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Valérie Pécresse

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Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (French pronunciation: [valeʁi pekʁɛs] ⓘ; née Roux [ʁu] ⓘ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republicans, she previously served as Minister of Higher Education and Research from 2007 to 2011 and Minister of the Budget and Government Spokeswoman from 2011 to 2012 under Prime Minister François Fillon. Pécresse represented the 2nd constituency of Yvelines in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2012 until 2016.

Valérie Pécresse
Pécresse in 2022
President of the Regional Council
of Île-de-France
Incumbent
Assumed office
18 December 2015
Preceded byJean-Paul Huchon
Minister of the Budget
In office
29 June 2011 – 10 May 2012
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byFrançois Baroin
Succeeded byJérôme Cahuzac
Government Spokesperson
In office
29 June 2011 – 15 May 2012
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byFrançois Baroin
Succeeded byNajat Vallaud-Belkacem
Minister of Higher Education and Research
In office
18 May 2007 – 29 June 2011
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byFrançois Goulard
Succeeded byLaurent Wauquiez
Member of the National Assembly
for Yvelines's 2nd constituency
In office
20 June 2012 – 20 January 2016
Preceded byYves Vandewalle
Succeeded byPascal Thévenot
In office
19 June 2002 – 19 July 2007
Preceded byFranck Borotra
Succeeded byYves Vandewalle
Member of the Regional Council of Île-de-France
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 April 2004
PresidentJean-Paul Huchon
Herself
ConstituencyYvelines
Personal details
Born
Valérie Anne Émilie Roux

(1967-07-14) 14 July 1967 (age 57)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Political partyLR (2015–2019; since 2021)
SL (since 2017)
Other political
affiliations		RPR (until 2002)
UMP (2002–2015)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1994)​
Children3
ParentDominique Roux (father)
RelativesLouis Bertagna [fr] (maternal grandfather)
EducationLycée Sainte-Geneviève
Alma materHEC Paris
École nationale d'administration

Pécresse was voted as the Republicans' nominee for the 2022 French presidential election, defeating Éric Ciotti in the party primary. She came fifth in the election with 4.8% of the vote, the worst result in the history of her party or its Gaullist predecessors.

Education and early career

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Pécresse is the daughter of economist Dominique Roux who taught at Université Paris Dauphine and later served as CEO of French conglomerate Bolloré.[1] She has degrees from HEC Paris and the École nationale d'administration.[2] She speaks French, English, Russian and Japanese.[1][3] Pécresse was an auditor of the Conseil d'État until 1998, when she was designated councillor to President Jacques Chirac.[1][3]

Political career

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Career in local politics

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In 2004, she took office as a regional councillor of Île-de-France. She was also the spokeswoman of the Union for a Popular Movement party in Yvelines. In 2020, she took office as a municipal councillor of Vélizy-Villacoublay.

Career in national politics

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In addition to her activities in regional politics, Pécresse served as a member of the National Assembly of France from 2002 until 2007, representing the Yvelines department (2nd constituency).[4] In parliament, she was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (2002–2005) and the Committee on Cultural Affairs (2005–2007).[5] In 2004, she became the spokeswoman for Nicolas Sarkozy, who was then leader of the UMP.[1] From 2007 until 2011, Pécresse served as Minister of Higher Education and Research in the cabinet of Prime Minister François Fillon. During her time in office, she launched many reforms to give universities a greater degree of autonomy over their resources and open the way for more private sector financing. The reforms caused a wave of strikes.[6][7]

In 2009, the Académie de la Carpette anglaise, an organisation that opposes the spread of the English language in Francophone countries, gave Pécresse the Prix de la Carpette Anglaise (lit: "English Doormat Prize") for having refused to speak French at international meetings in Brussels, Belgium; Pécresse had stated that English was the easiest means of communication.[8] At the same time, Pécresse was described by the Financial Times as one of the most successful of Sarkozy's ministers and considered as a candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as Minister of the Economy and Finance in 2011.[9]

From 2011 until 2012, Pécresse served as the government's spokeswoman and as Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform in Fillon's third cabinet, succeeding François Baroin.[10][11] In this capacity, she opposed increases in the EU budget for 2013.[12] In the 2011 local elections, she notably went against official party line, led by then UMP leader Jean-François Copé, not to direct the party's supporters how to vote; instead, she said she would rather vote for the Socialist Party (PS) in the case of a runoff against the National Front (FN).[13]

After the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 French presidential election, Pécresse remained a key member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and its successor, the Republicans (LR). She returned to the National Assembly, where she served on the Finance Committee from 2012 until 2016.[5] In September 2014, she joined Fillon, Étienne Blanc, Éric Ciotti and Pierre Lellouche on an official trip to Iraq.[14]

President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France

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Valérie Pécresse at the 41st César Awards in 2016

In December 2015, Pécresse led a list of candidates of the Union of the Right, a coalition of centrist and right-wing parties, which narrowly won the Île-de-France regional election, defeating the Union of the Left, a coalition of socialists and ecologists. She became the first woman to hold the office of president of the Regional Council of Île-de-France.[citation needed] In the party's 2016 presidential primaries Pécresse endorsed former prime minister Alain Juppé.[15] Amid the Fillon affair, in March 2017, she joined Xavier Bertrand, Christian Estrosi and others in calling for Juppé to replace François Fillon as the party's candidate.[16][17]

In response to the Brexit vote in 2016, Pécresse helped launch an initiative of corporate leaders and politicians – including Anne Hidalgo, Gérard Mestrallet and Christian Noyer – to attract business from London.[18][19] She has since been saying publicly that France was rolling out the "red-white-and-blue carpet" for UK bankers.[20]

Ahead of the Republicans' 2017 leadership elections, Pécresse founded her own political movement Libres! in July 2017. She also publicly opposed newly elected LR chairman Laurent Wauquiez, warning against his possible "porosity" to the far-right National Front's (FN) ideas.[21][22] She later announced her resignation from LR on 5 June 2019, three days after Wauquiez's resignation from the presidency of the party.[23]

In 2019, Pécresse announced plans to boost the number of people in the Paris region who cycle to work by investing 100 million euros in new cycle lanes and infrastructure and a subsidized electric bike rental scheme before 2021.[24]

Candidacy for 2022 presidential election

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Main articles: 2021 The Republicans congress, 2022 French presidential election, and Opinion polling for the 2022 French presidential election

In July 2021, Pécresse announced her intention to run as the Republican candidate in the 2022 presidential election.[25] In an interview with Le Figaro, she said: "I am ready to be the first woman president of the Republic."[26] At the party's congress in November 2021, she came in second after Éric Ciotti in an internal vote; for the runoff election, she was endorsed by the other defeated candidates Michel Barnier, Xavier Bertrand and Philippe Juvin.[27] On 4 December 2021, she won the Republican candidacy in the final round of voting with 61 percent of ballots cast by party members, the first woman to be so nominated; Ciotti polled 39 percent.[28][29] She appointed Sonia Petro, a politician from Guadeloupe as Overseas Speaker during her campaign.[30] After winning the nomination, Pécresse's polling numbers soared above those of far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour, though trailing incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the first round. From the end of December, Pécresse and Le Pen were close together in polls for second place in the first round, to advance into the second round behind Macron.[31][32][33]

In January 2022, Pécresse said that France should metaphorically use a Kärcher pressure washer against crime in banlieues; the same argument had been used by Sarkozy in 2005. The German corporation said that it did not want to be used in political discourse.[34] In February, some of her aides including Éric Woerth and Natacha Bouchart left her campaign and endorsed Macron.[35] At a rally in February, Pécresse said "in ten years time … will we be a sovereign nation, a U.S. satellite or a Chinese trading post? Will we be unified or divided? Nothing is written, whether it's loss of economic status, or the Great Replacement". She was criticised for referring to the Great Replacement, and later said that her mention was not an endorsement of what she considered to be a "theory of hate".[36][37][38][39] In addition to this statement, her rally was ridiculed by members of her own party, who perceived her delivery as awkward and likened the rally to the sinking of the Titanic.[40][41][42][43]

By March 2022, Pécresse was polling in fifth place for the first round, behind Macron, Zemmour, Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.[44] She finished in fifth place with 1,679,470 votes (4.8%), the worst-ever result for the Republicans or its Gaullist predecessors.[45] She then endorsed Macron for the second round.[46] Pécresse received slightly less than the 5% threshold to be reimbursed by the state for her campaign; she said that her campaign had cost €7 million, of which €5 million was her personal responsibility. She then announced a plan to crowdfund the paying of her debts.[47]

Political positions

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Social policy

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Opposed to the Taubira bill on same-sex marriage in France, Pécresse participated in various demonstrations opposing same-sex marriage and LGBT parenting between 2012 and 2013, notably led by La Manif pour tous.[48] In a 2016 op-ed published by Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Pécresse joined sixteen other high-profile women from across the political spectrum – including Élisabeth Guigou, Christine Lagarde, and Fleur Pellerin – in making a public vow to expose "all sexist remarks, inappropriate gestures and behaviour."[49][50]

When founding Libres! in 2017, Pécresse told Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche she would seek to position her grouping between those who had joined Macron's government – including Prime Minister Édouard Philippe – and those who would follow a line she called "aggressive opposition," and which has gathered around the party's right wing.[51] Also in 2020, Pécresse said she was "totally hostile" to mail-in voting to facilitate voting during the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in France.[52]

In 2021, Pécresse advocated a more restrictive approach to the issue of immigration, seeing it as a "major societal challenge". In particular, she suggests the introduction of maximum annual immigration ceilings and stricter conditions for the issuance of a residence permit, such as having "sufficient resources" (the amount of which would be raised by 25%), "mastery of the French language" and "respect for secularism and the values of the Republic". Finally, she wants to exclude people who have been living in France for less than five years from social assistance.[53]

Homeland security

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In response to the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks, Pécresse said France needed its own version of the Patriot Act.[54] Following the murder of Samuel Paty in 2020, Pécresse argued for lifting restrictions on facial recognition and using artificial intelligence to fight terrorism on public transport networks.[55]

Economic policy

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Declaring herself in favour of economic liberalism, she said in August 2021 that she was "two-thirds Merkel, one-third Thatcher".[56] In the run-up to the 2022 presidential election, she promised to cut public spending and taxes through four major reforms: eliminating 150,000 civil service jobs, moving to retirement at age 65, reducing unemployment benefits and withdrawing the state from competitive companies in which it is a minority shareholder.[57] She also wants to end the 35-hour workweek.[58] At the same time, she has attempted to present herself as an environmentalist.[59]

Personal life

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Pécresse has been married to former investment banker and current CEO of GE Renewable Energy Jérôme Pécresse since 1994. The couple have three children.[60][61]

Bibliography

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  • "Miss Oradour", in Thiollet, Jean-Pierre (2022), Hallier en roue libre, Paris: Neva Editions, ISBN 978-2-35055-305-4

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Guttenplan, D. D. (22 May 2011). "France Reinvesting in Universities, Education Minister Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Valérie Pécresse, la guerrière". Le Parisien (in French). 29 March 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Valérie Pécresse, Et Dieu créa la femme". Le Nouvel Économiste. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.
  4. ^ FACTBOX: Results for ministers in French election Reuters, 10 June 2007.
  5. ^ a b Valérie Pécresse National Assembly.
  6. ^ Willard, Anna (27 November 2007). "French students hold fresh protests against reform". Reuters.
  7. ^ Bintliff, Esther (15 May 2009). "French students rue wasted semester". Financial Times.
  8. ^ Schofiel, Hugh (22 January 2009). "New lingua franca upsets French". BBC News. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
  9. ^ Hollinger, Peggy (29 June 2011). "Sarkozy prepares to name Lagarde successor". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  10. ^ Vinocur, Nicholas (29 June 2011). "French Sarkozy to name replacement finance minister". Reuters. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  11. ^ Jarry, Emmanuel (29 June 2011). "French govt names Baroin as new finance minister". Reuters. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  12. ^ Vogel, Toby (25 April 2012). "MEPs prepare to call for greater budget increase". Politico Europe. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  13. ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (21 March 2011). "French local elections leave Sarkozy party in disarray". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  14. ^ Jeudy, Brune (31 August 2014). "Fillon en Irak pour soutenir les chrétiens d'Orient". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French).
  15. ^ Vinocur, Nicholas (3 November 2016). "Alain Juppé faces toughest test yet in French TV debate". Politico Europe. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  16. ^ Irish, John (5 March 2017). "French conservative party heavyweights to push for Fillon alternative, says senior politician". Reuters. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  17. ^ Irish, John; Callus, Andrew (5 March 2017). "French conservatives in disarray as Fillon clings on". Reuters. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  18. ^ Stothard, Michael (31 October 2016). "France sets up team in Brexit push to lure business from London". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  19. ^ Deen, Mark (3 November 2016). "France Sets Up One-Stop Shop for British Firms Fleeing Brexit". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  20. ^ Stothard, Michael (7 July 2017). "Paris rolls out 'red-white-and-blue carpet' for banks". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  21. ^ Melander, Ingrid (3 September 2017). "'The right is back,' says frontrunner to lead French conservatives". Reuters. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  22. ^ Willsher, Kim (10 December 2017). "French opposition elects hard-right leaning leader". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  23. ^ Mourgue, Marion (5 June 2019). "Valérie Pécresse annonce sa démission des Républicains". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  24. ^ De Clercq, Geert (13 March 2019). "Paris region to boost cycle commuting with bike parks and e-bikes". Reuters. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  25. ^ Kayali, Laura (22 July 2021). "Head of Paris region announces presidential bid". Politico Europe. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  26. ^ Mourgue, Marion (22 July 2021). "Valérie Pécresse: "Je suis candidate à la présidence de la République pour restaurer la fierté française"". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  27. ^ Lough, Richard (2 December 2021). "Pecresse emerges as favourite to win French centre-right's presidential ticket". Reuters. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  28. ^ Nussbaum, Ania (4 December 2021). "France's Republicans Pick Pecresse as Presidential Candidate". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  29. ^ "French election 2022: Valérie Pécresse wins conservative primary". Euronews. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  30. ^ "Sonia Pétro : "Avec Valérie Pécresse, avec une femme, on va changer la France !"". Guadeloupe la 1ère (in French). 5 December 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  31. ^ "Présidentielle : déjà un trou d'air dans les sondages pour Valérie Pécresse?". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). 11 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  32. ^ Poussielgue, Grégoire (3 January 2022). "Sondage présidentielle 2022 : Macron fait la course en tête, Pécresse et Le Pen au coude-à-coude". Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  33. ^ "Sondage : Macron reste favori, Le Pen et Pécresse au coude-à-coude". Le Point (in French). AFP. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  34. ^ "German power-hose company Karcher demands not to be dragged into French politics". France 24. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  35. ^ "Defections sap conservative contender Pécresse in French presidential race". France 24. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  36. ^ ""Grand remplacement» : Valérie Pécresse dénonce une "polémique montée" sur une «théorie de la haine"" ["Great replacement": Valérie Pécresse denounces a "staged controversy" over a "theory of hate"]. Le Parisien (in French). AFP. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  37. ^ Caulcutt, Clea (14 February 2022). "France's Pécresse comes under fire for reference to far-right conspiracy theory". Politico. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  38. ^ Onishi, Norimitsu (15 February 2022). "In France, a Racist Conspiracy Theory Edges into the Mainstream". The New York Times.
  39. ^ "France's Pecresse Raises 'Great Replacement' in Campaign Gambit". Bloomberg.com. 13 February 2022.
  40. ^ Dodman, Benjamin (24 February 2022). "A 'Titanic' flop: lacklustre rally turns up the heat on conservative front-runner Valérie Pécresse". France 24. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  41. ^ De Fournas, Marie (14 February 2022). "Présidentielle 2022 : Avant Valérie Pécresse, quels candidats ont frôlé « le naufrage » avec une phrase choc ?" [2022 presidential election: Before Valérie Pécresse, which candidates have skirted "a shipwreck" with a shock phrase?]. 20 minutes (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  42. ^ Toussay, Jade (15 February 2022). "Valérie Pécresse au Zénith: pourquoi tant de critiques sur la forme" [Valérie Pécresse at the Zénith: why are there so many criticisms of her style]. HuffPost (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  43. ^ Kirby, Paul (25 March 2022). "French election: Who's challenging Emmanuel Macron for the presidency?". BBC News. Retrieved 2 April 2022. A speech at a February rally in front of 7,500 party supporters was widely mocked as wooden and awkward.
  44. ^ Samuel, Henry (12 March 2022). "Valerie Pécresse sinks to fifth place as French Right implodes". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  45. ^ Calcea, Nicu (11 April 2022). "How the centre-left and centre-right in France collapsed". New Statesman. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  46. ^ "French Socialist, Green, conservative candidates back Macron in election run-off against Le Pen". France 24. 10 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  47. ^ Jack, Victor (11 April 2022). "French election losers appeal to voters to help repay campaign debts". Politico. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  48. ^ Touati, Nabil (22 April 2013). "VIDÉO. Quand Valérie Pécresse voulait "démarier" les couples gays". HuffPost (in French). Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  49. ^ Willsher, Kim (15 May 2016). "French former ministers launch attack on sexism in politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  50. ^ Busquets Guàrdia, Arnau (16 May 2016). "Christine Lagarde, ministers warn sexual harassment 'immunity' in France is over". Politico Europe. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  51. ^ Jarry, Emmanuel; Nikolaeva, Maya (9 July 2017). "French conservative heavyweight Pecresse to lead political splinter group". Reuters. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  52. ^ Bermingham, Pierre-Paul (16 November 2020). "France split over 'American' mail-in ballots for 2021 regional elections". Politico Europe. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  53. ^ "Présidentielle 2022 : Valérie Pécresse présente un projet de révision de la Constitution pour "stopper l'immigration incontrôlée"". Franceinfo (in French). 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  54. ^ Apuzzo, Matt; Erlanger, Steven (16 January 2015). "Patriot Act Idea Rises in France, and Is Ridiculed". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  55. ^ Vinocur, Nicholas (30 October 2020). "French politicians urge deployment of surveillance technology after series of attacks". Politico Europe. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  56. ^ "Valérie Pécresse : "Je suis 2/3 Merkel et 1/3 Thatcher"". Le Point (in French). 18 August 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  57. ^ "Valérie Pécresse propose la suppression de "150.000 postes dans l'administration"". actu.orange.fr (in French). 18 October 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  58. ^ "In first, French conservatives pick a woman as presidential candidate". Euronews. 4 December 2021.
  59. ^ Sarah White and Victor Mallet (4 December 2021), Valérie Pécresse to confront Emmanuel Macron in 2022 election Financial Times.
  60. ^ Lechevallier, Anne-Sophie (24 August 2010). "Jérôme Pécresse, le mari de Valérie". Paris Match (in French). Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  61. ^ Victor Mallet (10 December 2021), Valérie Pécresse, the woman who could beat Macron Financial Times.
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Political offices
Preceded by President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France
2015 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by Minister of Higher Education and Research
2007–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of the Budget
2011–2012 		Succeeded by
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