François Gerard Marie Léotard (; born 26 March 1942, in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

) is a retired French politician. Singer and actor

Philippe Léotard Philippe Léotard (his full name was Ange Philippe Paul André Léotard-Tomasi; 28 August 1940 – 25 August 2001) was a French actor, poet and singer. Biography He was born in Nice, one of seven children - four girls, then three boys, of whi ...

(1940–2001) was his brother. Member of the Republican Party, the liberal-conservative component of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to c ...

(UDF), he appeared in the foreground of the political scene in the 1980s. He led a new generation of right-wing politicians, the "renovationmen", who opposed the old right-wing leaders

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 ...

and

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

. In 1981, he was selected to be one of the first ''Young Leaders'' of the

French-American Foundation The French-American Foundation is a privately funded, non-governmental organization established to promote bilateral relations between France and the United States on topics of importance to the two countries, with a focus on contact between upco ...

. His political career started with being elected as the Mayor of Fréjus in 1977. He served two terms as the deputy of Var. Culture Minister, from 1986 to 1988, he sold the main public TV channel TF1. He returned in the cabinet as Defense Minister, from 1993 to 1995. Supporting the candidacy of Edouard Balladur in the 1995 presidential election, he was dismissed after Chirac's election. Elected president of the UDF in 1996, he could not prevent the split of this confederation two years later with

Alain Madelin Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician. Politician Madelin was minister of Industry in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister Édouard Balladur's cabinet fr ...

's secession. This and the party's poor showing in the 1998 regional elections prompted his resignation. After a mission in Macedonia in 2001 as representative of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, he retired from politics. In 2003, he created together with other prominent European personalities the

Medbridge Strategy Center MedBridge is a European organization whose goal is to promote dialogue and mutual understanding between Europe and the Middle East. Its aim is to enable Europeans willing to be informed on the Middle East or to support Israeli-Arab peace efforts, ...

, whose goal is to promote dialogue and mutual understanding between Europe and the

Middle-East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

. He has since written several books.

Political career

Governmental functions Minister of State, minister of Defence : 1993–1995. Minister of Culture and Communication : 1986–1988. Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' 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 under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

for

Var (department) Var (, ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It takes its name from the river Var, which flowed along its eastern boundary, until the boundary was moved in 1860 and the department is no longer assoc ...

: 1978–1986 (Became minister in 1986) / 1988–1993 (Became minister in 1993) / 1995–2001 (Resignation). Elected in 1978, reelected in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1997. ''Regional Council'' Regional councillor of

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

: 1998–2004. ''General Council'' General councillor of

: 1979–1988 (Resignation). Reelected in 1985. ''Municipal Council'' Mayor of Fréjus : 1977–1997 (Resignation). Reelected in 1983, 1989, 1995. Municipal councillor of Fréjus : 1977–1997 (Resignation). Reelected in 1983, 1989, 1995. Political functions President of the

: 1996–1998. President of the

Republican Party (France) The Republican Party (french: Parti républicain, PR) was a conservative-liberal political party in France founded in 1977. It replaced the National Federation of the Independent Republicans that was founded in 1966. It was created by the then- ...

: 1982–1990 / 1995–1997.

Books

Léotard wrote also several books including non-fiction and a couple of novels: * Ma liberté (''My freedom'') published by Plon, 1995 * Pour l'honneur (''For honor'') published by B. Grasset, 1997 * La Couleur des femmes (The colour of women) published by Grasset & Fasquelle, 2002 * A mon frère qui n'est pas mort (''For my brother who is not dead'') published by Grasset & Fasquelle, 2003 * La vie mélancolique des méduses(''The melancholic life of Jellyfish'') published by Grasset & Fasquelle, 2005 * Ça va mal finir (It's going to end badly) published by Grasset & Fasquelle, 2008

Political career

Books

References

See also