Damien Alary (born January 17, 1951, in Pompignan) is a French politician and a member of 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 ...

. He was the chairman of the Departmental Council of Gard from 2001 to 2014, then briefly President of the

regional council of Languedoc-Roussillon The Regional council of Languedoc-Roussillon was the deliberative assembly of the former French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, local authority decentralized acting on the regional territory. It was headquartered in Montpellier, in a ''Hôtel'' b ...

from 2014 to 2015.

Biography

Political career

He joined the Socialist Party in 1977 after a meeting with

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 ...

. In 1979, he was elected mayor of Pompignan; in 1986, regional councilor of Languedoc-Roussillon, and in 1988, general councilor of the canton of Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort. He was elected in Gard's 5th constituency in 1997 and re-elected in 2002, from the Socialist Group. After having chaired the socialist group, under the presidency of Alain Journet, within the general council of Gard from 1998 to 2001, he was elected president in 2001. In 2004, he was elected first vice-president of the Regional Council. After the regional elections of 2004, he resigned because of multiple mandates. On February 23, 2010, he was excluded from the Socialist Party following his rallying to the list led by Georges Frêche against that of the PS. On October 28, 2010, after the death of Georges Frêche, the group of socialists excluded and related to the Regional Council elects its candidate for the presidency of the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

region. Damien Alary lost against Christian Bourquin by 13 votes against 18 in secret ballots. The following November 10, Christian Bourquin was elected president of the regional council, and Robert Navarro replaced Damien Alary from the post of first vice-president he had held since 2004. Damien Alary then asked for his

reinstatement In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or re ...

in the PS, which he then obtained. Suffering from cancer in the vocal cords, which he revealed himself in 2011, Damien Alary retained all of his elected functions and mandates. In January 2012, he affirmed “

o be O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), pl ...

still good for the service” and “intact in iscommitment”. After considering a candidacy for the 2014 municipal elections in Nîmes, Damien Alary announced his resignation on September 10, 2013. After the death of Christian Bourquin, on August 26, 2014, Damien Alary announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon. He was elected by the regional council on September 29. In September 2015, it took the position, with Jean-Claude Gayssot, for the implementation of a European policy for welcoming “Mediterranean refugees”. On October 7, 2015, he succeeded

Francina Armengol Francesca Lluch Armengol i Socias, known as Francina Armengol (born 11 August 1971 in Inca), is a Spanish politician from the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands The Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands–PSOE ('' ca, Partit Socialista ...

as the president of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion. During the 2015 regional election in Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées, head of the PS list in Gard, he announced that he was leading his "last political fight".

Early life

Coming from a family of Pompignan wine growers, he owned a

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

and

olive grove The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

. He is married and has a son, Yannick, born in 1976, who became a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is one of the sub-prefectures of the department. It was formerly known as ''Alais''. Geography Alès lies north-northwest of Nîmes, o ...

Distinctions

On June 3, 2010, Damien Alary received the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

from

Simone Veil Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. ...

at the

Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alary, Damien Living people 1951 births Members of the Regional Council of Occitania (administrative region) Regional councillors of France Departmental councillors (France) People from Gard Politicians from Occitania (administrative region)