Franck Proust (born 2 May 1963) is a French politician of 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 political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...

who served as a

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 ...

from 2011 until 2019, first vice-chair of the French EPP Group delegation in the European Parliament. He is first deputy mayor of

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

. Being originally an entrepreneur, he is also an insurance agent in

. In 2021, he is convicted for influence peddling to 12 months of jail (suspended sentence), a fine of 15000 euros and 5 years of ineligibility.

Professional background

Proust holds a postgraduate degree in market and management sciences from the centre of studies and research of Clermont-Ferrand and works as an insurance agent.

European Parliament

2011-2014

On 23 June 2011, Proust started serving as a Member of the European Parliament. His predecessor,

Dominique Baudis Dominique Baudis (; 14 April 1947 – 10 April 2014) was the French Defender of Rights (ombudsman). Formerly a journalist, politician and mayor of Toulouse, he had been a member of Liberal Democracy and later of the leading centre-right Union ...

, was to become ombudsman (Défenseur des droits) towards the French Republic. He sits in the EPP Group, the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

. During this mandate, he asserted the fact that there could be no competitiveness for European businesses as long as external trade relations are not balanced. He argued for a better implementation of the principle of reciprocity and greater common sense from the European Institutions. He was rapporteur on Monitoring EU/third country trade in drug precursors, such as regulations concerning rules for the monitoring of trade between the Community and third countries in drug precursors as well as with the Federation of Russia He was also rapporteur on CARS 2020: towards a strong, competitive and sustainable European car industry (European Commission's action plan), he strongly argued in favour of greater competitiveness in the automotive industry. On 2013 and 2014, he initiated MEPs action against the revision of the ruling of State aid for regional airports. He also appealed the French Government to put in the transport national priorities the High-Speed Railways piece going from Montpellier to Perpignan, missing part of the European High-Speed Corridor going from Amsterdam to Sevilla.

2014-2019

On a common program with

Michèle Alliot-Marie Michèle Yvette Marie-Thérèse Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie (; born 10 September 1946), known in France as MAM, is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France. She is a member of the Republicans, part of the Eur ...

, Proust was re-elected member of the European Parliament on 25 May 2014 or the French

South-West France (European Parliament constituency) For elections in the European Union, South-West France is a European Parliament constituency. It consists of the region Aquitaine (now part of region Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and Occitanie Occitanie may refer to: *Occitania, a region in southern Fr ...

. He sits in the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Committee on Transport and Tourism. He also served as vice-chair of the Sky and Space intergroup and first vice-chair of the French EPP delegation in the European Parliament. He was the rapporteur for the Commission proposal on the establishment of a framework for the screening of

foreign direct investments A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct c ...

in EU Member States. The 28th of July 2017, Proust is accused of influence traffic and attempted influence traffic and favoritism. This accusation follows suspicious calls for public tenders made in 2006 by the Nîmes Métropole mixed economy company when Proust was its president. At the end of a press conference at the beginning of August, he indicated that he would not resign from his mandates.

Nîmes city council

1989-1995 : First local mandate in Nîmes, in the majority

1989: aged 25, Proust became member of Nîmes' city council in charge of tourism, with Jean Bousquet as a mayor. 1991: Proust is appointed deputy mayor and president of Nîmes' office tourism. Being already a touristic town, Proust initiated summer's festivities every Thursday in

(Les jeudi de Nîmes), which increased cities' input and its touristic attractivity.

1995 - 2001: Within the political opposition of Nîmes' city council

From 1995 to 2001, Proust is into the political opposition of Nîmes' city council. He joined "

Démocratie libérale Liberal Democracy (french: Démocratie Libérale, DL) was a conservative-liberal political party in France existing between 1997 and 2002. Headed by Alain Madelin, the party replaced the Republican Party, which was the classical liberal componen ...

" party in 1997 and he is appointed delegate of the federal secretary in the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Jean-Paul Fournier is elected mayor of Nîmes and appoints Proust deputy mayor in charge of economic development and foreign relations. He is also entrusted with the portfolio of vice-president to the Community of Agglomeration of

. From 2001 to 2006 : Proust is in charge of the UMP party majority within the City Council. March 2008: Following a common program for the City Council elections with Jean-Paul Fournier, he is appointed first deputy mayor.

Former local mandate

* Councillor to the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

for the presidency of the UMP party in 2014. * Support to

Jean-François Copé Jean-François Copé (; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—inclu ...

for the presidency of the UMP party in 2012. * National secretary of the UMP party (2012-2014)

SENIM scandal

While he was president of the SENIM (mixed entreprise of Nîmes Métropole from 2001 to 2008, Franck Proust was accused of having favored the sale of land to a developer (Jean-Luc Colonna d'Istria). In exchange, the latter have provided him with premises for his 2007 legislative campaign. He is also accused of favoritism in the awarding of works contracts in the area of the triangle of the train station. He was indicted in 2017 for influence peddling and receiving influence peddling. On Thursday, April 14, 2021, Franck Proust is sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Nîmes to 12 months suspended prison, 15,000 euros fine and five years of ineligibility.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Proust, Franck 1963 births Living people Union for a Popular Movement MEPs MEPs for South-West France 2009–2014 MEPs for South-West France 2014–2019 The Republicans (France) MEPs French politicians convicted of corruption