Jérôme Rivière (born 8 July 1964) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who has served 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

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...

(UMP) until 2007, he was a member of the National Rally (RN), previously known as the National Front (FN), from 2017 until 2022, when he announced his support for

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on ''Face à l'Info'', a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to ...

in the 2022 presidential election and was appointed vice chairman of Zemmour's newly-founded

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, ...

party.

Biography

Education

Born in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud a ...

, Hauts-de-Seine near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

. Rivière received a master's degree from the ISG business school and an MBA from the European University of America at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

Career

He served as the deputy chief of staff for the Minister of Defense from 1993 to 1995 and was elected to the Regional Council 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 ...

where he served from 1998 to 2004. Rivière represented the first constituency of Alpes-Maritimes in the French National Assembly from 2002 to 2007 as a member of the

. He was also a member of the subsidiary groups The Free Right and the

National Centre of Independents and Peasants The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (''Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans'', CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (the heir of the ...

. In 2007, he endorsed

Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Main Website Retrieved 4 March 2009. He is the founder of the Puy du Fou them ...

, the leader of the

Movement for France The Movement for France (french: Mouvement pour la France, MPF; ) was a conservative, soft Eurosceptic and Gaullist French political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked regional stronghold in the Vendée. It was led by Philippe de ...

(MPF) in the 2007 presidential election over his party's candidate, the eventual winner, Nicolas Sarkozy. As a result, he was excluded from the UMP and failed to receive the party's nomination for that year's legislative elections. He was defeated running as a right-wing independent in his constituency against the UMP's official candidate and eventual winner

Éric Ciotti Éric Ciotti (, ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who has represented the 1st constituency of Alpes-Maritimes in the National Assembly since 2007 and is the president of The Republicans since 2022. Ciotti previously briefly serv ...

. In 2009, the MPF-

Libertas Libertas (Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the Late Republic, featured on coins supporting the populares faction, and later those of the assassins of ...

selected him to lead the list in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

constituency ahead of the 2009 European elections. In November 2016, Rivière became the candidate backed by the National Front in the sixth constituency of

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

for the 2017 legislative election, a race which he lost. He is Marine Le Pen's strategic advisor for defense policy and the international spokesperson for the National Rally. In May 2019, he was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Rivière was subsequently elected President of the French delegation to the

Identity and Democracy Identity and Democracy (french: link=no, Identité et démocratie, ID) is a right-wing to far-right political group of the European Parliament, launched on 13 June 2019 for the Ninth European Parliament term. It is composed of nationalist, ri ...

group in the European Parliament. According to news media sources, he would serve as Minister of Defense in a government led by Marine Le Pen. In January 2022, he decided to join

's presidential campaign ahead of the 2022 French presidential election. As a result he relinquished the presidency of the French delegation to the Identity and Democracy Group at the European Parliament and was appointed Vice-Chairman of

, Zemmour's new political party.

References

External links

Jérôme Rivière's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riviere, Jerome 1964 births Living people ISG Business School alumni Union for a Popular Movement politicians National Rally (France) politicians Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic MEPs for France 2019–2024 National Rally (France) MEPs Politicians from Paris People from Suresnes Politicians from Île-de-France Reconquête politicians