François Grosdidier (; born 25 February 1961) is a French politician. He served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

since

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. He also represented the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

department in the

Senate 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 ...

and is a member of The Republicans.

Early life and education

François Grosdidier is the grandson of an historian and the son of an engineer working in the iron and steel industry of

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

. After a bad schooling, he joined the French Air Force to serve overseas in

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

in 1979. He held lot of odd jobs. Then he resumed studies in public law. He was hired as city manager of Amnéville. Part of his family have emigrated in the United States. His cousin, Pierre Grosdidier, is an attorney in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and became elected councillor in the French Consulate in Houston when Damien Regnard has been inaugurated as senator representing French citizens abroad in 2018.

Political career

His first election campaign dates back to 1973, when he was 12, with Jean Kiffer, member of Parliament and mayor of Amnéville. He joined the right-wing

Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic ( ; RPR ) was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaul ...

, led by

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

, in 1981. In 1983 he became chief of the Youth RPR of

. From 1989 to 1995 (one complete term), he was elected municipal councillor of the city of

, seating in the opposition to the mayor,

Jean-Marie Rausch Jean-Marie Rausch (; 24 September 1929 – 5 January 2024) was a French politician who served as the French Minister of Foreign Trade from 1988 to 1991. He became a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2002. Rausch was born in Sarreguemines on 2 ...

. Elected in the regional council of Lorraine in 1992, he was immediately appointed vice-president of the new president, Gérard Longuet. His regional department covered industrial reconversion, new technologies of information, training and professional learning. Reelected in 1998, he was in office until his resignation in 2002. During the

1993 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 21 and 28 March 1993, to elect the tenth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Since 1988, President François Mitterrand and his Socialist cabinets had relied on a relative parliamentary majori ...

, he contested the seat of the 1st constituency of Moselle (departement) (part and north of

), a left-wing workers district. He beat the outgoing Parliament member from 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 ...

, former minister of

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

, becoming at 32 one of the youngest members of the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

. After supporting

for the

1995 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April, with a second round on 7 May. Background The Socialist incumbent president François Mitterrand, who had been in office since 1981, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had termi ...

, the Prime minister

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the c ...

entrusted him for a parliamentary mission on industrial reconversion. When Jacques Chirac decided to dissolve the National Assembly in 1997, François Grosdidier lost the election against the candidate of the Socialist Party, in the second round. He shortly came back to the local civil service after losing his seat, then he worked in the steel industry. In March 2001, he won the municipal election in Woippy, a poor

suburb city, with 62% in the second round. He was elected mayor by the council in April, and was reelected in 2008 and 2014, both in the first round. During his three terms as mayor, he renovated the city housing and restored security by an increasing of number of police officers. The city has gained 4000 more inhabitants. During the

2002 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 9 and 16 June 2002, to elect the 12th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, in a context of political crisis. The Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced his political retirement after h ...

, he won again the seat of the Moselle's 1st constituency with 55% of the vote, and was reelected again in 2007 with 52%. During his terms, he has committed to immigration issues, and was an opponent to the using of genetically modified organisms. During the

2005 French riots The 2005 French riots was a three-week long period of civil disturbances that took place in Paris#Suburbs, the suburbs of Paris and Urban area (France), other French cities in October and November 2005. These riots involved youth in violent attac ...

, he was threatened after filing a complaint against some rappers accused of racist lyrics against the French. He was a supporter of French President

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. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

. From 2006 to 2009, he was president of the right-wing

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

party in Moselle. From 2009 to 2018, he was designated president of the Moselle Organization of mayors, representing the interests of the 730 municipalities of this

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

. During the

2011 French Senate election A Senate election was held for 165 of the 348 seats in the Senate of France on 25 September 2011. Senate members were primarily elected by municipal officials, and the number of senators was increased from 343 to 348, due to the growth of Fran ...

, (indirect election in order to renew half of the Senate), François Grosdidier contested one of the 5 seats of Moselle. He received, on a party-list proportional representation voting system, 411 votes of the 2833 local officials. He was reelected in 2017 after his first six-years term with 596 votes. In the Senate, he is vice-president of the local government committee, member of the law permanent committee. In 2018, he led an inquiry parliamentary commission about French police. He was elected as president of

The Republicans (France) The Republicans (, ; LR) is a liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the tradition of Gaullism. The party was formed in 2015 as the refoundation of the Union for a Popular Movem ...

party in Moselle from 2016 to 2018. He supported

for the

2016 The Republicans (France) presidential primary The Republicans held a presidential primary election, officially called the open primary of the right and centre (), to select a candidate for the 2017 presidential election. It took place on 20 November 2016, with a runoff on 27 November since ...

. After his reelection as senator in 2017, he was forced to resign from his office of mayor of Woippy, due to the effective date of the 2014 law banning

dual mandate A dual mandate occurs when an official serves in or holds multiple public positions simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain, double-dipping in the United States, and ''cumul des mandats'' in France. Thus, if ...

for members of both houses of Parliament. However, he can remain as member of the town council. On 29 March 2019, he announced his candidacy for mayor of the city of Metz in the 2020 election. On the 3rd of July 2020, he officially became Mayor of Metz after being elected on the 28th of June.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosdidier, Francois 1961 births Living people Politicians from Metz The Republicans (France) politicians The Social Right French senators of the Fifth Republic Mayors of Metz Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Senators of Moselle (department)