Damien Alary (; born January 17, 1951, in Pompignan) is a French politician and 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 ...

. He was the chairman of the Departmental Council of Gard from 2001 to 2014, then briefly President of the

regional council of Languedoc-Roussillon The Regional council of Languedoc-Roussillon was the deliberative assembly of the former French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, local authority decentralized acting on the regional territory. It was headquartered in Montpellier, in a ''Hôtel'' bu ...

from 2014 to 2015.

Biography

Political career

He joined the Socialist Party in 1977 after a meeting with

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 199 ...

. In 1979, he was elected mayor of Pompignan; in 1986, regional councilor of Languedoc-Roussillon, and in 1988, general councilor of the canton of

Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort (; ; ) is a commune in the Gard department, Occitania, southern France. The town has a silk museum and barracks. Population In literature A book titled ''Divided Loyalties'' described life in the commune and the area ...

. He was elected in Gard's 5th constituency in 1997 and re-elected in 2002, from the Socialist Group. After having chaired the socialist group, under the presidency of Alain Journet, within the general council of Gard from 1998 to 2001, he was elected president in 2001. In 2004, he was elected first vice-president of the Regional Council. After the regional elections of 2004, he resigned because of multiple mandates. On February 23, 2010, he was excluded from the Socialist Party following his rallying to the list led by Georges Frêche against that of the PS. On October 28, 2010, after the death of Georges Frêche, the group of socialists excluded and related to the Regional Council elects its candidate for the presidency of the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...

region. Damien Alary lost against Christian Bourquin by 13 votes against 18 in secret ballots. The following November 10, Christian Bourquin was elected president of the regional council, and Robert Navarro replaced Damien Alary from the post of first vice-president he had held since 2004. Damien Alary then asked for his

reinstatement In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

in the PS, which he then obtained. Suffering from cancer in the vocal cords, which he revealed himself in 2011, Damien Alary retained all of his elected functions and mandates. In January 2012, he affirmed “

o be O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

still good for the service” and “intact in iscommitment”. After considering a candidacy for the 2014 municipal elections in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

, Damien Alary announced his resignation on September 10, 2013. After the death of Christian Bourquin, on August 26, 2014, Damien Alary announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon. He was elected by the regional council on September 29. In September 2015, it took the position, with

Jean-Claude Gayssot Jean-Claude Gayssot (born 6 September 1944) is a French politician. A member of the French Communist Party (PCF), he was Minister of Transportation in the government of Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party from 1997 to 2002. He gave his name to ...

, for the implementation of a European policy for welcoming “Mediterranean refugees”. On October 7, 2015, he succeeded

Francina Armengol Francesca Lluc Armengol Socias, known as Francina Armengol Socias (; born 11 August 1971), is a Spanish politician from the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands. She currently serves as president of the Congress of Deputies since 2023 Cortes ...

as the president of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion. During the 2015 regional election in Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées, head of the PS list in Gard, he announced that he was leading his "last political fight".

Early life

Coming from a family of Pompignan wine growers, he owned a

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

and

olive grove Olive Grove was The Wednesday F.C.'s first permanent football ground, home to the club for just over a decade at the end of the 19th century. It was located on the site of what is now Sheffield City Council's Olive Grove Depot, near Queens Roa ...

. He is married and has a son, Yannick, born in 1976, who became a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

Alès Alès () is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. Until 1926, i ...

Distinctions

On June 3, 2010, Damien Alary received the

Legion of Honour 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 ...

from

Simone Veil Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as health minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman t ...

at the

Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Med ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alary, Damien Living people 1951 births Members of the Regional Council of Occitania (administrative region) Regional councillors of France Departmental councillors (France) People from Gard Politicians from Occitania (administrative region)