Quick Facts
Biography
Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958 in Montbéliard, Doubs département, France) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the département of Seine-Saint-Denis.
Life
Dominique Voynet trained as a doctor, specifically as an anaesthetist. During her studies in the late 1970s, she began participating in environmental activism. She fought against the establishment of nuclear reactors in Fessenheim and Malville, and the deforestation of the Vosges area on behalf of the Belfort Association for the Protection of Nature.
She also became a member of Amnesty International and the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (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 (FLAM, "Front for the Antimilitarist Struggle") and Friends of the Earth.
Politics tempted her at this time, however the issues that were dear to her – social efforts, peace and environmentalism – were not represented in France by any party at the time. For this reason, she became one of the founding members of The Greens in France.
In 1989 she was elected a Member of the European Parliament. From 1992 to 1994 she was a member of the conseil régional (regional council) of Franche-Comté.
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 mayor 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 government, she resigned on 9 July 2001 and was replaced by Yves Cochet. In 2004, she was elected senator for the Seine-Saint-Denis département. Since the 2008 French municipal elections she is the elected mayor of Montreuil
Dominique Voynet was designated the Green candidate for the 2007 presidential election on 2006-07-18. In the first round of the election, she garnered 576,666 votes (1.57%), failing to reach the second round.
On November 25, 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 (open letter published on her web site: http://dominiquevoynet.eelv.fr).
Political career
Governmental function
Minister of Planning and Environment : 1997-2001.
Electoral mandates
European Parliament
Member of European Parliament : 1989-1991 (Resignation). Elected in 1989.
Senate of France
Senator of Seine-Saint-Denis : 2004-2011. Elected in 2004.
General Council
General councillor of Jura (department) : 1998-2004.
Regional Council
Regional councillor of Franche-Comté : 1992-1994 (Resignation).
Municipal Council
Mayor of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis : 2008-2014.
Municipal councillor of Dole, Jura : 1989-2004 (Resignation). Reelected in 1995, 2001.