Pierre Lellouche (born 3 May 1951) is a French lawyer and politician of the Republicans who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Trade under the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; née Lallouette, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been serving as President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the ...

in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

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 is not ...

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

. He was elected deputy of

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the arrondissement of Sarcelles. In the south of the commun ...

in 1993, and retained his seat at 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 repre ...

until 2002.

Early life and family

Lellouche was born in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, among the small local Jewish community, and spent his first five years there. His parents reach

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. S ...

, open a couscous restaurant and his brother, a porno

Video rental shop A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms ...

, in Pigalle. Lellouche is divorced from Anne-Laure Banon, daughter of former economic adviser to

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

Gabriel Banon and half-sister of

Tristane Banon Tristane Banon (born 13 June 1979) is a French journalist and writer. She is the daughter of Anne Mansouret and Gabriel Banon. She is a regular contributor on youth affairs at the French news website Atlantico. Early life and education Trista ...

, in the news in 2011 for opposing lawsuits by and against

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (; born 25 April 1949), also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was a member of the French Socialist P ...

, his former opponent in the 1993 legislative elections. Ruined by two divorces, he lives "like a student" in a two-room apartment of the 9th arrondissement before buying, near

Baugé Baugé () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire ''département'' in western France. On 1 January 2013, it was merged with the former communes of Montpollin, Pontigné, Saint-Martin-d'Arcé and Le Vieil-Baugé to create the commune of Baugé-en ...

, the Manoir de Chandemanche, from the 15th century between

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...

and

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-e ...

, in

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France * County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duk ...

, a hunting lodge of King René d'Anjou (1409-1480), whose chapel

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

consecrated. He considers

Gérard de Villiers Gérard de Villiers (; 8 December 1929 – 31 October 2013) was a French writer, journalist and publisher whose ''SAS'' series of spy novels have been major bestsellers. Life Born in Paris in 1929, Villiers was the son of playwright Jacques Ad ...

, the racist and misogynistic creator of '' SAS'', a "great populariser of geopolitics", "accurate to the millimeter", particularly in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

Education

He studied at the University of Paris-Nanterre, Sciences Po and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

(LLM, 1974, SJD 1978, Doctoral thesis on the internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle).

Political career

Early beginnings

After working for the Iranian Atomic Agency and before joining the administration of the IRIS, directed by Pascal Boniface, he joins from 1979 until 1988, the

French Institute of International Relations French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(IFRI) where he dealt with political and strategic issues and became deputy editor of the magazine ''Politique étrangère''. Lellouche was a 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 ...

, first for

Val d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.

's 8th constituency (1993-1997) and later for

' 4th constituency (1997-2009). In parliament, Lellouche served on the Defense Committee (1993-1994, 1997–2002) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (1995-1997, 2002–2007). In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the French delegation to the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

from 1997 until 2009; he served as the Assembly's president from November 2004 to 17 November 2006. From 2002, Lellouche was also a member of " The Reformers" within the UMP group, which advocated the deep reform of the administration and the

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

of the economy. He also became widely known for the 2003 ''Lellouche law'' which outlaws discrimination based on a variety of immutable characteristics, including national origin, and has therefore been described by Israeli newspaper ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' as "among the world's most potent tools to fight the growing

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...

movement." Following the

2007 French legislative election The French legislative elections took place on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the French presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, inclu ...

, his political allies

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

and

supported Lellouche as candidate for the chairmanship of the National Assembly's Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Defence Committee, but this was eventually vetoed by the chairman of the UMP's parliamentary group,

Jean-François Copé Jean-François Copé (; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—inclu ...

. On the local level, Lellouche was also a municipal councillor of

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 ...

(1995-2001) and a councillor of Paris (since 2001; reelected in 2008).

Career in government

In 2009,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

appointed Lellouche as special envoy for

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. In this capacity, he worked with his counterparts from the US (

Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...

), Germany ( Bernd Mützelburg) and

Sherard Cowper-Coles Sir Sherard Louis Cowper-Coles (born 8 January 1955) is a British former diplomat. He was the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009–2010. After leaving the Foreign Office, he worked briefly for BAE ...

(United Kingdom). Governmental functions * Secretary of State for Foreign Trade: 2010-2012 * Secretary of State for European Affairs: 2009-2010 As State Secretary for European Affairs, Lellouche was involved in the negotiations on the

European Financial Stability Facility The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the objecti ...

(EFSF) in 2010. In response to the

2010 Russian wildfires The 2010 Russian wildfires were several hundred wildfires that broke out across Russia, primarily in European Russia, the west in summer 2010. They started burning in late July and lasted until early September 2010. The fires were associated w ...

, he told ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' that the EU should pool assets to create a European emergency force and build mutual assistance capabilities to deal with emergencies.

Later career

Upon returning to parliament, Lellouche served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs again from 2012 until 2017. In this capacity, he joined

, Étienne Blanc,

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 ...

and

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Pécresse (; born Roux, 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has served as President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republicans (LR), she previously served as Minister of Higher Education and ...

on an official trip to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in September 2014. In 2016, Lellouche triggered a process to activate article 68 of France's

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

and impeach

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

over a potential breach of security allowing revelations that Hollande disclosed classified information to journalists; a cross-party steering committee later voted in favor of halting the impeachment call in its tracks. Lellouche was also the French negotiator concerning the

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ''iter'' meaning "the way" or "the path" in Latin) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy by replicating, on Earth ...

, finally implanted in

Cadarache Cadarache is the largest technological research and development centre for energy in Europe. It includes the CEA research activities and ITER. CEA Cadarache is one of the 10 research centres of the French Commission of Atomic and Alternative En ...

in France. Ahead of the Republicans' 2016 presidential primary, Lellouche endorsed

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 runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! (EM) and Marine Le Pen of the Nationa ...

. Amid the

Fillon affair The Fillon affair (also the Penelope Fillon affair or Penelopegate) is a political-financial scandal involving allegations that members of the immediate family of French politician François Fillon were given paid jobs that involved no or very lit ...

, he later resigned from the campaign team shortly before the elections. In an open letter, he also announced his plans to leave politics, citing disappointment with Fillon, whom he accused of pursuing a "personal and collective suicide", encouraged by the "hysteria of a sect".

Other activities

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. The ELN's Director is Sir Adam Thomson, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO. Histo ...

(ELN), Member *

(IFRI), co-founder and Member of the Board of Directors *

Nuclear Threat Initiative The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. The American foreign policy think tank was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and describes itself as a "nonprofit ...

(NTI), Member *

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

, Member

Political positions

European integration

Lellouche called the UK Conservative Party's policy on the EU "pathetic" and a kind of political autism, claiming "They have essentially castrated your UK influence in the European parliament."

Foreign policy

Lellouche is considered to be a supporter of strong cooperation with the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

Domestic policy

Lellouche defended a traditional view of the family during the discussions concerning the

Pacte civil de solidarité In France, a civil solidarity pact (french: pacte civil de solidarité), commonly known as a ''PACS'' (), is a contractual form of civil union between two adults for organising their joint life. It brings rights and responsibilities, but less so ...

(PACS), a form of civil union, during which he mentioned some "homophobic" arguments according to several observers ("You just have to sterilize them!"). However, later on in 2003 he was in favour of a law introducing harsher punishments for abuses against homosexuals. Lellouche is also a strong opponent of the

solidarity tax on wealth The solidarity tax on wealth (french: Impôt de solidarité sur la fortune or ISF) was an annual direct wealth tax on those in France having assets in excess of €1,300,000 (since 2011).

(ISF) first voted under

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

. In 2015, Lellouche opposed a parliamentary decision to create a $60-million fund to compensate

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

victims deported by French state rail firm

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

in a move also intended to protect the company from future U.S. litigation. In response to the

January 2015 Île-de-France attacks From 7 to 9 January 2015, terrorist attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, particularly in Paris. Three attackers killed a total of 17 in four shooting attacks, and police then killed the three assailants. The attacks also wounded 22 ...

, Lellouche publicly opposed a bill proposed by

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 ...

to let France's intelligence services deploy fly-on-the-wall spying devices more easily against suspected terrorists.

Antisemitism

In 2003, in the newspaper

Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

, he declared there was "a new

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, linked to the crisis in the Middle East and which appeared about twenty years ago . After having evoked an upsurge in anti-Semitism and

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

on the left which "would have contaminated the moderate left, including the Socialist Party", he was questioned by the PS deputy,

Philippe Vuilque Philippe Vuilque (born 29 January 1956 in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes (department), Ardennes) was a member of the National Assembly of France. He represented the Ardennes' 2nd constituency, 2nd constituency of the Ardennes (department), ...

: In 2014, he voted against the resolution on the Palestinian State but protested "against the unbearable and unacceptable interference of the Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

on the vote of the French Parliament". In 2015, he discovers having been monitored by the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

. In 2017, he reaffirms his position on “the necessary halt to the construction of new settlements”, but declares himself against a “strategy of one-upmanship against Israel”.Glenn Cloarec
Retour sur la manifestation contre la Conférence de Paris devant l’ambassade d’Israël
timesofisrael.com, 15 janvier 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lellouche, Pierre 1951 births Living people Tunisian Jews Jewish French politicians People from Tunis Politicians from Paris Lycée Condorcet alumni Sciences Po alumni Harvard University alumni Politicians of the French Fifth Republic Rally for the Republic politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Deputies of the 10th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French columnists Councillors of Paris Members of Parliament for Paris