Jean Arthuis (born 7 October 1944 in Saint-Martin-du-Bois, Maine-et-Loire) is a French politician. Over the course of career, he has held various ministerial positions and served as

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where he chaired the Committee on Budgets. He also serves as Senator representing

Mayenne Mayenne () is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Ill ...

in 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 ...

. He is the President of the Centrist Alliance political party and was a member of the ALDE group in the European Parliament.

Early life and education

Arthuis was born in 1944 in the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

region of north-west France, where his parents ran a poultry business. He went to school in

Château-Gontier Château-Gontier () is a former Communes of France, commune in the Mayenne Departments of France, department in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne. Geography It is about sout ...

, to which he returned after studying at the École Supérieure de Commerce in Nantes and Sciences Po in Paris. In 1971 he set up an accountancy business in the town.Ian Mundell (December 11, 2014)
Jean Arthuis – veteran debutant
'' European Voice''.

Political career

Career in French politics

When Jacques Chirac became president in 1995, Arthuis returned to government under 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 ...

. Initially in charge of economic planning, he was later promoted to

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

, succeeding

Alain Madelin Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician. Politician Madelin was minister of Industry in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister Édouard Balladur's cabinet f ...

. He represented France in negotiating the EU’s

Stability and Growth Pact The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all of the 27 member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Based primarily on Articles 121 and 126 of the Tre ...

, including crucial agreements at the Dublin summit in 1996. In early 1996, Arthuis and his German counterpart

Theo Waigel Theodor Waigel (born 22 April 1939) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He represented Neu-Ulm in the Bundestag from 1976 to 2002. Waigel is a lawyer, and earned a doctorate in 1967. He was a member of the Bu ...

launched a French-German economic stimulus package aimed at encouraging spending, increasing growth, cutting taxes on business and reducing unemployment. Under a plan announced by Arthuis in 1996, the state-run bank Caisse des dépôts et consignations bought more than two-thirds of the shares of nearly bankrupt property lender

Crédit Foncier de France Crédit Foncier de France (CFF) was a major French bank, active from 1852 to 2019 when its activities were entirely subsumed into Groupe BPCE, although the brand name appears to remain active. History The Crédit Foncier (English: landed cred ...

and transfer its assets to another state-run entity, which was to liquidate them over 10 years; although Crédit Foncier was not state-owned, the government had to rescue it not only because of its large exposure to the bond market but also because many French people considered its shares to be among the most steady and risk-free. That same year, Arthuis called for an investigation of former top executives at the state-controlled bank

Credit Lyonnais Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

for concealing losses at one of its key units, Altus Finance. In 2012, Arthuis authored a high-profile report on the future eurozone for

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 ...

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

. In 2013,

Jean-Louis Borloo Jean-Louis Marie Borloo (; born 7 April 1951) is a French politician who served as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2012 to 2014. He also was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment in 2007 and Minister of ...

of the

Union of Democrats and Independents The Union of Democrats and Independents (french: Union des démocrates et indépendants, UDI) is a centre to centre-right political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the parliamentary grou ...

(UDI) included Arthuis in his shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to Minister of European Affairs

Thierry Repentin Thierry Repentin (born 5 April 1963) is a French politician who has served as Mayor of Chambéry since 2020. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he previously served as a Senator for Savoie (2004–2012; 2014) and in government as Minister D ...

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019

Arthuis was a

(MEP) from the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

until

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. In this capacity, he served as the chairman of the Committee on Budgets. In 2014, he was the Parliament’s lead negotiator on the 2015 budget of the European Union. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation and of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights. In a 2015 letter to

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018, and was a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. Previously he was President of the European Parliam ...

, the

President of the European Parliament President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

, and Jerzy Buzek, the head of the Conference of Committee Chairs, Arthuis argued his committee should take a greater role in economic governance of 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 polici ...

. Arthuis publicly endorsed Emmanuel Macron in the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of La République En Marche!, En Ma ...

s.Ryan Heath (March 9, 2017)
The 40 MEPs who matter in 2017: #28 Jean Arthuis
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

Other activities

* Société du Cheval Français, Member

Recognition

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthuis, Jean 1944 births Living people People from Maine-et-Loire Sciences Po alumni Centre of Social Democrats politicians Union for French Democracy politicians Centrist Alliance politicians French Ministers of Finance French Senators of the Fifth Republic Politicians from Pays de la Loire MEPs for West France 2014–2019 Union of Democrats and Independents politicians Senators of Mayenne Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany La République En Marche! MEPs La République En Marche! politicians