Marisol Touraine (; born 7 March 1959) is a French politician who served as Minister of

Social Affairs A Ministry of Social Affairs or Department of Social Affairs is the common name for a government department found in states where the government is divided into ministries or departments. While there is some variation in the responsibilities of ...

and

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

under Prime Ministers

Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...

,Angelique Chrisafis
Women in the French cabinet
''

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 ...

'', 18 May 2012Olivier Auguste
Marisol Touraine à la tête d'un pôle social féminin
''

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Bernard Cazeneuve Bernard Guy Georges Cazeneuve (; born 2 June 1963) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 December 2016 to 15 May 2017. A member of the Socialist Party, he represented Manche’s 5th constituency in t ...

Early life and education

Touraine was born on 7 March 1959 in Paris. She graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). She studied at the

École Normale Supérieure 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, S ...

, where she specialised in economic and social issues. She also attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

but did not receive a degree. She is fluent in Spanish.

Political career

From 1988 to 1991, Touraine was an advisor to

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 ...

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991 during which he created the ''Revenu minimum d'ins ...

on geostrategic issues. Touraine 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 know ...

for

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.3rd constituency) from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to 2002 for the

Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche The Socialists and affiliated group (french: groupe Socialistes et apparentés ) is a parliamentary group in the National Assembly including representatives of the Socialist Party (PS). History The first socialist parliamentary group emerged i ...

political party. She was defeated in the second round of the 2002 elections by Jean-Jacques Descamps (UMP). She regained the district in the 2007 elections with a small majority (50.22%), and served until 2012. On the regional level, Touraine has been general councillor for Indre-et-Loire since the 2001 elections. She served as Vice-President of the General Council of

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079. She has served as General councillor of

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079. In the

French presidential election Presidential elections in France determine who will serve as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra for the French side for the next five years. Until 2002, the elections were held every seven years. They are always held on a Sunday. Sin ...

, Touraine endorsed

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 ...

before later supporting Hollande.

Minister of Health and Social Affairs

On 16 May 2012, Touraine was named by

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

and

. The designation was accepted by

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 ...

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 ...

, in line with tradition. In her ministerial post, she worked to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and early diagnosis, promoted universal

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, ...

treatment with innovative drugs, implemented

plain tobacco packaging Plain tobacco packaging, also known as generic, neutral, standardised or homogeneous packaging, is packaging of tobacco products, typically cigarettes, without any branding (colours, imagery, corporate logos and trademarks), including only the b ...

and launched a nutrition labelling system. In October 2012, Touraine announced that trial centres could open in 2012 in France for drug addicts to safely inject their own drugs. This measure met with criticism coming from both the opposition and members of the majority. She entered into negotiations with doctors and health insurance professional organisations to limit the prices of medical assistance. During her time in office, Touraine oversaw a 2013 pension reform which gradually extended the mandatory pay-in period from 41.5 years to 43 by 2035 and required workers, retirees and employers to fill in an annual deficit set otherwise to reach 20 billion euros ($26 billion) in 2020. She also worked on implementing a 2015 reform aimed at making it easier for low-earners to get access to a doctor. Also during her term, Touraine steered France’s response to both a MERS outbreak in 2013 and the

Western African Ebola virus epidemic The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, Western Africa, was the most widespread List of Ebola outbreaks, outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and Socioeconomics, socioeconomic disr ...

from 2013, during which several French nationals contracted the virus. After a review of the measure from 2012 until 2015, she opted to lift blood donation restrictions on men who have sex with men that had been in place since 1983. By the end of her term, Touraine was widely expected to join her party’s presidential primaries in 2017; she eventually decided not to run for president. When Prime Minister Valls declared that he would seek the Socialist Party’s nomination and quit the government to focus on campaigning, Touraine was seen by news media as possible choice to replace him and lead what would effectively become a caretaker government; instead, the post went to

. In the ensuing

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in par ...

to form the Cazeneuve government, she lost the responsibility for women’s rights to newly appointed minister

Laurence Rossignol Laurence Rossignol (born 22 December 1957) is a French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who has served as a member of the French Senate from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2017, representing Oise. From 2014 to 2017, she served as Secretary o ...

Life after politics

In 2019, Touraine was elected chair of the Executive Board of

Unitaid Unitaid is a global health initiative that works with partners to bring about innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat major diseases in low- and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS and its deadly co ...

Other activities

In 2009, Touraine belonged to the "Future of Health Club" (Club Avenir de la santé), a lobby group funded by

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...

, the world's No. 7 of pharmecetics products, producing amongst other things, nicotine patches.

Political positions

In 2016, Touraine was one of two ministers who came out in open disagreement with the government’s stance on a ban of

burkini A burkini (or burqini; portmanteau of burqa and bikini, though qualifying as neither of these garments) is a style of swimsuit for women. The suit covers the whole body except the face, the hands and the feet, while being light enough for swimm ...

s. She argued that "to pretend that swimming veiled or bathing on a beach dressed is in itself threatening to public order and the values of the Republic is to forget that those (secular) values are meant to allow each person to safeguard their identity."

Personal life

Touraine is the daughter of French sociologist

Alain Touraine Alain Touraine (; born 3 August 1925) is a French sociologist. He is research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he founded the ''Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux''. Touraine was an important figure in ...

and Chilean academic Adriana Arenas Pizarro (d. 1990). She has a brother, Philippe, who is professor of

endocrinology Endocrinology (from '' endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental event ...

. She is also first cousin of Alberto Arenas, Chile's Budget Director during

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

's presidency. Touraine is married to diplomat Michel Reveyrand de Menthon, who is currently French ambassador to

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

. She is a mother of three. When President Hollande published a list of bank deposits and property held by all 38 ministers for first time 2012, Touraine declared personal assets worth 1.4 million euros, mainly property. In September 2013, Touraine's elder son was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for extortion and sequestration.

References

External links

Her biographical page on the web site of the National Assembly

Marisol Touraine's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Touraine, Marisol 1959 births École Normale Supérieure alumni French Ministers of Health French people of Chilean descent Government ministers of France Harvard University alumni Living people Politicians from Paris Women government ministers of France Women members of the National Assembly (France) Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic 21st-century French women politicians