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

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for Rhône since 2020. A member of The Republicans (LR), he previously served as Mayor of Divonne-les-Bains (1991–2019) and represented the 3rd constituency of Ain in the National Assembly (2002–2016). Blanc was also First Vice President of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2020.

Political career

A member of the Union for a Popular Movement, which became The Republicans in 2015, Blanc represented the 3rd constituency of the Ain

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the National Assembly 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 Divonne-les-Bains from 1991 until 2019. Following the 2015 regional elections, Laurent Wauquiez was elected to the presidency of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 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 from 1992 to 2002. Blanc was The Republicans' candidate for Mayor of Lyon in the 2020 municipal election, in which the list he led placed second before merging with the list of

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...

(LREM) led by Yann Cucherat. 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 for Rhône. He later resigned as Wauquiez's deputy. In the

2021 The Republicans congress The 2021 The Republicans (LR) congress, also known as the Congress for France ( French: ''Congrès pour la France''), was an organised internal primary held from 1 to 4 December. It was organised by the party in order to nominate the candidate th ...

, he supported

Michel Barnier Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who served as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator, Task ...

. In late 2021, he resigned from the group presidency in the municipal council of Lyon following favourable comments he made on Éric Zemmour, which displeased members of his group. Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, Blanc publicly declared his support for

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''.

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