André Chandernagor (born 19 September 1921) is a French politician who served as a deputy for

Creuse Creuse (; or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the east, Cor ...

from 1958 to 1981 and as Minister delegate for European Affairs from 1981 to 1983. He subsequently became the 31st First President of the

Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is the supreme audit institution of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg and is one of the seven EU institutions. The Court comprises on ...

, serving from 1983 to 1990. He is the father of the writer

Françoise Chandernagor Françoise Chandernagor (born 15 June 1945, Palaiseau) is a French writer. The daughter of André Chandernagor, she is a former student of the École nationale d'administration, and she became a member of the Council of State in 1969. Biograp ...

, Dominique Chandernagor and Thierry Chandernagor, former president of the General Council of Creuse.

Biography

Early life

André Chandernagor was born into a family from

Poitou Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...

. His surname comes from an ancestor of Indian origin, Charles François Chandernagor, known as "Bengale," who was born between 1743 and 1748 in

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

and died in 1821 in Civray. He studied at the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV () is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges ('' lycées'') in France. The school educates more ...

and then at the

École nationale de la France d'Outre-mer The Colonial School (, also known colloquially as ) was a French public higher education institution or Grandes écoles, grande école, created in Paris in 1889 to provide training for public servants and administrators of the French colonial emp ...

, after a stay in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

. In 1945, he became Deputy Administrator of the

Overseas France Overseas France (, also ) consists of 13 France, French territories outside Europe, mostly the remnants of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonisation. Most are part of the E ...

, and from 1949 to 1951, he attended the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

(ENA) in the same cohort as

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, ; ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as simply Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Ministry of the Economy ...

. Also holding a degree in law, he became a

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational titl ...

at the

Conseil d'État In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establ ...

in 1957, specializing in public law. He joined the

SFIO The C programming language provides many standard library functions for file input and output. These functions make up the bulk of the C standard library header . The functionality descends from a "portable I/O package" written by Mike Lesk at ...

in 1944 and had his first political experience in 1946 as an

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

in the office of

Marius Moutet Marius Moutet (19 April 1876 – 29 October 1968) was a French Socialist diplomat and colonial adviser. An expert in colonial issues, he served as Minister of the Colonies for four terms in the 1930s and 1940s and was president of the Gener ...

, the

Minister of Overseas France The Minister of the Overseas () is the official in charge of the Ministry of the Overseas in the Government of the French Republic, responsible for overseeing Overseas France. The office was titled Minister of the Colonies (''Ministre des Col ...

Political career

André Chandernagor entered active politics in 1953 when he was elected mayor of

Mortroux Mortroux (; ) is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of central France. Geography A farming area comprising the village and a couple of hamlets situated some north of Guéret at the junction of the D46, D56 ...

. In 1955, he experienced a temporary setback in local politics when he was defeated by the incumbent Radical general councillor in the cantonal elections in Bonnat. He eventually joined the General Council of Creuse in 1961, succeeding former senator Gaston Chazette in the

canton of Bourganeuf The Canton of Bourganeuf is a cantons of the Creuse department, canton situated in the Creuse departments of France, département and in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of central France. Geography An area of farming and forestry in the arrondisse ...

. During his tenure in Creuse, Chandernagor was a proponent of the development of what became the route Centre-Europe Atlantique, alongside the mayor of

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...

, Louis Escande. In 1973, following the death of Paul Pauly, he was elected president of the General Council of Creuse. In 1974, he became president of the Regional Council of Limousin. He served as the representative of Creuse in 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 ...

from 30 November 1958, to 23 July 1981. From 1967 to 1968, he was vice-president of the National Assembly. To date, he holds the record for the longest representation of Creuse in the National Assembly, with 23 years of service. He served as president of the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

from 1968 to 1973 and authored the book Un Parlement pour quoi faire?'''. A close associate of

Guy Mollet Guy Alcide Mollet (; 31 December 1905 – 3 October 1975) was a French politician. He led the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) from 1946 to 1969 and was the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957. As Prime Ministe ...

(having been a member of his cabinet in 1956-1957) and a staunch

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

, Chandernagor long opposed the Union of the Left, favoring an alliance with centrist parties. He was a member of the SFIO's executive committee and later the PS. In 1970, he was temporarily suspended from the PS, and it was speculated that he intended to form a new

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

party. After the Épinay Congress in 1971, he aligned himself with

Pierre Mauroy Pierre Mauroy (; 5 July 1928 – 7 June 2013) was a French Socialist politician who was Prime Minister of France from 1981 to 1984 under President François Mitterrand. Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. At the time of his de ...

. His political influence and experience led to his inclusion in the government in 1981 following

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

's election as

President of the Republic The President of the Republic is a title used for heads of state and/or heads of government in countries having republican form of government. Designation In most cases the president of a republic is elected, either: * by direct universal s ...

. In December 1983, Chandernagor was appointed First President of the Court of Auditors. He became the first honorary president in September 1990 and, on 24 May 2005, joined the Honorary Committee for the bicentenary of the Court of Auditors, chaired by then First President

Philippe Séguin Philippe Séguin (; 21 April 1943 – 7 January 2010) was a French political figure who was President of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1997 and President of the Cour des Comptes of France from 2004 to 2010. He entered the Court of Financ ...

. In 2017, at the age of 96, he chaired the support committee for Jean-Baptiste Moreau, the

La République En Marche Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...

candidate for the

legislative elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

in Creuse.

Works

* ''Un Parlement, pour quoi faire ?'', Gallimard, 1967 * ''Réformer la démocratie'', Balland, 1977 with Alexandre Sanguinetti * ''Les maires en France, XIX^e-XX^e siècle. Histoire et sociologie d'une fonction'',

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...

, 1993 * ''La Liberté en héritage'', Pygmalion, 2004

Awards

Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 2021 (Grand Officer in 2012).

References

{{Reflist Departmental councillors (France) Regional councillors of France Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic École nationale de la France d'Outre-Mer alumni École nationale d'administration alumni French Section of the Workers' International politicians Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 4th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 5th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 6th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 7th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour 1921 births Living people French men centenarians