Alain Vidalies (; born 17 March 1951) was the French Secretary of State for Transport, the Sea and Fisheries from 26 August 2014 to 10 May 2017. He represents the Landes department in the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

, and is a member of the

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 th ...

and of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche parliamentary group.

Early life and education

Vidalies studied law at the University of Pau before being

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1979. He specialised in employment law whilst pursuing an interest in politics.

Political career

Vidalies' political career began in 1976 as an assistant to Landes MP Roger Duroure before becoming a councillor for

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Gascon dialect, Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a communes of France, commune and capital of the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Milit ...

South in 1979, a post he would hold until 2007. He made his way in local politics until he was elected to 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 repr ...

on behalf of Landes' 1st constituency in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, and spent his time campaigning for better employment conditions. He lost his seat in 1993 and went back to the law, being appointed a deputy judge in 1997. He was also re-elected in 1997, and helped to reform family law, particularly in relation to

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide ...

, and the 35-hour working week. He headed the parliamentary commission on

modern slavery Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to exist in the 21st century. Estimates of the number of enslaved people range from around 38 million to 49.6 million, d ...

and was a member of the National Commission on Informatics and Liberties (CNIL) between 2000 and 2002. Vidalies was re-elected

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and in 2007. From 16 May 2012 to 31 March 2014, Vidalies served as Minister for Relations with Parliament (''Ministre délégué aux Relations avec le Parlement'') in the Ayrault Government under President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

. Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2012 convention in Toulouse, Vidalies publicly endorsed

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (born 14 August 1951) is a French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who served as the party's First Secretary from April 2014 to June 2017. He was a member of the National Assembly of France, representing the c ...

as candidate to succeed

Martine Aubry Martine Louise Marie Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950) is a French politician. She was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (''Parti Socialiste'', or PS) from November 2008 to April 2012, and has been the Mayor (France), M ...

at the party's leadership.Caroline Vigoureux (7 September 2012)
Face à Cambadélis, Désir engrange les soutiens
''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' (; ), also known as the JDD , is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. JDD was bought in 2023 by Vivendi of media mogul Vincent Bolloré, triggering a strike movement against the new editorial s ...

''. On 26 August 2014 Vidalies was appointed Secretary of State for Transport, the Sea and Fisheries (''Secrétaire d’État chargé des Transports, de la Mer et de la Pêche''), a junior minister of cabinet rank within the

Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

, in the Second Valls Government. Incidents during this time have included the 2015 Thalys train attack and the 2016 strikes in protest against his government's changes to employment law and the 35-hour week.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidalies, Alain 1951 births Living people People from Landes (department) Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Socialist Party (France) politicians Deputies of the 9th 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 Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic University of Bordeaux alumni