Laurence Rossignol (born 22 December 1957) is a

French politician The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". ...

of 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 t ...

(PS) who has served as a member of the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2017, representing

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,41 ...

. From 2014 to 2017, she served as Secretary of State for the Family, Senior Citizens and Autonomy in the governments of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...

and

Bernard Cazeneuve Bernard Guy Georges Cazeneuve (; born 2 June 1963) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 December 2016 to 15 May 2017. A member of the Socialist Party, he represented Manche’s 5th constituency in the ...

Political career

From 2014 to 2017, Rossignol served as State Secretary under the leadership of

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

Marisol Touraine Marisol Touraine (; born 7 March 1959) is a French politician who served as Minister of Social Affairs and Health under Prime Ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault,Angelique ChrisafisWomen in the French cabinet ''The Guardian'', 18 May 2012Olivier Auguste ...

. During her time in office, she established the Agency for the Recovery of Unpaid Alimonies (ARIPA) to ensure the recovery of outstanding child support. In the Socialist Party's

presidential primaries The presidential primary elections and caucuses held in the various states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States form part of the nominating process of candidates for United States presidential elections. The United S ...

, Rossignol endorsed Valls as the party's candidate 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 ...

. At the Aubervilliers Congress in 2017, she also supported Luc Carvounas’ candidacy to lead the PS. In 2017, Rossignol was a candidate for the leadership of the Socialist group in the Senate, against Martial Bourquin and incumbent Didier Guillaume; Guillaume was eventually re-elected. Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, Rossignol endorsed

Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party. Hidalgo served as First Deputy Mayor of Paris ...

as the party’s candidate to replace incumbent Emmanuel Macron.

Political positions

In 2015, Rossignol defended the government's policy of testing the bones of foreign minors to determine their age. In 2016, Rossignol caused controversy when she compared Islamic women who chose to wear veils to "negroes who were for slavery". She was later reported to have apologized for the use of the word ''negro'' but stood by her comparison of veil wearing to slavery.Andrew Callus (31 March 2016)
French minister under fire for linking veil-wearing to slavery
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

''.

References

1957 births Living people People from La Garenne-Colombes Politicians from Île-de-France Socialist Party (France) politicians University of Burgundy alumni Pantheon-Sorbonne University alumni French Senators of the Fifth Republic Government ministers of France Women members of the Senate (France) 21st-century French women politicians Women government ministers of France Senators of Oise {{France-politician-Socialist-stub