François Autain (16 June 1935 – 21 December 2019) was a French politician. Over his career, he was a member of the

Communist, Republican, and Citizen Group The Communist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group (french: groupe communiste, républicain, citoyen et ecologiste) is a parliamentary group in the French Senate, the indirectly elected upper house of the French Parliament. Unlike most other p ...

and a member of the Left Party, prior to which he was a member of the

Citizen and Republican Movement The Citizen and Republican Movement (French language, French: ''Mouvement républicain et citoyen'') is a political party in France. The party replaced in 2002 the Citizens' Movement (''Mouvement des citoyens'', MDC) founded by Jean-Pierre Chev ...

but also the PS and the

PSU PSU may refer to: Organizations Military *Police Support Unit, a paramilitary wing of the Zimbabwe Republic Police *Port Security Unit, a U.S. Coast Guard expeditionary force protection unit Political parties * Parti Socialiste Unifié (disambig ...

. He was a member of the

Senate of France The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

, representing the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

department from 1983 to 2011 and a deputy in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 1978 to 1981. From 1981 to 1983, he served as a secretary of state in the governments of

Pierre Mauroy Pierre Mauroy (; 5 July 1928 – 7 June 2013) was a French Socialist politician who was Prime Minister of France from 1981 to 1984 under President François Mitterrand. Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. At the time of his de ...

in the Ministry of Solidarity and Heath and the

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 states ...

Biography

François Autain was born on 16 June 1935 in the commune of Luché-sur-Brioux in the

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

department. He studied medicine in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

and became active in the

Union Nationale des Étudiants de France The National Union of Students of France (''Union nationale des étudiants de France'' or UNEF) is the largest national students' union in France. It is historically close to the Socialist Party, with many of its member joining the party after l ...

during the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. He became a general practitioner in

Bouguenais Bouguenais (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France near Nantes. Bouguenais is home to the Nantes Atlantique Airport. Population Economy Régional, a regional airline, w ...

, a commune near Nantes. In 1968, he joined the Unified Socialist Party. In 1971, he was elected as mayor of Bouguenais, a position that he held until 1993. He joined 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 th ...

in 1975 and won election to the

in the 1978 French legislative election. As a physician, he focused on health issues in the Assembly. After the victory of

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

in the 1981 French presidential election, Autain joined the government as a Secretary of State, or junior minister. He served in government until 1983, when he was elected as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Autain served in the Senate until 2011, having been re-elected in 1992 and 2001. He was a secretary of the senate as well as a quaestor, a role that gave him access to government funds that he could distribute to mayors of communes. The party removed him from its official list in 2001; however, he was able to win re-election in the 2001 French Senate Election as a member of the

. He later left the Citizen and Republican Movement and joined the Left Party formed by

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who was a member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône from 2017 to 2022. He led the ''La France Insoumise'' group in the Nation ...

. He did not stand as a candidate for re-election in 2011.

References

Page on the Senate website
1935 births 2019 deaths People from Deux-Sèvres Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Unified Socialist Party (France) politicians Socialist Party (France) politicians Citizen and Republican Movement politicians Left Party (France) politicians Deputies of the 6th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 7th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French Senators of the Fifth Republic Senators of Loire-Atlantique Mayors of places in Pays de la Loire {{France-politician-Socialist-stub