Jean-Yves Le Drian

French politician
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroFrench politician
PlacesFrance
isPolitician Historian
Work fieldSocial science Politics
Gender
Male
Birth30 June 1947, Lorient, France
Age77 years
Star signCancer
Politics:Socialist Party
Family
Mother:Louisette Derrien
Father:Jean Le Drian
Siblings:Marie Le Drian Thérèse Thiéry
Spouse:Maria Vadillo
Education
University of Rennes 2 - Upper Brittany
lycée Saint-Louis de Lorient
University of Rennes
Awards
Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic2016
Order of the Republic Egypt2017
National Order of Mali2013
Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany2017
Order of the Golden Fleece2016
Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class2019
The details

Biography

Jean-Yves Le Drian ([ʒã.iv lə.dʁi.jã]; born 30 June 1947) is a French politician serving as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs since 2017. He previously was Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2017 under President François Hollande. He was nominated by Emmanuel Macron to serve as Foreign Minister in the First Philippe government on 17 May 2017. A former member of the Socialist Party, he has been an Independent since 2018.

Family and education

Jean-Yves Le Drian was born in Lorient to working-class parents, Jean and Louisette, who were active members of the Young Christian Workers (Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne, JOC). He completed his studies at the University of Rennes 2, where he was an activist for the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF). First of all interested by Breton Democratic Union (UDB) in the 1970s, he joined the Socialist Party (PS) in May 1974.

Political career

Early functions

In 1977, he assumed the position of Deputy Mayor of Lorient; one year later, at the age of 30, he became a member of the National Assembly for Morbihan. He served until 1993 and then again from 1997 until 2007. He became Mayor of Lorient in 1981 and retained the office until 1988; he also served as Secretary of State for the Sea under President François Mitterrand from 1991 to 1992.

In the 2004 regional elections, leading the Bretagne à gauche, Bretagne pour tous (PS-PCF-PRG-Les Verts-UDB) list, he won 58.66% of the vote in the runoff and a total of 58 seats in the Regional Council of Brittany. He thus became President of the Regional Council of Brittany. In October 2010 he became President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR).

Minister of Defence

Le Drian with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 2016

He was nominated to serve as Minister of Defence under President François Hollande on 16 May 2012. He managed the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan and the deployment of French troops in the Northern Mali conflict and Operation Barkhane. He is also credited with leading a resurgence in French weapons' exports that have resulted in billions of euros in deals, including the first exports of the Dassault Rafale fighter jet.

On 23 March 2017, Le Drian endorsed Emmanuel Macron's candidacy for President of the Republic. After Macron won the presidential election, he appointed Le Drian as Foreign Minister in the First Philippe government.

Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Le Drian remained in office when the Second Philippe government was inaugurated; on 8 March 2018, he officially resigned from the Socialist Party.

In August 2019, Le Drian called on Hong Kong authorities to renew talks with Hong Kong protesters to find a peaceful solution to the then ongoing crisis. On 9 October 2019, Le Drian condemned the unilateral Turkish operation in Northeastern Syria and declared that Turkey's military incursion "is jeopardising the anti-Islamic State coalition’s security and humanitarian efforts and is a risk for the security of Europeans".

Awards and honours

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 01 Apr 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.