Adrien Quatennens

Adrien Quatennens (; born 23 May 1990) is a French politician who has represented Nord's 1st constituency in the National Assembly since 2017. From June 2019 until September 2022, he was also the party coordinator of La France Insoumise (LFI). Quatennens was first elected to the National Assembly in the 2017 legislative election before he was reelected in 2022.

Early life and education

Adrien Quatennens was born on 23 May 1990 in Lille, Nord. His father is an executive of Électricité de France (EDF), France's public electric utility company, and his mother is a salesperson in an eyeglasses store.

Quatennens became involved in politics at the age of 16, participating in the 2006 youth protests in France against the First Employment Contract. He is also a member of organizations supporting homeless people as well as ATTAC, a group advocating the taxation of foreign exchange transactions. In 2008, Quatennens received a bachelor's degree in economic and social affairs from the Catholic school La Croix Blanche in Bondues, which he had also attended for secondary school. He then began studying economics at the University of Lille, but dropped out in his second year and entered the workforce. It was as an apprentice for EDF that Quatennens obtained a Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS) in business management, after which he began to work as a consultant for businesses and professionals in the energy sector. His last job before being elected to the National Assembly was the position of clientele consultant to EDF in Lille.

Political career

Left Party

Adrien Quatennens became a follower of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2008, joining him in the Left Party (PG) in 2013 and becoming a member of its national council two years later. During the 2012 French presidential election, Quatennens campaigned for Mélenchon's unsuccessful presidential bid and did so again under the banner of La France Insoumise (LFI) in 2017. He also served alongside Ugo Bernalicis as PG secretary in Nord, being based in Lille.

In the 2014 French municipal elections, Quatennens ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the municipal council of Lille as a part of Hugo Vandamme's PG electoral list.

La France Insoumise and National Assembly

Quatennens was nominated by LFI in Nord's 1st constituency during the 2017 French legislative elections, winning 19.38% of the vote in the first round against 32.61% for Christophe Itier of La République En Marche (LREM). The ''insoumis'' was then elected to the National Assembly in the second round with 50.11% of the vote, or a margin of 50 votes.

As a deputy, Quatennens sits on the Social Affairs Committee. His committee work has included a review of the 2017 labour law reform bill, against which he introduced a motion for preliminary rejection. Quatennens' early days in the National Assembly attracted much media attention, especially after he gave a speech lasting half an hour on 10 July 2017. He also advocated for an LFI bill to recognize mental health issues linked to occupational burnout as occupational diseases.

Quatennens is considered a rising figure in LFI, being named party coordinator by the LFI representative assembly to replace Manuel Bompard on 22 July 2019.

Quatennens was chosen by his party to lead its campaign against the Philippe government's pension reform bill. He denounced the proposal as an "inequitable" project due to differences in life expectancy between social classes as well as its ultimate goal of effectively raising the retirement age.

Quatennens was one of the French political figures targeted by Pegasus spyware under the orders of the government of Morocco, leading him to file a legal complaint in court.

The 2022 presidential election saw Mélenchon come in first place in Quatennens' constituency, winning 41.8% of the vote in the first round. Quatennens successfully ran for re-election in the subsequent 2022 French legislative elections under the LFI banner. He was one of 15 National Assembly candidates nationwide to win with over 50% of the vote in the first round, recording one of the best electoral results in his party. On 18 September 2022, Quatennens stepped down from his duties as coordinator of La France Insoumise, following a domestic violence controversy with his wife, Céline Quatennens.

Personal life

Adrien Quatannens is a fan of rock music and has admired Johnny Hallyday since he was a child. In his teenage years, Quatannens also became a fan of Nirvana, Noir Désir, Bob Marley—of whom he wrote a biography at the age of 12—and Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine, whose concerts he has attended many times. Quatanenns also plays the drums for the Insousols, a band consisting of members of La France Insoumise.

In 2022 Quatannens admitted to slapping his wife and subsequently resigned as Coordinator of the Left-Green alliance.

Works

* Preface to ''Battre la campagne: journal d'une insoumise'' by Céleste van Isterdael, Éditions Borrego, 2018
* ''Génération Mélenchon,'' Seuil, 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quatennens, Adrien
1990 births
Living people
Politicians from Lille
Politicians from Hauts-de-France
Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
La France Insoumise politicians
French people of Belgian descent
Members of Parliament for Nord