Gilbert Georges Jean Camille René Collard (; born 3 February 1948) is a French writer, barrister and politician serving 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 ...

(MEP) since 2019. A member of the

National Rally The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

(RN) until 2022, he was a member of 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 r ...

for the 2nd constituency of

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Rassemblement bleu Marine Rassemblement bleu Marine (, RBM) was a French political coalition of right-wing and far-right political parties created by Marine Le Pen in 2012 before the legislative elections. It originally consisted of the National Front, the Sover ...

(RBM) since 2012, a right-wing political association and think-tank supporting

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its ...

. In January 2022, he left the RN for Éric Zemmour's

Reconquête Reconquête (; en, Reconquest), styled as Reconquête! (R!), is a nationalist political party in France founded in late 2021 by Éric Zemmour, who has since served as its leader. He was a far-right candidate in the 2022 presidential election, ...

Biography

Early life and education

Gilbert Collard was born in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

and grew up in

Châtel-Guyon Châtel-Guyon (; oc, label=Auvergnat, Chastel Guion) is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. Prior to June 2008 it was known as Châtelguyon.Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...

and Panthéon-Assas University. During his youth, he was a member of the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was foun ...

(SFIO) and subsequent

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 ...

(PS) until 1992. His sister was lawyer and activist

Jehanne Collard Jehanne Collard (13 August 1950 – 18 April 2021) was a French lawyer and activist. She focused on the rights of crime victims and damage to private property. She served as vice-president of the Fondation Anne Cellier, founded in 1987 to fight f ...

(1950–2021).

Career and first involvement in politics

Collard started his career as a barrister in Marseille in 1971. He quickly became a well-known lawyer at the national level, often speaking in the media about cases he defended. He most notably had

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
, FPI website . ( Charles Pasqua Charles Victor Pasqua (18 April 192729 June 2015) was a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's '' cohabitation'' government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government ...

Valérie Bègue Valérie Bègue (born 26 September 1985) is a French reality television personality and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss France 2008, representing Réunion island, an overseas department of France located in the Indian Ocean. Bègue is the ...

, as well as

Paul Aussaresses Paul Aussaresses (; 7 November 1918 – 3 December 2013) was a French Army general, who fought during World War II, the First Indochina War and Algerian War. His actions during the Algerian War—and later defense of those actions—caused consid ...

as clients. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, he was an independent candidate for Mayor of

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

. He was elected to the city's council but declined the mandate.

Member of the National Assembly

Collard moved to Gallician, a town in

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;2012 legislative election, at the same time as

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) * Marion (surname) * Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" * Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * M ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019. He succeeded Étienne Mourrut 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 Soci ...

, whom he had defeated. Along with

Marion Maréchal Marion Jeanne Caroline Maréchal (; born Le Pen, 10 December 1989), known as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen from 2010 to 2018, is a French politician, part of the Le Pen family, granddaughter of National Front (renamed National Rally in 2018) founder ...

and other FN senior executives, Collard took part in the mass demonstrations against

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

organized in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

by '' La Manif pour tous'' movement in the first half of 2013. Since the 2014 municipal election, Collard has been a councillor of

Saint-Gilles, Gard Saint-Gilles (; Provençal: ''Sant Geli''; en, St. Giles) or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area. History The abbey of Saint-Gil ...

. On 17 April 2017, during a Marine Le Pen rally for the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of La République En Marche!, En Ma ...

, an

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...

disrupter threw a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with fla ...

towards him; he sustained minor injuries amid a quick reaction by police officers. Gilbert Collard was reelected to the National Assembly in the 2017 legislative election. He officially joined the National Rally, then called National Front, later the same year.

Member of the European Parliament

Collard stood as a candidate in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

. Following his election he resigned from the National Assembly, where he was succeeded by his substitute

Nicolas Meizonnet Nicolas Jérôme Grégoire Meizonnet-Bérenguier (born 22 December 1983) is a French politician serving as the member of the National Assembly for the 2nd constituency of Gard since 1 February 2020. A member of the National Rally (RN), he has ...

Defection to Reconquête

On 22 January 2022, Collard along with

Jérôme Rivière Jérôme Rivière (born 8 July 1964) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) until 2007, he was a member of the Na ...

left the RN for

, the party of the far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collard, Gilbert 1948 births Living people French people of Lebanese descent Aix-Marseille University alumni Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni 20th-century French lawyers National Rally (France) politicians Politicians from Marseille French legal writers Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic MEPs for France 2019–2024 Reconquête politicians 21st-century French lawyers Members of Parliament for Gard