Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of

Europe Écologie–The Greens The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...

. She is the former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Montreuil Montreuil is a French place name derived from Medieval Latin , "Little Monastery". It most often refers to Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis (aka Montreuil-sous-Bois), a French commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Seine-St-Denis department. It ma ...

and was a French

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

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 ...

Life

Dominique Voynet trained as a doctor, specifically as an

anesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

. During her studies in the late 1970s, she began participating in

environmental activism The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

. She fought against the establishment of nuclear reactors in

Fessenheim Fessenheim (; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is known for: * its hydroelectric power plant on the Grand Canal d'Alsace (built 1953–1956, inaugurated 1957); * the Fessenheim Nuclear Power ...

and

Malville Malville (; Gallo: ''Malvile'', ) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique ...

, and the

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

area on behalf of the Belfort Association for the Protection of Nature. She also became a member of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and the

French Democratic Confederation of Labour The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (, CFDT) is a national trade union center, one of the five major French confederations of trade unions, led since 2023 by . It is the second largest French trade union confederation by number of memb ...

(CFDT). In her student years, she was a broadcaster for an independent radio station, "Radio ondes rouges" (Red Radio Waves). Her pacifist and environmental efforts continued with her membership of

Front de lutte antimilitariste Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music *The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

(FLAM, "Front for the Antimilitarist Struggle") and

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...

. Politics tempted her at this time, however the issues that were dear to her – social efforts, peace and

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

– were not represented in France by any party at the time. For this reason, she became one of the founding members of

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

in France. DominiqueVoynet2005

In 1989 she was elected a

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 ...

. From 1992 to 1994 she was a member of the

conseil régional A regional council () is the elected assembly of a region of France. History Regional councils were created by law on 5 July 1972. Originally they were simply consultative bodies consisting of the region's parliamentary representatives plus an ...

(regional council) of

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...

. She contested the 1995 presidential election which raised her public profile across all of France. In the first round of voting, she won 3.32% of the vote. She was elected

of Montreuil sous bois in the Seine Saint Denis on the second round of Municipal elections, 16 March 2008, defeating Jean Pierre Brard longstanding communist mayor since 1984. From 1997 to 2001 she was Minister of the Environment and Regional Planning under the

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 ...

government, she resigned on 9 July 2001 and was replaced by

Yves Cochet Yves Cochet (; born 15 February 1946) is a French politician, member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. He was minister in the government of Lionel Jospin. On 6 December 2011, he was elected member of the European Parliament (MEP). He studied ...

. In 2004, she was elected senator for the Seine-Saint-Denis ''département''. Since the

2008 French municipal elections The French municipal elections of 2008 were held on 9 and 16 March to elect the municipal councils of France's 36,782 communes. The first task of each newly constituted municipal council was to elect a mayor. Municipal councilors, and the may ...

she is the elected mayor of

. Dominique Voynet was designated the Green candidate for the

2007 presidential election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto list of sovereign states, sovereign states and their list of dependent territories, dependent territories. Referendums are included ...

on 19 July 2006. In the first round of the election, she garnered 576,666 votes (1.57%), failing to reach the second round. On 25 November 2013 Voynet announced she would not seek a second term as mayor of Montreuil, complaining of the "degradation of political life" in Montreuil and elsewhere. On 1 January 2020, Voynet became the Director of

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

Regional Health Agency A Regional Health Agency (Agence régionale de santé) is an administrative public body of the French State responsible for implementing health policy in its region. Created on 1 April 2010, the regional health agencies are governed by Title III ...

Political positions

In a 2016

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

published by Sunday newspaper ''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' (; ), also known as the JDD , is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. JDD was bought in 2023 by Vivendi of media mogul Vincent Bolloré, triggering a strike movement against the new editorial s ...

'', Voynet joined sixteen other high-profile women from across the political spectrum – , including

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 ...

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; , ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been the President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th Managing Director of the International Monetar ...

, and

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...

– in making a public vow to expose "all sexist remarks, inappropriate gestures and behaviour."Kim Willsher (15 May 2016
French former ministers launch attack on sexism in politics
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''.

Political career

Governmental function Minister of Planning and Environment : 1997–2001. Electoral mandates ''European Parliament'' Member of

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

: 1989–1991 (Resignation). Elected in 1989. ''Senate of France'' Senator of

: 2004–2011. Elected in 2004. ''General Council'' General councillor of

Jura (department) Jura ( , ) is a department in the eastern French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The department takes its name from the Jura Mountains. Its prefecture is Lons-le-Saunier; subprefectures are Dole and Saint-Claude. In 2019, Jura had a pop ...

: 1998–2004. ''Regional Council'' Regional councillor of

: 1992–1994 (Resignation). ''Municipal Council''

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis Montreuil (), also known unofficially as Montreuil-sous-Bois (), is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department and in the Mét ...

: 2008–2014. Municipal councillor of

Dole, Jura Dole (, sometimes pronounced ) is a commune in the eastern French department of Jura, of which it is a subprefecture (''sous-préfecture''). History Dole was the capital of Franche-Comté until Louis XIV conquered the region; he shifted t ...

: 1989–2004 (Resignation). Reelected in 1995, 2001.

References

External links

Dominique Voynet's official senatorial site

Dominique Voynet's official campaign site for the 2007 presidential election
* http://dominiquevoynet.eelv.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Voynet, Dominique 1958 births Living people People from Montbéliard French anesthesiologists 20th-century French physicians 21st-century French physicians Mayors of places in Île-de-France Candidates in the 1995 French presidential election Candidates in the 2007 French presidential election Women government ministers of France Europe Ecology – The Greens politicians French Democratic Confederation of Labour members 21st-century French women politicians 20th-century French women politicians Ministers of the environment of France Senators of Seine-Saint-Denis Women opposition leaders Women members of the Senate (France) Women anesthesiologists 20th-century French women physicians 21st-century French women physicians

Life

Political positions

Political career

See also

Bibliography

Works about Dominique Voynet

References

External links