Jean-Pierre Soisson (born 9 November 1934) is a French politician of the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Soci ...

. He was a deputy in the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are kno ...

for the first district of

Yonne Yonne () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight constituent departments, it is l ...

for several terms between 1968 and 2012; mayor of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are re ...

from 1971 to 1998; President of the Regional Council of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...

(1992–93 and 1998–2004); and national minister of youth, labour, public administration and agriculture.CV at National Assembly website
.

Life and political career

Soisson was born in

. A member of the centre-right

Independent Republicans The Independent Republicans (french: Républicains Indépendants, RI) were a liberal-conservative political group in France founded in 1962, which became a political party in 1966 known as the National Federation of the Independent Republicans ...

and later the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order ...

(UDF), he was first elected to the National Assembly in the June 1968 parliamentary election and was re-elected nine times until 2007. He first entered the government under the Presidency of his fellow party member

Valery Giscard d'Estaing The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...

when he became Secretary of State for Universities on 27 May 1974, serving that position until 12 January 1976. He was Secretary of State near the Prime Minister, in charge of Vocational Training, from the latter date until 25 August 1976 and then Secretary of State near the Minister for Quality of Life, in charge of Youth and Sports, until 29 March 1977. He was Minister of Youth, Sports and Leisure from 5 April 1978 to 13 May 1981. After

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, ...

's re-election as president seven years later, Soisson returned to the government, taking part in Mitterrand's so-called ''ouverture'', i.e. inclusion of centre-right politicians in predominantly left-wing governments. He became Minister of Labor, Employment and Vocational Training on 29 June 1988, in which position he served for three years before becoming Minister of State, Minister of the Civil Service and Administrative Modernization on 17 May 1991. He remained in that position until 29 March 1992. Later in that year he became Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on 2 October, serving until 29 March 1993. Soisson was Mayor of Auxerre from 14 March 1971 to 5 April 1998. He was also Vice-President of the

General Council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and seni ...

of Yonne from 1 January 1983 to 27 June 1988, then Vice-President of the

Regional Council Regional Council may refer to: * Regional Council (Hong Kong), disbanded in 1999 ** Regional Council (constituency) Regional council may refer to: * Regional council (Cameroon) * Regional council (France), the elected assembly of a region of Fra ...

Bourgogne Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...

from the latter date until becoming president in March 1992, in which position he served until 17 April 1993. He was again President of the Regional Council of Bourgogne from 16 March 1998 to 28 March 2004, and he remains a member of the Regional Council. However, his alliance with the National Front between 1998 and 2004 in order to keep his seat in the Regional Council of Bourgogne tarred his career, and owed him to be excluded from the

(UDF), along with

Charles Baur Charles Baur (20 December 1929, Paris – 2 January 2015) was a French politician. He served as the longtime President of the Regional Council of Picardy from 1976 until 1978 and again from 1985 to 2004. He was a member of the Union for French De ...

, Jacques Blanc, Charles Millon and Bernard Harang.UMP, FN et connivences
''

L'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

'', 28 November 2006 Soisson was finally beaten in 2004 by

François Patriat François Patriat (born 21 March 1943) is a French politician of La République En Marche! (LREM) who has been serving as president of the party's group in the Senate since 2017. He has represented the Côte-d'Or department in the Senate since ...

. Jean-Pierre Soisson is one of the French member of the National Assembly who hold the record for longevity by the number of terms, with

Jean Tiberi Jean Tiberi (born January 30, 1935) is a French politician who was mayor of Paris from May 22, 1995 to March 24, 2001. , he was mayor of the 5th arrondissement of Paris and deputy to the French National Assembly from the second district of P ...

and Didier Julia, 10 terms and 32 years in the Assembly since 1968. In 2011, he announced that he will not contested his seat again for the legislative elections of 2012.

Political career

Governmental functions Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development : 1992–1993. Minister of State, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Modernization : 1991–1992. Minister of Labor, Employment and Training : 1988–1991. Minister of Youth, Sport and Recreation : 1978–1981. Secretary of State for Youth and Sports : 1976–1977. Secretary of State for Vocational Training : January–August 1976. Secretary of State for Universities : 1974–1976. Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' Member of the

for

: 1968–1974 (Became secretary of State in 1974) / Reelected in 1978 but he became minister / 1981–1988 (Became minister in 1988) / Since 1993. Elected in 1968, reelected in 1973, 1978, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007. ''Regional Council'' President of the Regional Council of

: 1992–1993 (Resignation) / 1998–2004. Vice-president of the Regional Council of

: 1986–1992. Regional councillor of

: 1986–1993 (Resignation) / Since 1998. Reelected in 1992, 1998, 2004. ''General Council'' Vice-president of the General council of

: 1983–1988. ''Municipal Council'' Mayor of

: 1971–1998 (Resignation). Reelected in 1977, 1983, 1989, 1995. Municipal councillor of

: 1971–1998 (Resignation). Reelected in 1977, 1983, 1989, 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soisson, Jean-Pierre 1934 births Living people People from Auxerre Mayors of places in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Republican Party (France) politicians Union for French Democracy politicians Liberal Democracy (France) politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni French Ministers of Civil Service French Ministers of Agriculture Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic