Patrick Kanner (; born 29 April 1957) is a French politician serving as president of the

Socialist group The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The ...

and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate since 2018. A member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, he has represented the department of Nord since 2017. Kanner previously served as

President of the General Council In France, the President of the Departmental Council (French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depart ...

of Nord from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of the City, Youth and Sports from 2014 to 2017.

Biography

Family and youth

Patrick Kanner is the son of Polish Jews who fled Nazism to France. He grew up in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

and studied at Lille 2 University of Health and Law.

Early political career

Kanner was elected to the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. He became Mayor Pierre Mauroy's youngest ''adjoint'' the same year, a position he kept when Martine Aubry assumed the mayorship in 2001. In 1998, he was also elected to the General Council of Nord.

Ministership under François Hollande

Elected to the presidency of the Nord General Council in 2011, Kanner became Minister of the City, Youth and Sports in the Second Valls government, succeeding Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. He remained in office in the Cazeneuve government.

Senator for Nord

In 2017 French Senate election, 2017, Kanner was elected to the Senate. Following the announced retirement of Didier Guillaume, he was elected president of the

in the Senate with 47 votes, against Laurence Rossignol with 25 votes, on 23 January 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanner, Patrick 1957 births Living people French people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century French Jews Politicians from Lille Socialist Party (France) politicians 21st-century French politicians Lille University of Science and Technology alumni Senators of Nord (French department) Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite