Jean-Louis Debré (; born 30 September 1944) is a former French judge and politician who served as President of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007 and President of the Constitutional Council from 2007 to 2016.CV
on the National Assembly website (in French). He was Minister of the Interior from 1995 until 1997 during the presidency of Jacques Chirac. Since 2016 he has been President of the Superior Council of Archives.

Early life and family

Debré was born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

. He is the son of former

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 i ...

Michel Debré Michel Jean-Pierre Debré (; 15 January 1912 – 2 August 1996) was the first Prime Minister of the French Fifth Republic. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France. He served under President Charles de Gaulle from 195 ...

, grandson of medicine professor Robert Debré, and brother of politician Bernard Debré.

Political career

Debré was a member of the Neo-Gaullist party Rally for the Republic (RPR), then 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 List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...

(UMP). Debré was first elected to the National Assembly in the 1986 parliamentary election; he was re-elected in 1988, 1993, 1997, and 2002 as a deputy from Eure's 1st constituency. He served as Minister of the Interior in

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 ...

's governments (1995–1997). As minister, he was criticized for having allowed the armed Corsican clandestine press conference, and was responsible for the controversial 1996 evacuation of Saint-Bernard de la Chapelle church in Paris, which was occupied by

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...

(so called ''sans-papiers'') on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

s. Also during his time in office, he led efforts on a 1997 law aimed at curbing illegal immigration and making it easier to assimilate foreigners in the country. On the local level, Debré was elected as Mayor of

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

in 2001, serving in that post until 2007. Debré later served as leader of the RPR group in the National Assembly from 1997 to 2002 and then President of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007. Faithful to President Chirac, he frequently criticized UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy. He resigned as President of the National Assembly three months before the end of his tenure.

President of the Constitutional Council

On 22 February 2007, Debré was appointed by Chirac as President of the Constitutional Council. He replaced

Pierre Mazeaud Pierre Mazeaud (; born 24 August 1929) is a French jurist, politician and alpinist. In February 2004, he was appointed president of the Constitutional Council of France by President of France Jacques Chirac, replacing Yves Guéna, until he wa ...

in the latter position, and was replaced by

Laurent Fabius Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 1946) is a French politician serving as President of the Constitutional Council since 8 March 2016. A member of the Socialist Party, he previously served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 Mar ...

in 2016. During his time as president, the Constitutional Council notably ruled in 2011 that France’s ban on same sex marriage did not violate the constitution and the decision on whether to legalize it rested with parliament. In 2015, a chance encounter between Debré and homeless author Jean-Marie Roughol led the latter to write about living rough, resulting in the French bestseller ''Je tape la manche'' (''I’m begging'').

Later career

In 2020,

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who was the country's Prime Minister from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020, when he joined La République En Marche! (LREM). Castex served f ...

commissioned Debré with a report on options to facilitate voting during the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in France, including a reversal of the ban on

mail-in voting Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an el ...

Political positions

In 2005, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described Debré as "perhaps the most dedicated of all defenders of the Chirac faith." He later voted for François Hollande in the

2012 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 22 April 2012 (or 21 April in some overseas departments and territories), with a second round run-off held on 6 May (or 5 May for those same territories) to elect the President of France (who is al ...

. In the Republicans' 2016 presidential primaries, he publicly endorsed

as the party's candidate for the

2017 elections The following elections occurred in 2017. Africa *2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 * 2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *20 ...

.Jean-Louis Debré a voté Hollande en 2012 et soutient Juppé pour 2017
'' Le Point'', November 15, 2016.

Overview

Governmental function Minister of Interior : 1995–1997. Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' President of the National Assembly of France : 2002–2007 (Resignation, became President of the

Constitutional Council of France The Constitutional Council (french: Conseil constitutionnel; ) is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules ...

in 2007). President of the Rally for the Republic Group in the National Assembly : 1997–2002. Elected in 1997. Member of the National Assembly of France for Eure's 1st constituency : 1986–1995 (Became minister in 1995) / 1997–2007 (Resignation became President of the

in 2007). Elected in 1986, reelected in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002. ''General Council'' Vice-president of the General Council of Eure : 1998–2001 (Resignation). General councillor of Eure : 1992–2001 (Resignation). Reelected in 1998. ''Municipal Council'' Mayor of

: 2001–2007 (Resignation). Municipal councillor of

: 1989–1995 / 2001–2007 (Resignation). Deputy-mayor of Paris : 1995–1997 (Resignation). Councillor of Paris : 1995–1997 (Resignation). ''Agglomeration community Council'' President of the Agglomeration community of Évreux : 2001–2007. (Resignation). Member of the Agglomeration community of Évreux : 2001–2007. (Resignation). Political functions Spokesman of the Rally for the Republic : 1993–1995.

Bibliography

* ''Le Pouvoir Politique'' (co-author, 1976) * ''Le Gaullisme'' (co-author, 1977) * ''La Justice au XIXe Siècle, les Magistrats'' (1980) * ''Les Républiques des Avocats'' (1984) * ''Le Curieux'' (1986) * ''En mon for intérieur (1997) * ''Pièges'' (1998) * ''Le Gaullisme n'est pas une Nostalgie'' (1999) * ''Quand les Brochets font Courir les Carpes'' (2008) * ''Les oubliés de la République'' (2008) * ''Ce que je ne pouvais pas dire'' (2016) * ''Tu le raconteras plus tard'' (2017)

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Debre, Jean Louis 1944 births Living people Politicians from Toulouse French twins Presidents of the National Assembly (France) Politicians of the French Fifth Republic French interior ministers French people of Jewish descent The Republicans (France) politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians Sciences Po alumni Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic