Florence Parly (born 8 May 1963) is a French politician who served as
Minister of the Armed Forces under President
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
from 2017 to 2022. A former 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 ...
(PS), she previously served as
Secretary of State for the Budget from 2000 to 2002 under President
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...
.
Career
An alumna of the
École nationale d'administration
The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...
, Parly was appointed
Secretary of State for the Budget on 3 January 2000 in the government of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.
Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...
. In office until 6 May 2002, she seconded
Christian Sautter, then
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 1946) is a French politician serving as President of the Constitutional Council since 8 March 2016. A member of the Socialist Party, he previously served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 Mar ...
at the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
.
After briefly serving as a member of the
Burgundy Regional Council from 2004 to 2006, Parly worked at
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
as deputy general director from 2006 until 2014, where she was in charge of passenger activity at
Orly Airport
Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly ...
and stopovers in France.
In 2014, Parly moved on to become director-general of
SNCF
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
Voyageurs until 2017.
Minister of the Armies
![French Minister for Armed Forces Florence Parly visit to Western Naval Command (4)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/French_Minister_for_Armed_Forces_Florence_Parly_visit_to_Western_Naval_Command_%284%29.jpg)
Parly was named Minister of the Armies on 21 June 2017 after
Sylvie Goulard was forced to resign due to an ongoing investigation of her party. Following the nomination, she resigned from all her board positions; her husband Martin Vial withdrew from his position on the board of
Thales Group
Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...
.
Internal investigations
Shortly after taking office, Parly ordered an investigation into allegations brought forward by the satirical weekly ''
Le Canard enchaîné
(; English: "The Chained Duck" or "The Chained Paper", as is French slang meaning "newspaper") is a satirical weekly newspaper in France. Its headquarters is in Paris.
Founded in 1915 during World War I, it features investigative journalism a ...
'' that the acting head of the
French Air Force borrowed a
Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet
The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform trainer and light attack missions, a ...
on weekends to fly from his base in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
to his home in
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
.
In 2020, Parly placed a French
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
, based in Italy and stationed with
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, under investigation over a suspected breach of security after having passed sensitive documents to the Russian secret services.
International crises
![210615-D-TT977-0054 (51247908242)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/210615-D-TT977-0054_%2851247908242%29.jpg)
Regarding the
Iran Nuclear Deal
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...
, Parly told ''
BFM TV'' in 2019 that "nothing would be worse than Iran leaving this deal. We absolutely want to keep this agreement alive". Following the
US-led Baghdad airstrike in January 2020 that killed Iranian
Quds Force
The Quds Force ( fa, نیروی قدس, niru-ye qods, Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War ...
leader
Qasem Soleimani
Qasem Soleimani ( fa, قاسم سلیمانی, ; 11 March 19573January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination in 2020, he was the commander of the Qu ...
, Parly rejected pressure to withdraw French troops from Iraq, even stating on her
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account that France had already reinforced security for its 160 soldiers stationed in Iraq.
[" Source: France not Planning to Cut Troop Numbers in Iraq for Now"]
''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
'', 7 January 2020. She further reiterated that it was the French government's priority to fight against
ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
militants, who were re-merging in the area.
Parly also warned Iran not to escalate tensions.
Under Parly's leadership, France joined military exercises with Italy, Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean amid a worsening dispute between Turkey and Greece over energy resources in the region in 2020. During that conflict, Parly underlined that France would stand by Greece and Cyprus. On her initiative,
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
investigated French accusations that the
Turkish Naval Forces
The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.
The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establis ...
failed to respond to an allied call to inspect a vessel in the Mediterranean, an incident suspected to involve Turkish arms smuggling to Libya.
By mid-2021, Parly oversaw the phase-out of
Operation Barkhane
Operation Barkhane was an anti-insurgent operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region.[Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...]
region, and its transition into the
Takuba Task Force
The Takuba Task Force was a European military task force placed under French command, established to advise, assist and accompany Malian Armed Forces, in coordination with G5-Sahel partners and other international actors on the ground.
TTF oper ...
. As part of Operation Barkhane, she also authorized the killing of al Qaeda leader Baye ag Bakabo in June 2021; Bakabo had been determined the chief suspect for having abducted and shot ''
Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...
'' journalists
Claude Verlon and
Ghislaine Dupont in November 2013.
The announcement of the
AUKUS
AUKUS (, ) is a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, announced on 15 September 2021 for the Indo-Pacific region. Under the pact, the US and the UK will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered ...
security pact between the United States, the United Kingdom, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in September 2021 sparked a period of diplomatic tensions in French-American and French-Australian relations. The French government received official notification from Australia that the
''Attack''-class submarine project, involving a A$90 billion Australian contract to buy 12 French submarines, was to be cancelled only a few hours before it was publicly announced. In a joint statement, Parly and French foreign minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian
Jean-Yves Le Drian (; born 30 June 1947) is a French politician who served as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in the governments of Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex (2017–2022) and as Minister of Defence under Presi ...
expressed disappointment at Australia's decision to abandon their joint submarine program with France.
Parly's tenure as Armed Forces Minister was marked by the 2021 ''Tribune des généraux'' published in ''
Valeurs actuelles'', which spanned talk of a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
after tens of retired army officers openly criticised Macron's leadership in the fight against
Islamism
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...
and warned of a possible
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
Military procurement
In 2022, Parly led talks with
Ministry of Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
Prabowo Subianto
Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo (born 17 October 1951) is an Indonesian politician, businessman and former army lieutenant general who is the currently-appointed Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia. He is the son of Sumitro Djojoh ...
over Indonesia´s decision to order 42
Dassault Rafale
The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide ran ...
fighter jets in a $8.1 billion deal, making Jakarta the biggest French arms client in the
Indo-Pacific region.
Other activities
*
Altran, Member of the Board of Directors (–2017)
*
Ingenico
Ingenico is a merchant services technology company based in France, that facilitates secure electronic transactions. The company expanded as a manufacturer of point of sale (POS) payment terminals to also include complete merchant payment Saa ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (–2017)
*
Zodiac Aerospace
Zodiac Aerospace was a French aerospace group founded in 1896 that supplied systems and equipment for aircraft. It had around 100 sites across the globe and employed nearly 35,000 people. In October 2018, it was acquired by French aerospace an ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (2016–2017)
[Matthieu Protard and Mathieu Rosemain (26 June 2017)]
"Head of French state holding agency asks to be replaced at Thales board"
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
.
*
BPI France BPI may refer to:
In banking:
*Banca Popolare Italiana, an Italian bank merged into Banco Popolare
*Banco Português de Investimento, a Portuguese bank
*Bank of the Philippine Islands, the oldest bank in the Philippines
*Bpifrance, a French bank
I ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (–2015)
*
Servair
Servair is a subsidiary of Air France (50,01%) and Swiss catering company Gategroup (49,99%), specialised in airline catering. Servair has its head office in the Continental Square complex in Roissypôle, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and in ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (–2014)
References
External links
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parly, Florence
1963 births
21st-century French women politicians
Female defence ministers
French Ministers of Defence
French Ministers of Defence and Veterans Affairs
Living people
Sciences Po alumni
École nationale d'administration alumni
Socialist Party (France) politicians
Women government ministers of France
20th-century French women politicians
20th-century French politicians
21st-century French politicians