François Henri Goullet de Rugy (; born 6 December 1973) is a French politician who served as President of the National Assembly from 2017 to 2018 and Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition from 2018 to 2019. Since 2007, he has represented 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 Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, with an interruption between 2018 and 2019, originally as a member of the

Democratic and Republican Left group The Democratic and Republican Left group (french: groupe de la Gauche démocrate et républicaine or GDR) is a parliamentary group in the National Assembly including representatives of the French Communist Party (PCF) as well as leftist parties w ...

, which includes his former political party

Europe Ecology – The Greens Europe Ecology – The Greens (french: Europe Écologie Les Verts , EELV ) is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merge ...

. In 2015, he joined the

Ecologist Party The Ecologist Party ( French: ''Parti écologiste'', PÉ), founded as Écologistes !, is a centre-left French political party that holds pro-European views, created in September 2015 by François de Rugy, President of the Europe Ecology – The ...

and later the La République En Marche group in Parliament. In 2017, he defeated

Jean-Charles Taugourdeau Jean-Charles Taugourdeau (born July 17, 1953 in Dreux) was a member of the National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament un ...

and Laure de la Raudière for the presidency of the National Assembly. He was appointed Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition after the resignation of

Nicolas Hulot Nicolas Jacques André Hulot (; born 30 April 1955) is a French journalist and environmental activist. He is the founder and honorary president of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, an environmental group established in 1990. Hulot ran as a candida ...

. De Rugy resigned from his ministership less than a year following his appointment after allegations of excessive spending of public funds for private use. He regained his seat in Parliament. De Rugy did not seek re-election at the 2022 parliamentary election.

Biography

Early political career

First elected to the National Assembly in the 2007 legislative election, he was reelected in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. In 2012, he was elected to the co-presidency of the newly-founded Ecologist group, alongside Barbara Pompili. In 2015, he broke with

to form a new party with

Jean-Vincent Placé Jean-Vincent Placé (born 12 March 1968) is a South Korean-born, France, French Green politics, Green politician. International adoption of South Korean children, Adopted by a French family as a child, Placé entered politics as a member of the R ...

, the

, which supported the administration of President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

. He was succeeded as group co-president by Cécile Duflot before regaining the office following the Pompili's appointment as Secretary of State for Biodiversity. As a member of the National Assembly, he supported the 2015 Intelligence Act and 2016 Labour Act. In 2016, he announced a campaign for the 2017 Socialist Party presidential primary in which he secured 3.8% of the vote in the first round, outstripping polls. Though he promised to support the primary winner, he reneged on that commitment in late February, instead backing

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 ...

over

Benoît Hamon Benoît Hamon (; born 26 June 1967) is a French politician known for his former role within the Socialist Party (PS) and Party of European Socialists (PES) and his political party Génération.s. Hamon joined the Socialist Party in 1988 and ...

. De Rugy was subsequently invested by

En Marche! Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...

in the upcoming legislative election.

Presidency of the National Assembly

On 18 May 2016, François de Rugy succeeded

Denis Baupin Denis Baupin (born 2 June 1962 in Cherbourg) is a French political figure. He was Deputy Mayor of the City of Paris, where, as an elected member of the city council, he represents Europe Écologie–The Greens. He is now vice mayor responsible ...

as a Vice President of the National Assembly. He has resigned as group co-president the previous day. On 27 June 2017, De Rugy was elected President of the National Assembly after being chosen as candidate by the La République En Marche group with 353 votes (out of 577 members).

Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition

On 4 September 2018, De Rugy was appointed Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

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 ...

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 under President ...

. He replaced

who had announced his resignation on 28 August 2018 on

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...

. On 10 July 2019, online magazine ''

Mediapart ''Mediapart'' is an independent French investigative online newspaper created in 2008 by Edwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief of ''Le Monde''. ''Mediapart'' is published in French, English and Spanish. ''Mediapart's'' income is solely derived ...

'' revealed that €63,000 of public money had been spent on refurbishment of De Rugy's official apartment in Paris (including €19,000 on a dressing room). The magazine also published photographs of lobster and champagne dinners. On 16 July 2019, De Rugy resigned as Ecology Minister.

Return to the National Assembly

On 17 August 2019, François de Rugy regained his seat in the National Assembly. In September 2020, he was a candidate to succeed

Gilles Le Gendre Gilles Le Gendre (born 13 May 1958) is a French politician who presided over the La République En Marche group in the National Assembly from 2018 to 2020. He was elected to the National Assembly in the 2017 legislative election in the 2nd con ...

as LREM group president in the National Assembly. He came in third behind

Christophe Castaner Christophe Castaner (; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician, former minister of parliament, and former Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020. In 2017, he was elected for a 3 year term as chairman (''délégué géné ...

and

Aurore Bergé Aurore Bergé (born 13 November 1986) is a French politician who has represented the 10th constituency of the Yvelines department in the National Assembly since 2017. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which she left to join La Républ ...

. In the final round, he endorsed Bergé. In the 2021 regional election, De Rugy led the LREM list in

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

(supported by the

Democratic Movement A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution or organization or a country, in which all members have an equal share of power. Modern democracies are characterized by two capabilities that differentiate ...

and

Radical Movement The Radical Movement (french: Mouvement radical, MR), officially the Radical, Social and Liberal Movement (french: link=no, Mouvement radical, social et libéral), was a social-liberal political party in France. The party aimed at being an "alter ...

), which placed fifth, with 11.9% of the vote in the first round and 8.20% in the second round. In addition to his committee assignments, De Rugy chaired the France-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group. In February 2022, De Rugy announced that he would not stand in the 2022 elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.Tristan Quinault-Maupoil (18 October 2021)
François de Rugy: «Nos débats autour de l’écologie sont faussés par la dictature des symboles»
''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

''.

References

External links

*
Champagne, homard… Les luxueux dîners de François de Rugy aux frais de l’Assemblée nationale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugy, Francois De 1973 births Living people Europe Ecology – The Greens politicians Sciences Po alumni Politicians from Nantes La République En Marche! politicians Presidents of the National Assembly (France) Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Loire-Atlantique