Christian Jacob (born 4 December 1959) is a French politician who has been the president of the Republicans party since 2019. Over the course of his career, he held several cabinet positions, including as the Minister of French Civil Service in

Jacques Chirac's second term as President of France At age 69, Jacques Chirac faced his fourth campaign for the French Presidency in 2002. He was the first choice of fewer than one voter in five in the first round of voting of the presidential elections of April 2002. It had been expected that he ...

. He has served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Seine-et-Marne's 4th constituency between 1995 and 2002, and then since 2007. He is not seeking re-election in the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France were held on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in A ...

Early career

A farmer, Jacob served in positions of responsibility in farm trade unions, local, départemental, regional then national. He was the President of the CNJA (''Centre National des Jeunes Agriculteurs'') from 1992 to 1994.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–1997

Jacobe became a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

in the 1994 elections. In parliament, he served on the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the parliament's delegation for relations with

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...

Career in government, 2002–2007

Following the 2002 elections, Jacob was appointed to the government 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 is ...

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. Howev ...

. He first served as Minister Delegate in charge of the Family from 2002 until 2004. In 2004, he became Minister Delegate in charge of SMEs, Trade, Crafts, Liberal Professions and Consumer Affairs, which later became a fully-fledged ministry. In 2005, in the government of

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

, he was appointed Minister for the Civil Service.

Member of the National Assembly, 2007–present

In parliament, Jacob served on the Committee on Economic Affairs (2007–2009); the Committee on Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning (2009–2010, 2012–2017); and the Committee on Defence (2010–2012). When Jean-François Copé resigned from his position as chairman of the UMP group in the National Assembly to become the party's secretary general in late 2010, Jacob succeeded him after defeating Jean Leonetti. In 2011 Jacob caused controversy when he described

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 ...

as an urban intellectual – a " bobo," short for "bourgeois-bohemian" – and said that Strauss-Kahn did not represent "the image of France, the image of rural France, the image of the France of terroirs and territories". Both French and foreign media interpreted this notion of rootless cosmopolitanism, of being out of touch with the soil and the mystery of " la France profonde," as an old trope for foreign and Jewish influence. In response, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF),

Richard Prasquier Richard Prasquier (born 7 July 1945) is a French cardiologist and Jewish leader. He served as president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) from 2007 to 2013. Biography Prasquier was born as Ryszard Praszkier in ...

, called Jacob's comments "a very great clumsiness". In 2012, he was re-elected in the first round with 117 votes, ahead of

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 ...

(63 votes) and

Hervé Gaymard Hervé Gaymard (born 31 May 1960) is a French politician and a member of The Republicans conservative party. He served as the country's Minister of Finances from 30 November 2004 until his resignation on 25 February 2005. Gaymard attended S ...

(17 votes). In the UMP's 2012 leadership primaries, he endorsed Copé. Under Jacob's leadership, the UMP (and later LR) parliamentary group asked for several votes of no-confidence in the government of

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 ...

in 2014, 2015 and 2016. In the Republicans' 2016 presidential primaries, Jacob endorsed

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 ...

as the party's candidate for the office of

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

; the party's majority, however, voted for

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 ...

to run in the 2017 presidential election. In March 2017, when 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 ...

led several staff members to leave the presidential candidate's campaign team, Jacob was appointed campaign coordinator, in tandem with

Bruno Retailleau Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau (; born 20 November 1960) is a French politician who has presided over The Republicans group in the Senate since 2014. He has represented the Vendée department in the Senate since 2004. Retailleau also served ...

. Following the legislative elections in June 2017, Jacob was re-elected chairman of the LR parliamentary group, in a vote against

Damien Abad Damien Abad (; born 5 April 1980) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2022. Abad previously served as Member of the National Assembly for Ain's 5th constitue ...

. In addition, he has since been serving on the Defence Committee and the Committee on Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning again. In the Republicans' 2017 leadership election, Jacob endorsed

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 ...

. Under Jacob's leadership, the Republicans' parliamentary group asked for a

vote of no-confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in the government of

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 2020 ...

over the Benalla affair in 2018. In October 2019, after Wauquiez's resignation and in the context of a series of electoral losses, Jacob emerged as a consensus candidate for the LR leadership. In an internal party vote, he won against

Julien Aubert Julien Aubert (born 11 June 1978) is a French politician and civil servant who represented the 5th constituency of the Vaucluse department in the National Assembly from 2012 to 2022. A member of The Republicans (LR) and its predecessor parties ...

and Guillaume Larrivé.

succeeded him as leader of the LR parliamentary group. Under Jacob's leadership, LR won more than half of the country's small towns in the

2020 French municipal elections The 2020 French municipal elections were held from 15 March to 28 June to renew the municipal councils of the approximately 35,000 French communes. The first round took place on 15 March and the second round was postponed to 28 June due to the CO ...

; at the same time, however, the party lost in larger cities it had held for decades, including Marseille and Bordeaux. By 2021, Jacob said he had "no ambition" to campaign 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, ...

. At the Republicans' national convention in December 2021, he chaired the 11-member committee which oversaw the party's selection of its candidate for the elections.

Political positions

Foreign policy

When President

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 (France), First Secretary of the Socialist P ...

and the French government sought to bolster the case for military action against President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

's government amid the Syrian civil war in 2013, Jacob held that an intervention "could only be justified in the framework of the United Nations" and expressed concern that France was out of step with its neighbors, including Germany. In 2014, Jacob criticized the Socialist majority for backing France's recognition of the State of Palestine as a move to "add fuel to the fire in a region that doesn't need that at all." Ahead of Hollande's 2015 visit to meet President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

in Moscow, Jacob called on him to push for an end to the European Union sanctions on Russia over its activities in Ukraine. In July 2019, Jacob voted against the French ratification of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its member states. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts. ...

(CETA) with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Domestic policy

Amid a 2019 public debate in France about women wearing

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While s ...

s in public, Jacob demanded that clothing restrictions applied to teachers and students be extended to parents who sign up for class trips. 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 newspapers of r ...

'' newspaper, he said: "The veil should be banned on all school time. Not just on school premises".

Personal life

Jacob has in the past touted his passion for hunting and featured in full hunting attire in ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on '' L'Intransigeant ...

'' magazine in July 2020.Elisa Braun (31 August 2020)
Macron's glue-hunting ban threatens France's powerful lobby
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Christian 1959 births Living people People from Seine-et-Marne Politicians of the French Fifth Republic French Ministers of Civil Service French Ministers of Commerce and Industry Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Politicians from Île-de-France French farmers