Claude Bartolone (; born 29 July 1951) is a French politician who served as

President 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of 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 ...

from 2012 to 2017. 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 ...

from 1974 to 2022, Bartolone was first elected to the National Assembly, representing the

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

department, in 1981. He served as Delegate Minister for the City in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...

from 1998 to 2002, and he was President of the Seine-Saint-Denis General Council from 2008 to 2012.

Early life and education

Bartolone was born on 29 July 1951 in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

, Tunisia. His mother was from

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and his father from

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

; both his parents were working-class.« J'ai dit à l'élève Bartolone : Vous devriez viser plus haut »
, ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...

'', June 26, 2012Paul de Coustin
La prof qui a poussé Bartolone à entrer au lycée
''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', June 26, 2012 At the age of nine, he moved to Le Pré-Saint-Gervais in France and grew up in a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

.François-Xavier Bourmaud
Bartolone, de la Seine-Saint-Denis au perchoir
''Le Figaro'', June 21, 2012 After he was encouraged by a teacher named Marie-Thérèse Thoullieux not to get a professional degree, Bartolone attended the Lycée Turgot in Paris. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.

Political career

Career in local politics

Bartolone was a municipal councillor of Le Pré-Saint-Gervais from 1977 to 1983, and from 1995 to 2008. He served as Deputy Mayor of Le Pré-Saint-Gervais from 1977 to 1983, from June to October 1995, as Mayor from 1995 to 1998, and again as Deputy Mayor from 2001 to 2008. He was also municipal councillor of

Les Lilas Les Lilas () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. History The commune of Les Lilas (literally "the lilacs") was created on 24 July 1867 by de ...

from 1983 to 1989. Bartolone served as Seine-Saint-Denis general councillor from 1979 to 1992, and has served again since 2008. From 1985 to 1992, he served as

vice-president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

of the Seine-Saint-Denis General Council, and as president from 2008 to 2012. From 1998 to 2002, he served as regional councillor of Ile-de-France.

Career in national politics

Bartolone served as a member of the National Assembly for the sixth district, encompassing

from 1981 to 1998. From 1998 to 2002, he served as Delegate Minister for the City. From 2002, he served as member of the National Assembly again. When

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 ...

took over as leader of the Socialist Party in 2008, Bartolone joined the party’s leadership and was put in charge of relations to other Socialist parties internationally. In the Socialist Party's 2011 primaries, he endorsed Aubry as the party's candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Following the June 2012 parliamentary election, in which the Socialist Party won a parliamentary majority, Bartolone was designated as the Socialist candidate for the post of President of the National Assembly. In the vote, held on 26 June 2012, Bartolone was accordingly elected to the post, receiving 298 votes against 185 votes for the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP) candidate Bernard Accoyer, who held the post during the preceding parliamentary term. , - ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" , Candidates ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" , Parties ! colspan="2" , Socialist Primary ! colspan="2" , First round , - ! width="60" , Votes ! width="30" , % ! width="60" , Votes ! width="30" , % , - bgcolor="#E9E9E9" align="center" , - , style="color:inherit;background:" , , align="left" , Bernard Accoyer , align="left" ,

(''Union pour un mouvement populaire'') , UMP , colspan=2 , , 185 , 38.30% , - , style="color:inherit;background:" , , align="left" , Claude Bartolone , align="left" ,

(''Parti socialiste'') , PS , 127 , 49.22% , 298 , 61.70% , - , style="color:inherit;background:" , , align="left" , Jean Glavany , align="left" ,

(''Parti socialiste'') , PS , 59 , 22.87% , colspan=2 , , - , style="color:inherit;background:" , , align="left" ,

Élisabeth Guigou Élisabeth Guigou (; born Élisabeth Vallier; 6 August 1946) is a French politician of the Socialist Party who served as a member of the National Assembly from 2002 until 2017, representing Seine-Saint-Denis' 9th constituency. Early life and ...

, align="left" ,

(''Parti socialiste'') , PS , 50 , 19.38% , colspan=2 , , - , style="color:inherit;background:" , , align="left" ,

Daniel Vaillant Daniel Vaillant (born 19 July 1949) is a French Socialist politician. Biography Close to Lionel Jospin, Vaillant held several ministerial portfolios in his cabinets: Minister of the Relations with Parliament from 1997 to 2000 and Interior Mi ...

, align="left" ,

(''Parti socialiste'') , PS , 22 , 8.53% , colspan=2 , From 2012 to 2017, Bartolone served as President of the

. Thus, he lived in the

Hôtel de Lassay The Hôtel de Lassay () is a private mansion located on the Rue de l'Université, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the current residence of the President of the National Assembly, and adjoins the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the l ...

. Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2012 convention in Toulouse, Bartolone 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

at the party's leadership. Ahead of the party's 2017 primaries, he endorsed

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (born 13August 1962) is a French–Spanish politician who serves as Minister of the Overseas in the Bayrou government since 2024. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president Françoi ...

as its candidate for the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

later that year.

Controversy

In April 2013, Bartolone received a menacing letter containing ammunition powder, suggesting he should stop supporting

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. When

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 ...

gave a public speech in 2016 honoring the centennial of

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 ...

, Bartolone walked out; shortly before, Gérard Davet and François Lhomme from daily ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' had quoted Hollande in their book, “A President Shouldn’t Say That”, as saying that Bartolone “doesn’t have the stature to be prime minister” and “is not big on charisma.”

Personal life

Bartolone is married, in a second marriage, with Véronique Ragusa, a parliamentary collaborator. He resides in a 320 square metre mansion on the outskirts of Paris.

Honours

Foreign Honours

* : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

(19/11/2012)Italian Presidency website
Sig. Claude Bartolone
(Presidente dell'Assemblea Nazionale ) - Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartolone, Claude 1951 births Living people French people of Maltese descent French people of Sicilian descent French people of Italian descent Tunisian people of Sicilian descent Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Politicians from Tunis Tunisian people of Italian descent Tunisian people of Maltese descent Presidents of the National Assembly (France) 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