Christian Vanneste (born 14 July 1947) is a French

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He served two terms as a deputy in the

French Parliament The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris ...

(2002-2012), representing the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...

(UMP).

Career

A member of the

, he was elected in the 10th constituency of Nord. He sat with the parliamentary group of the

(UMP). In 2005/2006, he reported on the controversial

DADVSI Loi DADVSI (generally pronounced as ''dadsi'') is the abbreviation of the French ''Loi relative au droit d’auteur et aux droits voisins dans la société de l’information'' (in English: "law on authors' rights and related rights in the infor ...

Controversy

In January 2006, Vanneste became the first French citizen to be fined €3,000 (in the first instance, but later relaxed) for his homophobic remarks. During a debate in the National Assembly of France, and afterwards in the media, he declared homosexual behavior a threat to the survival of humanity, and "morally inferior" to heterosexuality. The judgement, after a refused appeal, was eventually cancelled by the Cour de cassation on 12 November 2008. In 2012, Vanneste again encountered controversy after referring to the deportation from France of homosexuals in the Holocaust as a "famous legend", though he acknowledges that they were persecuted in other parts of the Reich. Vanneste may or may not face

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

charges for the comment. He nevertheless received the support of

Serge Klarsfeld Serge Klarsfeld (born 17 September 1935) is a Romanian-born French activist and Nazi hunter known for documenting the Holocaust in order to establish the record and to enable the prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, he has made notab ...

the famous French "nazi-hunter".

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

, the former French Prime Minister also admitted that "on historical grounds", his comments were true. He belongs to the Club de l'horloge (today Carrefour de l'horloge).See Philippe Lamy's thesis: http://www.theses.fr/2016PA080034/document.

References

External links

Webpage at the Assemblée Nationale website
(in French)
Official blog
(in French) 1947 births Living people Carrefour de l'horloge people Politicians from Hauts-de-France People from Tourcoing Rally for the Republic politicians National Centre of Independents and Peasants politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Popular Right Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic {{France-politician-RPR-stub