Hélène Laporte (; born 29 December 1978) is a French politician who was elected as a

National Rally The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

(part of the

Identity and Democracy Identity and Democracy (ID; ) was a political group of the European Parliament during the Ninth European Parliament term, launched on 13 June 2019. It comprised Far right politics, far-right, Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Euroscept ...

) group

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) in the 2019 European parliamentary election. She was vice president of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 2022 to 2024.

Early life and local political career

Hélène Laporte was born on 29 December 1978 in

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly name ...

, France. Her mother Isabelle Laporte was elected as a National Front councillor on the Villeneuve

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, borough cou ...

in 2014. Her maternal grandfather Jacques Laporte was a candidate for the National Front in the

1997 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislat ...

. She is a banking analyst for

Crédit Agricole Crédit Agricole Group (), sometimes called La banque verte (, , due to its historical ties to farming), is a French international banking group and the world's largest cooperative financial institution. It is the second largest bank in France, ...

. Laporte joined the National Front in 2014. In the

2015 French regional elections Regional elections were held in France on 6 and 13 December 2015. At stake were the regional councils in metropolitan and overseas France including the Corsican Assembly and inaugural seats in the Assembly of French Guiana and Assembly of Ma ...

, she was elected as a councillor for the party in

Lot-et-Garonne Lot-et-Garonne (, ) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.2017 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...

in Lot-et-Garonne's 2nd constituency. Alexandre Freschi of the

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...

party won the seat after the second round of voting. National Front changed their name to

in June 2018.

European and national career

Laporte stood as a candidate for National Rally in the 2019 European parliamentary election. She was second on her party's list, and was elected as one of its 22 MEPs in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. She is part of the

group. In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, Laporte is a member of the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly The Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) is a trans-national body of 150 Parliamentarians from Europe and Latin America. It was established in 2006 to bolster EU-Latin American relations. It was described by Benita Ferrero-Waldner ...

. She was invited to Russia in 2020 as an "international expert" to observe the

constitutional referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

that allowed

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

to be candidate to

Russian presidential elections Russian presidential elections determine who will serve as the president of Russia for the next six (formerly four from 1996 to 2012 and five from 1991 to 1996) years. Since the establishment of the position of the President of Russia in 1991, ...

until 2036. Despite several allegations of fraud, she called the referendum a "democracy lesson". 10 MEPs from the National Rally were invited to observe this refendum. She also praised the organization of the election in the Russian journal

Ria Novosti RIA Novosti (), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (), is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013, by a decree of Vladimir Putin, it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created ...

. She was elected a

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

constituency during the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 Deputy (France), members of the 16th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic. Th ...

and has served as vice president of the National Assembly since 29 June 2022.

Personal life

Laporte is married, and has two children.

Notes

References

1978 births Living people People from Villeneuve-sur-Lot French Catholics National Rally politicians Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Lot-et-Garonne National Rally MEPs MEPs for France 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for France {{France-politician-FN-stub