Fabienne Keller (born 20 October 1959 in

Sélestat Sélestat (; Alsatian: ''Schlettstàdt''; German: ''Schlettstadt'') is a commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin department, the town lies on the Ill river, from the Rhine and t ...

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lo ...

) is a French politician who has been serving as 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 ...

since 2019. She was previously the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

( UDF) of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, from March 2001 to March 2008.

Education

Keller studied at the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(X 1979) and the National School of Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry. She also graduated with a Masters in Economics from Berkeley. She undertook her military service in the intelligence service of the Mediterranean navy and remains a reserve Lieutenant Commander.

Early career

Keller began her career at the Ministry of Agriculture between 1985 and 1988 and was responsible for the management of the French cereal market, moving on to the Ministry of Finance (Treasury Department), where she was responsible for funding agriculture and fisheries. In 1989, Keller was appointed CEO to the CIAL bank (Crédit Industriel d'Alsace Lorraine), and then, in 1996, General Manager of

Crédit Commercial de France The ''Crédit Commercial de France'' (CCF, "Commercial Credit ompanyof France") is a commercial bank in France, founded in 1894 as the ''Banque Suisse et Française'' and renamed to CCF in 1917. By the end of the 1920s, it had grown to be the six ...

(CCF), which she left in 2001, the year of her election as mayor of Strasbourg.

Political career

Career in national politics

In addition to her work in local politics, Keller served on the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 2005 until 2019. In this capacity, she made headlines when she voted against her party's line and supported 2013 legislation introducing same-sex marriage in France. She also wrote a 2018 report about congestion pricing in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, which formed the basis for legislation making it easier for cities to introduce congestion pricing in a bid to reduce traffic jams and air pollution. In the Republicans’ 2016 presidential primaries, Keller endorsed

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 cou ...

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 ...

. In November 2017, she co-founded Agir. Under the leadership of party chairman

Franck Riester Franck Riester (born 3 January 1974) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister Delegate for Parliamentary Relations in the Government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne since July 2022. He previously served as Minister Delegate for ...

, she has since been serving as deputy chair alongside

Frédéric Lefebvre Frédéric Lefebvre (; born 14 October 1963 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French politician who served as Secretary of State for Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises, Tourism, Services, Liberal professions and Consumption under the Minister of Eco ...

Laure de La Raudière Laure may refer to: * ''Laure'' (film), a 1976 Italian erotic film in the Emmanuelle universe * ''Doxocopa laure'', commonly known as the Laure, a butterfly People * Laura (given name) (French variant) * Laure (art model) (fl. 1859–1867), Frenc ...

and Claude Malhuret. She eventually left The Republicans in early 2018.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Since becoming a

, Keller has been serving on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, she is part of the Parliament’s delegations for relations with the Mashreq countries and to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights, the URBAN Intergroup and the

MEPs Against Cancer MEPs Against Cancer is a group of 130 Members of the European Parliament who aim to "promote action on cancer as an EU priority and harness European health policy to that end" and to encourage every country to develop a national plan for combati ...

group. In 2022, Keller became a

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

of the European Parliament, making her part of the Parliament's leadership under President Roberta Metsola.

Other activities

* French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), Member of the Board of Directors * French Development Agency (AFD), Member of the Board of Directors * Haute école des arts du Rhin (HEAR), Member of the Board of Director * Robert Schuman Foundation, Member of the Board of DirectorsBoard of Directors
Robert Schuman Foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Fabienne 1959 births Living people People from Sélestat Politicians from Grand Est French people of German descent Union for French Democracy politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Agir (France) MEPs French Senators of the Fifth Republic Senators of Bas-Rhin Mayors of Strasbourg MEPs for France 2019–2024 Women mayors of places in France 21st-century French women politicians École Polytechnique alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Women members of the Senate (France)