Benoît Hamon (; born 26 June 1967) is a French politician known for his former role within the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

(PS) and

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom. ...

(PES) and his political party Génération.s. Hamon joined the Socialist Party in 1988 and by 1993 became the leader of the

Young Socialist Movement The Movement of the Young Socialists (french: Mouvement des Jeunes Socialistes, MJS) or simply ''Jeunes Socialistes'' is the youth organisation of the Socialist Party of France. MJS was founded in 1993 as a formally independent youth organisation. ...

, serving until 1995. In 2004, Hamon was elected MEP for East of France and during his time as MEP he ran for leadership of the Socialist Party, losing in the first round of the

Reims Congress The Reims Congress was the twenty-second national congress of the French Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), taking place from 14 to 16 November 2008 in the city of Reims in the Marne. Incumbent First Secretary François Hollande announ ...

and endorsing the Eurosceptic option in the 2005 European Constitution referendum. In 2012, Hamon was elected to the National Assembly in Yveline's 11th constituency, though he resigned after being appointed as junior minister for the Social Economy at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and External Trade by President François Hollande. Hamon was then appointed Minister of National Education in

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...

' new government. He was removed from this position alongside Economy Minister

Arnaud Montebourg Arnaud Montebourg (; born 30 October 1962) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who served as the Minister of Industrial Renewal from 2012 to 2014,Francois Hollande and

. In 2016, Hamon declared his intention to run in the Socialist Party primary for the 2017 presidential election. Being dubbed the "

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

of the French-left" and "reinventing the French left", Hamon ran on ideas accused of being "far-out" such as legalising cannabis, taxing

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

and introducing a

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

. Hamon eventually won in a run-off against former Prime Minister Manuel Valls and campaigned on similar ideals in the general election, though only gathering 6.36 per cent of votes. Shortly following his loss in the legislative election, Hamon left the Socialist Party in July 2017 to found his own political party called 1 July Movement, later renamed Génération.s. After failing to win any seats in the 2019 European elections, Hamon will step back to reflect on his and his movement's political future.

Early life

Hamon was born 26 June 1967 in

Saint-Renan Saint-Renan (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. History The city is named after the Irish saint "Rónán", who came in the 5th century to evangelize the area. While Brest was a village, the ci ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

to an engineer father who worked for

Naval Group Naval Group is a major French industrial group specialized in naval defense design, development and construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards initiated in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu and to the Direc ...

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

and a secretary mother. Hamon lived in Brest until 1980, moving with his parents to Dakar, Senegal where he attended a

Cours Sainte Marie de Hann Cours Sainte Marie de Hann is a school for different group of ages ranging from Kindergarten to high school in Dakar, Senegal. It was founded in 1949-1950 and belongs to a group of private schools in the Dakar Diocese of the Catholic Church.

private school. Hamon credited growing up in Dakar as influential to the future of his life due to the religious and ethnic diversity of the region. Hamon returned to Brittany following his parents divorce in 1984 and eventually enrolled in the

University of Western Brittany The University of Western Brittany (french: Université de Bretagne-Occidentale; UBO) is a French university, located in Brest, in the Academy of Rennes. On a national scale, in terms of graduate employability, the university oscillates between 1 ...

studying a degree in History where he joined the Young Socialist movement. Hamon lived in an apartment with current Socialist Party first secretary Olivier Faure during his academic life.

Political career

Beginnings

After obtaining a degree in history at the University of Western Brittany in 1991, Hamon started his parliamentary career as an assistant to Socialist Party deputy Pierre Brana at the age of 24. Hamon had been taking part in student protests since the age of 19, starting his involvement in politics during a demonstration against

Alain Devaquet Alain Devaquet (4 October 1942 – 19 January 2018) was a French politician who was a minister under Jacques Chirac. A university professor before embarking on his political career with the Rally for the Republic, Devaquet was given the role of ...

's 1986-1987 education reform. Hamon joined the Socialist Party afterwards and became active in the Brest Socialist Party, being an advocate and supporter of Prime Minister

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991 during which he created the ''Revenu minimum d'ins ...

. Hamon also campaigned in support of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Following the Socialist Party's loss in the 1993 legislative election, Michel Rocard, with the support of the socialist wing of the party, became the first secretary. The subsequent shake-up of the party's establishment led to the Socialist Party's secretary of communication, Manuel Valls', appointing Hamon within the administration of the Young Socialists. Hamon was a regional manager with supervision over

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, Nancy and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. Hamon's leadership was inspired entirely by Rocard, independent from the then-leadership of the Young Socialists. Hamon was elected the leader of the Young Socialists in November 1993. Hamon's leadership of the Young Socialists was marked by a closeness to student unions, which helped current Socialist Party politicians such as

Pouria Amirshahi Pouria Amirshahi (born 27 March 1972 in Shemiran, Iran), is a French politician. He was a Deputy in the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, ...

win elections for leadership positions within different student unions. Hamon also led an increase in membership from 500 members to 3,000, an expansion in terms of bases the Young Socialists have in universities and an increase of membership age from 25 to 29, mainly due to Hamon's own age of 26 at the time. Following the revelation that then-president François Mitterrand and former high ranking Vichy member

René Bousquet René Bousquet (; 11 May 1909 – 8 June 1993) was a high-ranking French political appointee who served as secretary general to the Vichy French police from May 1942 to 31 December 1943. For personal heroism, he had become a protégé of promin ...

had a friendship, Hamon resigned as the leader of the Young Socialists. He was succeeded by

Régis Juanico Régis Juanico (born 5 February 1972) is a French politician of Génération.s who served as a member of the National Assembly of France from 2007 to 2022, representing Loire's 1st constituency. He is a former member of the Socialist Party. ...

and became the national Representative of youth issues for the Socialist Party and then the advisor for youth policy in Lionel Jospin's 1995 presidential election. Hamon ran for the National Assembly in 1997, in Morbihan's 2nd constituency's, losing in the second round. Hamon was then appointed as an advisor to Martine Aubry's Employment Ministry, mainly in charge of youth employment from 1997 to 1998 before becoming a senior advisor in 1998 to 2000. Hamon became a city councillor for Brétigny-sur-Orge in 2001, serving until 2008. He was also the director for strategic planning at Ipsos from 2001 to 2004.

European Parliament

In 2003, Hamon founded a caucus within the Socialist Party called the " New Socialist Party" with

Arnaud Montebourg Arnaud Montebourg (; born 30 October 1962) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who served as the Minister of Industrial Renewal from 2012 to 2014,Vincent Peillon Vincent Benoît Camille Peillon (; born 7 July 1960) is a French politician who served as Minister for Education in the French Government. He is a longstanding French politician and, from 2014 until 2019, served as a Member of the European Parlia ...

Julien Dray Julien Dray (born 5 March 1955 in Oran, French Algeria) is a French politician. He is a member of the French Socialist Party, member of the regional council of Île-de-France and was a member of the National Assembly of France between 1988 an ...

. The caucus was able to gathered 17% of votes at the

Dijon Congress The Dijon Congress was the twentieth national congress of the French Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS). It took place from May 16 to 18, 2003. The objective of the Congress was to start the reconstruction of the weakened party after it ...

, the second most behind Francois Hollande, who was eventually elected the first secretary of the Socialist Party. The caucus became the main Socialist Left affiliation within the party following an endorsement by former-first secretary

Henri Emmanuelli Henri Emmanuelli (31 May 1945 – 21 March 2017) was a French politician. A member of the French Socialist Party, he was deputy for Landes from 1978 to 1981, from 1986 to 1997, and from 2000 to 2017. Early life and career Emmanuelli was born ...

. The "New Socialist Party" split after a motion proposed by the party at the

Le Mans Congress The Le Mans Congress was the twenty-first national congress of the French Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS). It took place from November 18 to 20, 2005. The objective of the Congress was to solve internal divisions created by the Frenc ...

, was rejected by leading member

Arnaud Montebourg Arnaud Montebourg (; born 30 October 1962) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who served as the Minister of Industrial Renewal from 2012 to 2014,primary for the presidential election. Hamon was

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the East of France from 2004 to 2009, attached to the PES Group. He served as a member of the Committee of Economic and Monetary affairs, an alternative member of the Committee on Consumer Protection and the Vice-Chairman of the Delegate for the United States. Hamon was a campaigner for a "no" vote in the 2005 European Constitution referendum and was the national secretary for the PES Group, elected in 2005 and resigning in 2007 after the Socialist Party's support of the Lisbon Treaty despite promises made during the Le Mans Congress. Hamon became a spokesman for the Socialist Party in the 2007 legislative elections. After the candidacy for the First Secretary of the became a contest between , Hamon urged his supporters to vote for Aubry, who secured a narrow, contested majority. On 16 May 2012, Hamon was appointed Junior Minister for the Social Economy at the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and External Trade by President François Hollande. Hamon was Minister of National Education from 2 April 2014 until 25 August 2014, resigning as a result of Hollande's abandonment of a socialist agenda. He was national secretary for Europe and spokesperson for the Socialist Party.

2017 presidential campaign

Hamon announced his intention to seek the French presidency in August 2016. Critical of the

social-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

politics of Hollande and Prime Minister

, Hamon represented the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

and

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

side of the Socialist Party during the primary. Benoit Hamon Metting Republique 2017

Hamon wants to give all French citizens a

basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

, believing that the availability of work will decrease due to

. He supports a 35-hour workweek, and less if a worker chooses in exchange for state compensation, and supports the legalisation of cannabis and euthanasia. He also argues for sizeable investments in renewable energy, aiming for renewable sources to provide 50% of French energy by 2025, and wants to protect the "common goods" (water, air, biodiversity) in the Constitution. Hamon is also very critical of the neoliberal "myth of infinite economic growth", which he blames for " destroying the planet" and argues is a "quasi-religion" among politicians, saying: "There is an urgency to change now our way to produce and consume. ..We can negotiate with bankers, but we can't negotiate with the planet". Polling in January 2017 showed that his support had tripled and put him into serious contention for the nomination. On 22 January 2017, Hamon came in first in the first round of the primary, ahead of Valls. He secured the support of

Arnaud Montebourg Arnaud Montebourg (; born 30 October 1962) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who served as the Minister of Industrial Renewal from 2012 to 2014, In the runoff on 29 January, he won the Socialist Party nomination. Hamon conceded defeat after the first round of the presidential election on 23 April, and immediately announced his support for Emmanuel Macron in the second round. Addressing the

1 July Movement 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

on 1 July 2017, Hamon said he was leaving the Socialist Party, but not socialism and called for the formation of local committees of the left to decide the movement's future.

Personal life

Hamon is in a civil union, also known as '' PACS'' in France, with Gabrielle Guallar with whom he has two daughters. The couple met while Hamon was an MEP for East France. Hamon has an estate in his home department of

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

and an apartment in Hauts-de-Seine.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamon, Benoit 1967 births Living people Candidates in the 2017 French presidential election French Ministers of National Education Government ministers of France MEPs for East France 2004–2009 People from Saint-Renan Socialist Party (France) MEPs University of Western Brittany alumni Génération.s politicians