Jean Royer (31 October 1920 – 25 March 2011) was a French catholic and conservative politician, former Minister, and former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

Biography

Mayor of Tours

Born in

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in central France. It was the principal city of the former province of Nivernais. It is sou ...

, Nièvre, Royer was at first a teacher. In

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

he was elected as a right-wing deputy from the

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. While he was close to the Gaullist UNR, he did not join a parliamentary group. In 1959, he was elected to the office of

, with the support of Charles de Gaulle. In the 1960s he led an expansion of the city, annexing the cities of Sainte-Radegonde-en-Touraine and de Saint-Symphorien in order to increase the surface area available for more constructions. His main accomplishment was the construction, in an area of four kilometres along the river Cher, of housing and parks. This area included an artificial lake. He sparked controversy by supporting the construction of the A10 along Tours. Described within his own party as an autocrat, Royer led a staunch policy vis-a-vis of social evolutions in the 1960s and 1970s. He outlawed

pornographic films Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotica ...

and

brothels A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub ...

. In 1968 he expelled from

Michel-Georges Micberth, who had founded a psychological and pathological research center.

1974 candidacy

In 1973 he entered the

Pierre Messmer Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (; 20 March 191629 August 2007) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under L ...

government, leaving his seat vacant but stayed on as Mayor of Tours. During his tenure as Minister of Commerce, in December 1973, he wrote the Royer Law that regulated the construction of supermarkets that were more than 1000 m². In early 1974, he briefly served as Minister of the PTT. On 11 April, he resigned from the government to be a candidate in the 1974 presidential election. He stood as the candidate of moral order, and polled up to 7%. However, his candidacy became a fiasco. He multiplied gaffes: he resigned from the government, unlike

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 ...

; he installed his headquarters in

and not in Paris, and refused to take the plane during the campaign. His meetings were also a fiasco, in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

the majority of his listeners were young students who laughed at him and yelled obscene sexual slogans. A young woman even went to the extent of undressing in front of the camera. He won 810,540 votes, or 3.17%. Most of his votes came from

and won his old seat back in a by-election in 1976. His term as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

became difficult in the wake of the economic crises. In the 1980s the city was hit by economic stagnation and many factories in the suburbs closed down, such as

SKF AB SKF (Swedish: ''Svenska Kullagerfabriken''; 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and l ...

in 1989. He was, however, credited with the extension of the TGV line to Tours and the construction of a congress center. Following his re-election in the 1993 election he joined the parliamentary group République et liberté (composed of the

Left Radical Party The Radical Party of the Left (french: Parti radical de gauche, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Soc ...

, the MDC, and other independents). He also served as leader of République et liberté. In the 1995 local elections, he was defeated in his bid for re-election in a three-way race with the PS and RPR. The PS Jean Germain was elected. In the 2002 presidential election he supported the candidacy of

Jean-Pierre Chevènement Jean-Pierre Chevènement (; born 9 March 1939L ...

, before retiring from politics. In 2004 and 2007 he was hospitalized for "serious" health issues. In October 2013 a statue of Royer was erected in Place de la Liberte, Tours. The cost of 44,000 Euros being raised by public subscription.

Bibliography