Éric Besson

Eric Besson,

Éric Besson (born 2 April 1958 in Marrakech, Morocco) is a French politician. He is presently Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually-Supportive Development in the government of François Fillon.

He left the Socialist Party in 2007 to found The Progressives, a social democratic affiliate party of Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). He has been Deputy Secretary-General of the UMP since 2009.

Biography

Eric Besson was born in Morocco. His mother is from Lebanon and his father, a flight instructor in the French Air Force, was killed in a flight accident three months before Éric's birth. At 17, he settled with his family at Montélimar, France and studied at École supérieure de commerce in Montpellier, then in the Institut d'études politiques de Paris. Besson joined the French car company, Renault, then worked for Challenges, a business monthly, before joining the Vivendi foundation.

Besson was married from 1983-2009 to Sylvie Brunel, a geographer and writer, former president of Action Against Hunger and they have three children. Their eldest child, Alexandra (born 1989), is a novelist.

Besson is engaged to Yasmine Torjeman, a 24-year old art student from Tunisia. Torjeman belongs to a prominent Muslim family with connections to former Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba.

Political career

Besson was a member of the Socialist Party from 1993 to 2007. He has been mayor of Donzère since 1995 and was the député for the Drôme between 1997 to 2007 (he did not stand for re-election in 2007). Besson began the 2007 French presidential election as a member of Ségolène Royal's campaign team, but defected in a blaze of publicity, proclaiming that he felt the Socialist campaign's economic policy to be deeply flawed. He then joined Nicolas Sarkozy's first government.

In May 2007 he served as State Secretary for Prospectives and Evaluation of Public Policies. That year, he launched a new political party, The Progressives, affiliated with the Union for a Popular Movement, Nicolas Sarkozy's party through the Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority. In January 2009, he was appointed Minister for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually-Supportive Development in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon

As successor to Brice Hortefeux in charge of immigration and national identity he announced the objective of ensuring 29,000 compulsory repatriations per annum. He said that legislation enacted penalizing assistance to illegal immigrants (with up to 5 years imprisonment) was not intended to discourage the general public but only traffickers. Éric Besson has endeavoured to overturn the role of Cimade in offering assistance to illegal immigrants held in the expanded network of detention centres in France by opening bids for offer of these services by other agencies. In September 2009, Besson effected the clearing of an area known as the Jungle near Calais, where cabins and shacks housed mainly illegal immigrants desiring to settle in Great Britain and primarily of Afghan or Kurdish stock.

Offices

Governmental functions

Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually-Supportive Development: Since 2009.

Secretary of State in charge of exploration, appraisal of public policies and development of the digital economy : 2007-2009.

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

Member of the National Assembly of France for Drôme : 1997-2007 (Became minister in 2007). Elected in 1997, reelected in 2002, 2007.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Donzère : Since 1995. Reelected in 2001, 2008.

Municipal councillor of Donzères : Since 1995. Reelected in 2001, 2008.

(source:wikipedia)