Damien Abad (; born 5 April 1980) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

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 ...

Élisabeth Borne Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...

in 2022. Abad previously served as Member of the National Assembly for

Ain's 5th constituency The 5th constituency of the Ain is a French legislative constituency in the Ain ''département''. It was created by ordinance n°2009-935 of 29 July 2009, ratified by the French Parliament on 21 January 2010. It consists of the cantons of Ambé ...

from 2012 to 2024, where he was the president of The Republicans group from 2019 to 2022. As part of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...

New Centre The Centrists (, , ), known as The Centrists – New Centre ( , ) since 2018, formerly known as New Centre (, ) and European Social Liberal Party ( , ), is a centre-right political party in France formed by the members of the Union for French Dem ...

and then 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 ...

, which was later renamed The Republicans, Abad also served as municipal councilor of

Vauvert Vauvert (; ) is a commune in the far south of the Gard department in southern France. It was known as ''Posquières'' in the Middle Ages. The commune comprises the town of Vauvert and the villages of Gallician and Montcalm.

from 2008 to 2010,

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for South-East France from 2009 to 2012, regional councilor of

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...

from 2010 to 2015 and

president of the departmental council In France, the President of the Departmental Council ( French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depar ...

Ain Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

from 2015 to 2017.

Education and family

Abad's parents live in Aubord in the department of

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, while his mother is a social worker and gymnastics teacher. In secondary school, Abad attended the Vallée Verte college and the

Lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

Alphonse-Daudet before beginning his university education at Sciences Po Bordeaux. He graduated from

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 2004 and then became a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

for the school. Abad has

arthrogryposis Arthrogryposis (AMC) describes congenital joint contracture in two or more areas of the body. It derives its name from Greek, literally meaning 'curving of joints' (', 'joint'; ', late Latin form of late Greek ', 'hooking'). Children born with one ...

, a rare disease and physical disability. Many media outlets consider him the only or even the first member of the National Assembly to be

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

Political career

Beginnings in the UDF and New Centre, 2006–2009

In 2006, Abad was put in charge of budgetary and fiscal studies in the Union for French Democracy (UDF) group and then the New Centre group 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 ...

. He was a candidate for Yvelines' 5th constituency in the

2007 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, including Fran ...

s, where he won 3.17% of the vote. In 2008, Abad founded the Young Centrists movement, which was affiliated with the New Centre, and was virtually unanimously elected its first president in May. He left this position to become joint General Secretary of New Centre in 2010. In 2008, Abad was elected to the municipal council of

on the list of mayor Gérard Gayaud. He then resigned after winning a seat on the

regional council of Rhône-Alpes The Rhône-Alpes Regional Council was the Conseil régional of the former Rhône-Alpes region of France until its abolition on 1 January 2016 to form the new Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It was chaired by Jean-Jack Queyranne (). It included 157 ...

, where he sat on the Employment, Economy, Social and Solidarity Economy, and Social Innovation Committee as well as the Sports and Youth Committee.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2012

In the

2009 European elections 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

, Abad was elected

on the

(UMP) list in the South-East France constituency, with the UMP having formed an alliance with New Centre for the elections. At the age of 29, Abad became the youngest French MEP, the youngest French parliamentarian in office and one of the youngest elected members of the European Parliament. During his time in parliament, he frequently spoke about economic issues, especially in terms of industrial policy, social services and consumer protection. He also founded the youth

intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects and promoting contact between Members and civil society. Intergroups ...

and served on the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinians, Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the Wes ...

. Abad's MEP office was located in

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient Provinces of France, province of Bresse (). I ...

. On 2 April 2015, Abad was elected as the President of the departmental council of Ain. Due to the limitation of the plurality of the mandates, he resigned from his position on 10 July 2017.

Member of the National Assembly, 2012–2024

In the

2012 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 10 and 17 June 2012 (and on other dates for small numbers of voters outside metropolitan France) to select the members of the 14th National Assembly of France, National Assembly of the Fifth French R ...

s, Abad ran to represent

as a member of the

. He was elected with 28.79% of the vote in the first round and 56% in the second round against

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

candidate Josiane Exposito. During that year's election of the President of the National Assembly, Abad was chosen as secretary of the session as one of the six youngest members. Abad was reelected to the National Assembly in the

2017 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...

s. He subsequently stood as a candidate for the presidency of The Republicans group in the Assembly against Christian Jacob, who won with 62 votes against Abad's 32. Abad was then appointed as the group's first vice-president, serving from 2017 to 2019. Abad serves on the National Defence and Armed Forces Committee, the European Affairs Committee and the Working Group on the Legislative Procedure, Parliamentary Organization and the Rights of the Opposition. He is also vice-president of the

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Friendship Group. In addition to his work in parliament, Abad has served as member of the French delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

from 2014 until 2017 and since 2017. In this capacity, he is a member of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. In The Republicans' 2016 presidential primaries, Abad endorsed

Bruno Le Maire Bruno Le Maire (; born 15 April 1969) is a French politician, writer, and former diplomat who served as Economy and Finance Minister from 2017 to 2024 under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which he left in ...

as the party's candidate for

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

. In the party's 2017 leadership election, he endorsed

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 follow ...

. Following Christian Jacob's election as president of The Republicans, Abad again ran for the leadership of the party's parliamentary group in November 2019. He won by 64 votes over

Olivier Marleix Olivier Marleix (; born 6 February 1971) is a French politician who has represented the 2nd constituency of the Eure-et-Loir department in the National Assembly since 2012. A member of The Republicans (LR), he presided over The Republicans gr ...

, who received 37 votes. The news website ''Contexte'' commented that the result represented an end to the "old divisions between " Sarkozystes," " Fillonistes" and " Juppéistes,"" with Abad being able to present "a profile that reassures members of the National Assembly of the old generation without cutting off those who were newly elected in 2017, who form half of the party's parliamentary group." It also noted Abad's "positioning as an independent man" who "owes nothing to Christian Jacob," while Marleix had suffered from a report in ''

Le Canard enchaîné (; English: "The Chained Duck" or "The Chained Paper", as is French slang meaning "newspaper") is a satirical weekly newspaper in France. Its headquarters is in Paris. Founded in 1915 during World War I, it features investigative journalism ...

'' portraying him as the previous leader's handpicked candidate. At The Republicans' national convention in December 2021, Abad was part of the 11-member committee which oversaw the party's selection of its candidate for the 2022 presidential elections. He himself endorsed

Xavier Bertrand Xavier René Louis Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician; he is president of the regional council of Hauts-de-France since the 2015 regional elections. Earlier in his career, Bertrand was Minister of Health from 2005 to 2007 ...

for Republican nominee. He was reelected in the 2022 election. In the 2024 election, he came third in the first round, and lost his seat.

Political positions

In July 2019, Abad voted against the French ratification of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA; French: ''accord économique et commercial global'', AECG; German: ''Umfassendes Wirtschafts- und Handelsabkommen'') is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its ...

(CETA) with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In a joint letter initiated by

Norbert Röttgen Norbert Alois Röttgen (born 2 July 1965) is a German lawyer and politician who served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2009 to 2012. A member of t ...

and Anthony Gonzalez ahead of the

47th G7 summit The 47th G7 summit was held from 11 to 13 June 2021 in Cornwall, England, during the United Kingdom's tenure of the presidency of the Group of Seven (G7), an inter-governmental political forum of seven advanced nations. The participants include ...

in 2021, Abad joined some 70 legislators from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the US in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on

and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology including

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and 5G.

Controversy

According to an investigation published by ''

Mediapart ''Mediapart'' () is an independent nonprofit French Investigative journalism, investigative online newspaper created in 2008 by Edwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief of . It is published in French language, French, English language, English, and ...

'' on May 21, 2022, Abad has been implicated by two women, unrelated to each other, for acts of rape which they believe occurred in 2010 and 2011. A report was sent on May 16 to those responsible for the two parties Les Républicains and Renaissance by the Observatory of sexist and sexual violence in politics. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne assured that she discovered the existence of the report in ''Mediapart''. On May 20,

Christophe Castaner Christophe Castaner (; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020 under President Emmanuel Macron. He had been elected in 2017 for a three-year term as chairman (''délég ...

denied having received the report. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the existence of two complaints filed by the same complainant and dismissed in 2012 and 2017. In a letter also published by ''Mediapart'', Abad rejected the accusations and "strongly affirms that the sexual relations that e hasbeen able to have have always been based on the principle of mutual consent". He affirmed that his handicap makes impossible a certain number of the acts which are reproached to him, the presumed victims affirming for their part that he uses his handicap to make them feel guilty. In June 2022, the Paris prosecution office opened an investigation into Abad, on suspicion of attempted rape.Tassilo Hummel and Elizabeth Pineau (29 June 2022)
French prosecutors investigate government minister after rape accusations
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abad, Damien 1980 births Living people People from Nîmes French people of Spanish descent Union for French Democracy politicians The Centrists politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Social Right Modern and Humanist France The Republicans (France) politicians Government ministers of France Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Ain The Centrists MEPs MEPs for South-East France 2009–2014 Regional councillors of France Presidents of French departments Departmental councillors (France) Sciences Po alumni People with arthrogryposis Candidates for the 2007 French legislative election