard Collomb (; born 20 June 1947) is a French politician who 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 ...

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 ...

from 2001 to 2017 and again from 2018 until 2020. A member of La République En Marche! (LREM) since he left the Socialist Party (PS) in 2017, he was Minister of the Interior in the first and second government of Prime Minister

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 ...

from 2017 to 2018. Disagreements with President Emmanuel Macron led Collomb to resign and return as Mayor of Lyon. He has been a councillor for both the City of Lyon and

Lyon Metropolis The Metropolis of Lyon (french: Métropole de Lyon), also known as ("Greater Lyon"), is a French territorial collectivity located in the east-central region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is a directly elected metropolitan authority encompassing t ...

since 2020.

Political career

Local politics

Collomb was elected as a Socialist municipal councillor for the 9th arrondissement of Lyon in the 1977 French municipal elections, and has been re-elected six times since then. In 1981, aged 34, he was elected to the French National Assembly. He was re-elected in 1986 but lost his seat in 1988. From 1989 on, he led by the municipal opposition to Michel Noir on the Lyon municipal council. From 1992 to 1999 he also served as regional councillor for the

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 ...

region, before his resignation. Collomb was defeated in the 1995 local elections in Lyon, and became Mayor of the 9th arrondissement and Vice-President of the Urban Community of Lyon, until 2001. He ran as leader of the Plural Left list in the 2001 local elections. He was elected Mayor on 25 March and also elected as president of the Urban Community of Lyon, a post he held until 2014. Among the projects he has implemented is the Vélo'v. In 2004, Collomb was re-elected Senator for the

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 ...

. He was re-elected as Mayor of Lyon by a large margin in March 2008, defeating

Dominique Perben Dominique Perben (born 11 August 1945) is a French politician. Born in Lyon, he was French Minister of Transportation from 2005 to 2007. He was previously Minister of Justice (2002–05), Minister of Civil Service and Administration (1995–199 ...

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 first round by a landslide. He was re-elected again in 2014. Ahead of the 2008 Reims Congress, Collomb led the "Hope on the left, proud to be Socialist" (french: L'espoir à gauche, fier(e)s d'être socialistes) motion of behalf of

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 201 ...

. He was a finalist for the 2010

World Mayor World Mayor is a biennial award organized by the City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of c ...

prize. Collomb has been President of the

Metropolis of Lyon The Metropolis of Lyon (french: Métropole de Lyon), also known as ("Greater Lyon"), is a French territorial collectivity located in the east-central region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is a directly elected metropolitan authority encompassing t ...

from 2015 to 2017. Since 2017, he has been councillor for the

Career in national politics

Collomb was one of Emmanuel Macron's first close allies and vocal supporters among leading Socialists ahead of the 2017 presidential elections. On 17 May 2017, he was named Minister of the Interior in the Philippe Government. Lyon Deputy mayor Georges Képénékian was elected as Lyon mayor succeeding Collomb. In October 2018, Collomb prevailed in resigning in order to run again for mayor of Lyons. He was quoted saying of Macron, ‘Very few of us can still talk to" him. Collomb was "recently revealed to have said in private that France risked a civil war unless immigration, legal and illegal, was sharply curtailed within the next five years". As minister he had "talked about France being 'flooded' by immigrants—a term frequently used by" past National Rally presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. After touring parts of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

as minister, Collomb had said, “The situation is very difficult" and used the phrase "Reconquering the Republic” to frame the challenge facing the country.Mortimer, Gavin
"France is fracturing but Macron remains in denial" (blog)
The Spectator (U.K.), 17 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-22.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collomb, Gerard 1947 births Living people French interior ministers State ministers of France Mayors of Lyon People from Chalon-sur-Saône La République En Marche! politicians Socialist Party (France) politicians University of Lyon alumni Senators of Rhône (department) Politicians from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes