Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (;

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council of

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

since 2015. A member of The Republicans, she previously served as Minister of Higher Education and Research from 2007 to 2011 and Minister of the Budget and Government Spokeswoman from 2011 to 2012 under Prime Minister

François Fillon François Charles Amand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a French retired 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 ...

. Pécresse represented the 2nd constituency of

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.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 repr ...

from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2012 until 2016. Pécresse was voted as the Republicans' nominee for the

2022 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...

, defeating

Éric Ciotti Éric Ciotti ( or , ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who led The Republicans (LR) from 2022 to 2024. He has represented Alpes-Maritimes's 1st constituency in the National Assembly since the 2007 legislative election. Once a m ...

in the party primary. She came fifth in the election with 4.8% of the vote, the worst result in the history of her party or its

Gaullist Gaullism ( ) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withdrew French forces from t ...

predecessors.

Education and early career

Pécresse is the daughter of economist Dominique Roux who taught at Université Paris Dauphine and later served as CEO of French conglomerate

Bolloré Bolloré SE () is a French conglomerate headquartered in Puteaux, on the western outskirts of Paris, France. Founded in 1822, the company has interests in Vivendi, international freight forwarding, oil storage and pipelines in France, solid state ...

. She has degrees from

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

and the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

. She speaks French, English, Russian and Japanese. Pécresse was an auditor of the

Conseil d'État In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establ ...

until 1998, when she was designated councillor to President

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

Political career

Career in local politics

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, she took office as a regional councillor of

. She was also the spokeswoman of the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

party in

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, she took office as a municipal councillor of

Vélizy-Villacoublay Vélizy-Villacoublay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the Kilometre Zero, center and ea ...

Career in national politics

In addition to her activities in regional politics, Pécresse served as a member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

from 2002 until 2007, representing the

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.department (2nd constituency). In parliament, she was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (2002–2005) and the Committee on Cultural Affairs (2005–2007).Valérie Pécresse

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 repr ...

. In 2004, she became the spokeswoman for

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. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, who was then leader of the UMP. From 2007 until 2011, Pécresse served as Minister of Higher Education and Research in the cabinet of Prime Minister

. During her time in office, she launched many reforms to give universities a greater degree of autonomy over their resources and open the way for more private sector financing. The reforms caused a wave of strikes. In 2009, the Académie de la Carpette anglaise, an organisation that opposes the spread of the English language in Francophone countries, gave Pécresse the Prix de la Carpette Anglaise (lit: "English Doormat Prize") for having refused to speak French at international meetings in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium; Pécresse had stated that English was the easiest means of communication. At the same time, Pécresse was described by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' as one of the most successful of Sarkozy's ministers and considered as a candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as Minister of the Economy and Finance in 2011. From 2011 until 2012, Pécresse served as the government's spokeswoman and as Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform in Fillon's third cabinet, succeeding François Baroin. In this capacity, she opposed increases in the EU budget for 2013. In the 2011 local elections, she notably went against official party line, led by then UMP leader

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 ...

, not to direct the party's supporters how to vote; instead, she said she would rather vote for 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 th ...

(PS) in the case of a runoff against the National Front (FN). After the defeat of

in the

2012 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 22 April 2012 (or 21 April in some overseas departments and territories), with a second round Two-round system, run-off held on 6 May (or 5 May for those same territ ...

, Pécresse remained a key member of the

(UMP) and its successor, the Republicans (LR). She returned to the National Assembly, where she served on the Finance Committee from 2012 until 2016. In September 2014, she joined Fillon, Étienne Blanc,

and Pierre Lellouche on an official trip to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France

In December 2015, Pécresse led a list of candidates of the Union of the Right, a coalition of centrist and right-wing parties, which narrowly won the

regional election, defeating the Union of the Left, a coalition of socialists and ecologists. She became the first woman to hold the office of president of the Regional Council of Île-de-France. In the party's 2016 presidential primaries Pécresse endorsed former prime minister

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the c ...

. Amid the Fillon affair, in March 2017, she joined

Xavier Bertrand Xavier René Louis Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician; he is president of the regional council of Hauts-de-France since the 2015 regional elections. Earlier in his career, Bertrand was Minister of Health from 2005 to 2007 ...

, Christian Estrosi and others in calling for Juppé to replace

as the party's candidate. In response to the

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

vote in 2016, Pécresse helped launch an initiative of corporate leaders and politicians – including

Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 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 (France), Socialist Party (PS). Hidalg ...

, Gérard Mestrallet and Christian Noyer – to attract business from London. She has since been saying publicly that France was rolling out the "red-white-and-blue carpet" for UK bankers. Ahead of the Republicans' 2017 leadership elections, Pécresse founded her own political movement '' Libres!'' in July 2017. She also publicly opposed newly elected LR chairman

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 follow ...

, warning against his possible "porosity" to the far-right National Front's (FN) ideas. She later announced her resignation from LR on 5 June 2019, three days after Wauquiez's resignation from the presidency of the party. In 2019, Pécresse announced plans to boost the number of people in the Paris region who cycle to work by investing 100 million euros in new cycle lanes and infrastructure and a subsidized electric bike rental scheme before 2021.

Candidacy for 2022 presidential election

In July 2021, Pécresse announced her intention to run as the Republican candidate in the 2022 presidential election. In an interview with ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', she said: "I am ready to be the first woman president of the Republic." At the party's congress in November 2021, she came in second after

in an internal vote; for the runoff election, she was endorsed by the other defeated candidates

Michel Barnier Michel Jean Barnier (; born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who was Prime Minister of France from September to December 2024. A member of a series of Gaullist parties ( UDR, RPR, UMP, LR), Barnier has served in several French cabinet p ...

and Philippe Juvin. On 4 December 2021, she won the Republican candidacy in the final round of voting with 61 percent of ballots cast by party members, the first woman to be so nominated; Ciotti polled 39 percent. She appointed Sonia Petro, a politician from Guadeloupe as Overseas Speaker during her campaign. After winning the nomination, Pécresse's polling numbers soared above those of far-right candidates

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...

and Éric Zemmour, though trailing incumbent

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

in the first round. From the end of December, Pécresse and Le Pen were close together in polls for second place in the first round, to advance into the second round behind Macron. In January 2022, Pécresse said that France should metaphorically use a Kärcher pressure washer against crime in ''

banlieue In France, a banlieue (; ) is a suburb of a large city, or all its suburbs taken collectively. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80percent of the inhabitant ...

s''; the same argument had been used by Sarkozy in 2005. The German corporation said that it did not want to be used in political discourse. In February, some of her aides including Éric Woerth and Natacha Bouchart left her campaign and endorsed Macron. At a rally in February, Pécresse said "in ten years time … will we be a sovereign nation, a U.S. satellite or a Chinese trading post? Will we be unified or divided? Nothing is written, whether it's loss of economic status, or the

Great Replacement The Great Replacement (), also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a debunked white nationalist far-right conspiracy theoryPT71. espoused by French author Renaud Camus. The original theory states that, with the complicit ...

". She was criticised for referring to the Great Replacement, and later said that her mention was not an endorsement of what she considered to be a "theory of hate". In addition to this statement, her rally was ridiculed by members of her own party, who perceived her delivery as awkward and likened the rally to the sinking of the ''Titanic''. By March 2022, Pécresse was polling in fifth place for the first round, behind Macron, Zemmour, Le Pen and

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...

. She finished in fifth place with 1,679,470 votes (4.8%), the worst-ever result for the Republicans or its

predecessors. She then endorsed Macron for the second round. Pécresse received slightly less than the 5% threshold to be reimbursed by the state for her campaign; she said that her campaign had cost €7 million, of which €5 million was her personal responsibility. She then announced a plan to crowdfund the paying of her debts.

Political positions

Social policy

Opposed to the Taubira bill on same-sex marriage in France, Pécresse participated in various demonstrations opposing same-sex marriage and

LGBT parenting Same-sex parenting is parenting of children by same-sex couples generally consisting of gay, lesbian, or bisexual people who are often in civil partnerships, domestic partnerships, civil unions, or same-sex marriages. Opponents of same-sex ...

between 2012 and 2013, notably led by '' La Manif pour tous''. In a 2016

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

published by Sunday newspaper '' Le Journal du Dimanche'', Pécresse joined sixteen other high-profile women from across the political spectrum – including

Élisabeth Guigou Élisabeth Guigou (; born Élisabeth Vallier; 6 August 1946) is a French politician of the Socialist Party who served as a member of the National Assembly from 2002 until 2017, representing Seine-Saint-Denis' 9th constituency. Early life and ...

, Christine Lagarde, and Fleur Pellerin – in making a public vow to expose "all sexist remarks, inappropriate gestures and behaviour." When founding ''Libres!'' in 2017, Pécresse told Sunday newspaper '' Le Journal du Dimanche'' she would seek to position her grouping between those who had joined Macron's

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

– including Prime Minister

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...

– and those who would follow a line she called "aggressive opposition," and which has gathered around the party's right wing. Also in 2020, Pécresse said she was "totally hostile" to mail-in voting to facilitate voting during the public health crisis caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

. In 2021, Pécresse advocated a more restrictive approach to the issue of immigration, seeing it as a "major societal challenge". In particular, she suggests the introduction of maximum annual immigration ceilings and stricter conditions for the issuance of a residence permit, such as having "sufficient resources" (the amount of which would be raised by 25%), "mastery of the French language" and "respect for secularism and the values of the Republic". Finally, she wants to exclude people who have been living in France for less than five years from social assistance.

Homeland security

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 most prominently at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Three attackers killed a total of 17 people in four shooting attacks, and ...

, Pécresse said France needed its own version of the Patriot Act. Following the murder of Samuel Paty in 2020, Pécresse argued for lifting restrictions on

facial recognition Facial recognition or face recognition may refer to: *Face detection, often a step done before facial recognition *Face perception, the process by which the human brain understands and interprets the face *Pareidolia, which involves, in part, seein ...

and using artificial intelligence to fight terrorism on public transport networks.

Economic policy

Declaring herself in favour of economic liberalism, she said in August 2021 that she was "two-thirds Merkel, one-third Thatcher". In the run-up to the 2022 presidential election, she promised to cut public spending and taxes through four major reforms: eliminating 150,000 civil service jobs, moving to retirement at age 65, reducing unemployment benefits and withdrawing the state from competitive companies in which it is a minority shareholder. She also wants to end the 35-hour workweek. At the same time, she has attempted to present herself as an

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

Personal life

Pécresse has been married to former investment banker and current CEO of

GE Renewable Energy GE Renewable Energy was a manufacturing and services division of the American company General Electric. It is headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France and focuses on the production of energy systems that use renewable sources. It ...

Jérôme Pécresse since 1994. The couple have three children.Victor Mallet (10 December 2021)
Valérie Pécresse, the woman who could beat Macron
''

''.

Bibliography

* "Miss Oradour", in

References

External links

Biography
*
interview of Valérie Pécresse for a student TV during the strike of university teacher in February 2009
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pecresse, Valerie 1967 births Living people Presidents of the Regional Council of Île-de-France Members of the Regional Council of Île-de-France Candidates in the 2022 French presidential election 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 HEC Paris alumni École nationale d'administration alumni Members of the Conseil d'État (France) Academic staff of HEC Paris Women government ministers of France Budget ministers of France Politicians from Neuilly-sur-Seine The Republicans (France) politicians French anti-same-sex-marriage activists Government spokespersons of France 21st-century French women politicians