Yvan Blot (29 June 1948 – 10 October 2018) was a French conservative politician. A founding member of the

GRECE The Groupement de Recherche et d'Études pour la Civilisation Européenne ("Research and Study Group for European Civilization"), better known as GRECE, is a French ethnonationalist think tank founded in 1968 to promote the ideas of the Nouvell ...

, he was also the co-creator and president of the

Club de l'Horloge The Carrefour de l'Horloge (literally ''The Clock Crossroad''), formerly Club de l'Horloge (1974–2015), is a French far-right national liberal think tank founded in 1974 and presided by Henry de Lesquen. The organization promotes an "integral ne ...

Biography

Born on 29 June 1948 in

Saint-Mandé Saint-Mandé (; named for Saint Maudez) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France, in the high-end eastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, cent ...

, Yvan Blot was the son of Camille Blot and Adela Sophia Brys. He studied in

Lycée Henri IV 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 ...

and 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 ...

and earned a doctorate in economics at the same university in 2004. Blot founded in the Cercle Pareto, a Sciences Po student organization linked to the

Nouvelle Droite The ''Nouvelle Droite'' (, ), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right politics, far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The ''Nouvelle Droite'' is the origin of the wider European New Right ( ...

, and was soon joined by Jean-Yves Le Gallou, Daniel Garrigue and

Guillaume Faye Guillaume Faye (; 7 November 1949 – 6 March 2019) was a French political theorist, journalist, writer, and leading member of the French New Right. Continuing the tradition of Giorgio Locchi, his various articles and books sought to posit Isla ...

. Between 1971 and 1974, he wrote under the pen name "Michel Norey" racialist essays on "biological realism".Lamy, Philippe. ''Le Club de l’Horloge (1974 -2002). Evolution et mutation d’un laboratoire idéologique''. Université Paris VIII Saint-Denis (2016)
read online
, pp. 24, 264–75 Dismissing the anti-Christian stance and long-term strategies

Alain de Benoist Alain de Benoist ( ; ; born 11 December 1943), also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names, is a French political philosopher and journalist, a founding member of the ''Nouvelle Droite'' (France's European Ne ...

and his

, he co-founded in July 1974 the

. A former

Gaullist Gaullism ( ) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withdrew French forces from t ...

parliamentarian (for

Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic ( ; RPR ) was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaul ...

), Blot also served as a leading civil servant under both

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

Michel Poniatowski Michel Poniatowski (16 May 1922 – 15 January 2002) was a French politician, member of a legitimized line of Polish princely Poniatowski family. He was a founder of the Independent Republicans and a part of the administration for Presiden ...

and

Alain Devaquet Alain Devaquet (4 October 1942 – 19 January 2018) was a French politician who was a minister under Jacques Chirac. A university professor before embarking on his political career with the Rally for the Republic, Devaquet was given the role of ...

. He joined the

Front National The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

in 1989 and was elected to the

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 ...

in the 1989 election. A prominent

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

, Blot played a leading role in establishing a committee to support the Bruges Group in France. He also played a leading role in FN policy making, joining other Club de l'Horloge alumni such as

Bruno Mégret Bruno Mégret (; born 4 April 1949) is a French former nationalist politician. He was the leader of the Mouvement National Républicain political party, but retired in 2008 from all political action. Youth and studies Born in Paris, Mégret stud ...

Henry de Lesquen Henry Bertrand Marie Armand de Lesquen du Plessis-Casso (; born 1 January 1949) is a French politician. A retired official and former radio director, De Lesquen has been the president of the Carrefour de l'Horloge, a national-liberal think tan ...

and Jean-Yves Le Gallou in driving the party away from

corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...

and towards

neo-liberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

economics. He wrote for ''

Nation Europa ''Nation Europa'' (also called ''Nation und Europa'') was a far-right monthly magazine, published in Germany. It was founded in 1951 and was based in Coburg until its closure in 2009. It is also the name of the publishing house that developed the ...

'' magazine. In the early 2000s, he became a member of the

UMP UMP may refer to: Science * Ultra metal-poor star, refers to a type of star with extremely low levels of heavier elements * Uniformly most powerful test, in statistical hypothesis testing * Uridine monophosphate, a nucleotide * Utility maximizat ...

. He was the founder of the association "Agir pour la démocratie directe" in Paris. The mission statement of this association is to change the French constitution on the Swiss model. Blot retired from the French administration in July 2013 and became professor in direct democracy at the

University of Nice A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, at the

Catholic University of Rennes The Catholic University of Rennes (''Institut catholique de Rennes'' or ICR) is a Catholic university in Rennes, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas reg ...

and in the University of Velikie Novgorod in Russia. He was a member of the

French Catholic Academy The French Catholic Academy (Académie catholique de France) is a learned society founded in 2008 with the aim of addressing the challenges faced by Catholic intellectuals in contemporary France. Conceived by a group of academics, the Academy was es ...

and a consultant for the radio station "Voice of Russia" in Paris. He worked for the think tank Idexia with Charles Beigbeder and

Guillaume Peltier Guillaume Peltier (; born 27 August 1976) is a French politician, former teacher and business leader, who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2024. He represented the 2nd constituency of the Loir-et-Cher department in t ...

, a group favouring the return of the former president

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

to power. Blot was author of numerous essays in politics and philosophy, such as ''L'oligarchie au pouvoir'' and ''La démocratie directe: une chance pour la France'', ''Les faux prophètes'' and ''Nous les enfants d'Athéna''. his last books were ''L'homme défiguré'' (2015) and ''La Russie de Poutine'' (2015).

References

External links

European Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blot, Yvan Carrefour de l'horloge people 1948 births 2018 deaths People from Saint-Mandé French political writers New Right (Europe) École nationale d'administration alumni Deputies of the 8th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic MEPs for France 1989–1994 National Rally MEPs Rally for the Republic politicians French male non-fiction writers