Valérie Pécresse (; born Roux, 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has served as President of the Regional Council of

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 ...

since 2015. A member of The Republicans (LR), she previously served as

Minister of Higher Education and Research Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio A minister without port ...

from 2007 to 2011 and Minister of the Budget and Government Spokeswoman from 2011 to 2012 under Prime Minister

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 Unio ...

. 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 rep ...

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

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

, defeating Éric Ciotti in the

party primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

. 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 (french: link=no, Gaullisme) 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 wi ...

predecessors.

Education and early career

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

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 stat ...

. She has law degrees from

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International F ...

and the

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...

. 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. Establi ...

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. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as ...

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 In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. She was also the spokeswoman 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 political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Soci ...

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 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, she took office as a

municipal councillor A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Vélizy-Villacoublay Vélizy-Villacoublay () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the center and east of Versailles. Its inhabitants are called Véliziens. ...

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 (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 kno ...

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 rep ...

. 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. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sei ...

, 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 in an effort 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 ("English Doormat Prize") for having refused to speak French at international meetings in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, 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 published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

'' as one of the most successful of Sarkozy's ministers and considered as a candidate to succeed

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 ...

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 The Budget of the European Union (EU budget) is used to finance EU funding programmes (such as the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, Horizon Europe, or Erasmus+) and other expenditure at the European level. The EU budge ...

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 t ...

(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 Étienne Blanc (born 29 August 1954) is a French politician who has served as a Senator for Rhône since 2020. A member of The Republicans (LR), he previously served as Mayor of Divonne-les-Bains (1991–2019) and represented the 3rd constituen ...

, Éric Ciotti and

Pierre Lellouche 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 in the government of Prime Minist ...

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 ...

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 In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, 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. Valérie Pecresse César 2016 (cropped)

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 (France), The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced 1995 strikes ...

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

Xavier Bertrand Xavier Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician who has been serving as 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 ...

Christian Estrosi Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician who has served as Mayor of Nice since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government min ...

and others in calling for Juppé to replace

as the party's candidate. 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 since 2016. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 following the ...

, 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 response to the

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...

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

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 Par ...

, Gérard Mestrallet and

Christian Noyer Christian Noyer (born 6 October 1950) is a French economist who served as Governor of the Bank of France from 2003 to 2015. In this capacity, he chaired the Bank for International Settlements from 2010 until 2015. He had previously served as Vic ...

– 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. 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 ''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 Newspaper of recor ...

'', 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 Éric Ciotti in an internal vote; for the

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

election, she was endorsed by the other defeated candidates

Michel Barnier Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who served as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator, Tas ...

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 who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its p ...

and

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 ...

, though trailing incumbent

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017 French presidential election, 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, M ...

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, the term banlieue (; ) refers to a suburb of a large city. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the Paris Metropolitan Are ...

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 Éric Woerth (born 29 January 1956) is a French politician of The Republicans (LR). Early life and education Woerth was born in Creil, Oise. He studied at Panthéon-Assas University, HEC School of Management and Institut d'Études Politiques ...

and

Natacha Bouchart Natacha Bouchart (born 29 May 1963) is a French politician of the Republicans (LR) and formerly Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). Life and career Bouchart was born at Lens. She has served as Mayor of Calais since 2008 and was elected to r ...

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 (french: links=no, Grand Remplacement), also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theoryPT71 disseminated by French author Renaud Camus. The original the ...

". 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 was a member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône from 2017 to 2022. He led the ''La France Insoumise'' group in the Natio ...

. 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 Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

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 LGBT parenting refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people raising one or more children as parents or foster care parents. This includes: children raised by same-sex couples (same-sex parenting), children raised by single LGBT ...

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 written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...

published by Sunday newspaper ''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du dimanche'' (English: ''Sunday's newspaper'') is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. History and profile ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' was created by Pierre Lazareff in 1948. He was managing editor of '' Franc ...

'', 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 a ...

, and

Fleur Pellerin Fleur Pellerin (; née Kim Jong-sook, born 29 August 1973) is a French businesswoman, former civil servant and Socialist Party politician who served as a French government minister from 2012 to 2016. Early life Pellerin was born in 1973 in Seou ...

– in making a public vow to expose "all sexist remarks, inappropriate gestures and behaviour." When founding ''Libres!'' in 2017, Pécresse told Sunday newspaper ''

'' 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. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

– including Prime Minister

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as 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 2020 under Presiden ...

– 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. ...

. 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. Three attackers killed a total of 17 in four shooting attacks, and police then killed the three assailants. The attacks also wounded 22 ...

, Pécresse said France needed its own version of the

Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

. 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, se ...

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 The 35-hour working week is a part of a labour law reform adopted in France in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government. Pushed by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry, it was adopted in two phases: the "Aubry 1" ...

. At the same time, she has attempted to present herself as an

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

Personal life

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

GE Renewable Energy GE Renewable Energy is an American wind turbine manufacturer division of General Electric headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Greater Paris, France focusing on production of energy from renewable sources. Its portfolio of products includes win ...

Jérôme Pécresse since 1994. The couple has 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) Women government ministers of France French Ministers of Budget People from Neuilly-sur-Seine The Republicans (France) politicians French anti-same-sex-marriage activists Government spokespersons of France 21st-century French women politicians