Xavier Darcos (born 14 July 1947) is a French

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

, civil servant and former

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

. An ''agrégé'' professor in literature and general inspector of the National Education system, he has been Mayor of

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is al ...

, a Senator, and a minister in

Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. Howeve ...

and

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 ...

's governments.

Biography

Darcos was born on 14 July 1947 in Limoges to Jean-Gabriel Darcos and Anne-Marie Banvillet. After getting a PhD in Latin studies from the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a Lists of universities in France, public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Southern France, southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bor ...

under the direction of Jean-Pierre Néraudau and becoming a professor emeritus in letters and social sciences, he started teaching in 1968, first in

, then in a Bordeaux '' khâgne'' from 1982 to 1987, and finally at the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

, Paris from 1987 to 1992. In 1989 he became deputy to the Mayor of

. Three years later, he became a senior school inspector. From 1993 to 1995 he was the chief of staff (''directeur de cabinet'') to Education Minister François Bayrou, from 1995 to 1997 advisor to 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 ...

for education and culture matters, and from 1995 to 1998, along with François Bayroux and

Claude Allègre Claude Allègre (; born 31 March 1937) is a French politician and scientist. Scientific work The main scientific area of Claude Allègre was geochemistry. Allègre co-authored an ''Introduction to geochemistry'' in 1974. Since the 1980s, he ...

, he was the president of school inspectors. From 1996 to 1999 he was also a Professor in

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

at the Paris IV University. In 1997 he became Mayor of

, and was reelected both in 2001 and 2005. He was also elected Senator of

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is name ...

in 1998. In May 2002, he became Minister for School Education in

's cabinet, then on 1 April 2004 Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophony. He has been a member of the

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

Regional Council since 2004. On 15 June 2005 he became a French ambassador for the OCDE. In 2006, he was elected as member of the

Académie des sciences morales et politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

and was its ''secrétaire perpétuel'' from 2010 until 2017. Since 18 May 2007, he has been the Minister of National Education in

's governments. In March 2008, he failed to be reelected as Mayor of Périgueux. In 2009, he condemned as "criminal" statements made by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

which claimed that condoms promote AIDS, when in fact they help protect against it. Darcos was elected as an ''immortel'' of the Académie Française on 13 June 2013.Official website of Académie française
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Political career

;Governmental functions *Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Family, and Solidarity : 2009–2010. *Minister of National Education : 2007–2009. *Minister of School Education : 2002–2004. *Minister of Development, Cooperation and Francophony : 2004–2005. ;Electoral mandates Senate of France Senator of

: 1998–2002 (Became minister in 2002). Regional Council Regional councillor of

: Since 2004. Reelected in 2010. Municipal Council *Mayor of

: 1997–2002 (Resignation) / 2005–2008. Reelected in 2001, 2005. *Deputy-mayor of

: 1989–1997 / 2002–2005. Reelected in 1995. *Municipal councillor of Périgueux : 1989–2008. Reelected in 1995, 2001. Agglomeration community Council *President of the

Agglomeration community An agglomeration community (french: communauté d'agglomération) is a government structure in France, created by the Chevènement Law of 1999. It is one of four forms of intercommunality, less integrated than a métropole or a communauté u ...

: 2000–2001. *Member of the

: 2000–2001.

Awards and honours

* Xavier Darcos entered the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in 2006, and the

French Academy 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 France ...

in 2013. He is also a commander of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, Officer of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the Academic palm and Commander of the Art and letter decoration.

Bibliography

* ''Histoire de la littérature française,'' 1992 * ''Approches ovidiennes de la mort,'' 1995 * ''Mérimée,'' 1998 * ''Robert des grands écrivains de langue française,'' (with other writers) * ''L'Art d'apprendre à ignorer'', 2000 * ''Dictionnaire des mythes féminins,'' 2002 (with other writers) * ''Lettre à tous ceux qui aiment l'école,'' 2003 (en coll.) * ''Deux voix pour une école,'' 2004 (with other writers) * ''L'École de Jules Ferry,'' 2005 ( in 2006) * ''L'État et les Églises, 1905–2005,'' 2005 * ''L'État et les Églises, la question laïque,'' 2006 * ''Tacite, ses vérités sont les nôtres,'' 2007 * ''Bruno Neveu (1936–2004), Institut de France,'' 2007 * ''La escuela republicana en Francia, Prensas universitarias de Zaragoza,'' 2008 () * ''René Haby par lui-même, en coll., INRP,'' 2009, () * ''L'école forme-t-elle encore des citoyens ?, avec Aurélie Filippetti, Frémeaux & Associés,'' 2008 * ''Peut-on améliorer l'école sans dépenser plus ?, avec Vincent Peillon, Magnard,'' 2009 () * ''Ovide et la mort, PUF, Coll. « Hors collection »,'' 2009 () * ''Une anthologie historique de la poésie française, PUF, coll. « Hors collection »,'' 2010 () * ''Dictionnaire amoureux de la Rome antique, Plon,'' 2011 () * ''La Poésie française, Eyrolles, coll. « Mes passions »,'' 2012 () * ''Histoire de la littérature française, Hachette,'' 2013 () * ''Oscar a toujours raison, Plon,'' 2013 () * ''Auguste et son siècle, Artlys,'' 2014, () * ''Jean-Pierre Angrémy, dit Pierre-Jean Remy, Institut de France,'' 2015 * ''Dictionnaire amoureux de l'Ecole, Plon, 2016,'' () * ''Virgile, notre vigie, Fayard,'' 2017, ()

References

External links

Biography

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darcos, Xavier 1947 births Living people People from Limoges French civil servants Politicians of the French Fifth Republic Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques French Ministers of National Education Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Members of the Académie Française University of Bordeaux alumni Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French Senators of the Fifth Republic Senators of Dordogne Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Union for a Popular Movement politicians