Hervé Morin (; born 17 August 1961) is a French politician of the Centrists who has been serving as the first

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the Regional Council of Normandy since January 2016. Under

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. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, he was the

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Political career

Member of the National Assembly

Morin was first elected as a representative to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

on 16 June 2002, in the 3rd constituency of

Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. He served as chairman of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...

(UDF) group in the National Assembly. After the UDF's candidate for the 2007 presidential election,

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (France ...

, did not make it to the 2nd round, he hinted that he attempted to create an alliance with the Socialist Party and decided to found a new political party: the '' Democratic Movement'' (or MoDem). Consequently, Morin, who is of the center-right and an ally of the presidential election's winner,

, made it an organisation within the presidential majority in the National Assembly. It is now called New Centre and he is the leader. After the creation of the UMP, Morin took the presidency of the UDF group at the National Assembly, from 2002 to 2007. When Morin joined the government as minister of Defence in July 2007, Marc Vampa New Centre replaced him as representative.

Minister of Defence

Following the Battle of N'Djamena in 2008, Morin flew to

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

in a show of support for

Idriss Deby, who had just survived an assault on the capital by rebels seeking to topple him. Over the course of 2009, he oversaw efforts to halve the number of troops deployed in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

to 900. In 2009, Morin rejected requests by

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for reinforcements to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, arguing the France had already deployed enough troops. He instead called on

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

partners to set specific timelines for achieving progress in Afghanistan in areas including security and governance. After France had long refused to officially recognise a link between its testing of nuclear bombs in the Pacific Ocean and health complaints reported by both military and civilian staff involved in the tests, Morin announced in 2009 that the government would compensate victims of past nuclear tests and has earmarked an initial 10 million euros to do so. When Pierre Siramy, a former deputy director of

intelligence service An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of info ...

DGSE Pierre Siramy published his memoirs in 2010, Morin filed a complaint against him, accusing him of violating secrecy rules and divulging the identities of operatives.

Later career

On 27 November 2011, Morin officially announced his intention to run for the

2012 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 22 April 2012 (or 21 April in some overseas departments and territories), with a second round Two-round system, run-off held on 6 May (or 5 May for those same territ ...

. At the time of the announcement, he had the support of about 20 deputies, senators and European parliamentarians, and polls saw him winning only between 1-2 percent of the vote. During his campaign he claimed to have been present at the allied invasion of Normandy (1944), although he was not born until 1961. On 16 February 2012, he withdrew his candidacy and gave support to

. In 2013,

Jean-Louis Borloo Jean-Louis Marie Borloo (; born 7 April 1951) is a French politician who served as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2012 to 2014. He also was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment in 2007 and Minister of ...

of the

Union of Democrats and Independents The Union of Democrats and Independents (, , UDI) is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in France, political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the UDI and Independents group, e ...

(UDI) included Morin in his shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance

Pierre Moscovici Pierre Moscovici (, ; born 16 September 1957) is a French politician who served as the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 2012 to ...

. In the Republicans' 2016 primaries, Morin endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the center-right parties joint candidate for the 2017 French presidential election; after Le Maire was eliminated in the first round, Morin supported François Fillon. Shortly after, he left the UDI. Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, Morin publicly declared his support for

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...

as the Republicans’ candidate.Présidentielle: Hervé Morin apporte son soutien à Valérie Pécresse
''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and conservative news magazine published in Paris. It is one of the three major French news magazines. ''Le Point'' was founded in 1972 by former journalists of ''L'Express'' and quickly rose to be ...

'', 2 September 2021.

Overview

Governmental functions Minister of Defence : 2007–2010 Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' Member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

for

Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.3rd constituency) : 1998–2007 (Became minister in 2007) / 2010–2016. Elected in 1998, reelected in 2002, 2007, 2012. Resignation in 2016. ''General Council'' General councillor of

, elected in Eure constituency : Since 2016. Regional councillor of Haute-Normandie, elected in Eure constituency : 2004–2010. ''Municipal Council'' Mayor of Epaignes : 1995–2016. Reelected in 2001, 2008, 2014. Resignation in 2016. Municipal councillor of Epaignes : Since 1989. Reelected in 1995, 2001, 2008, 2014. ''Community of communes Council'' President of the Communauté de communes of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014. Member of the Communauté de communes of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014.

Other activities

* Bpifrance, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2016)

References

External links

*
Official page on the French National Assembly's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morin, Herve 1961 births Living people 20th-century mayors of places in France 21st-century mayors of places in France Ministers of defence of France Presidents of the Regional Council of Normandy Members of the Regional Council of Normandy The Centrists politicians Politicians from Normandy Presidents of French regions and overseas collectivities People from Eure Politicians of the French Fifth Republic Union for French Democracy politicians Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Union of Democrats and Independents politicians Sciences Po alumni Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni University of Caen Normandy alumni Members of Parliament for Eure