Hervé Morin (born 17 August 1961) is a French politician of the

Centrists Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

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: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Regional Council of Normandy The Regional Council of Normandy () is the executive body for the French Region of Normandy since its creation on January 1, 2016.

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. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

, he was the

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

Political career

Member of the National Assembly

Morin was first elected as a representative to the

French National Assembly 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 known a ...

on 16 June 2002, in the 3rd constituency of

Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. He served as chairman of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to c ...

(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 presided over the Democratic Movement (MoDem) since he founded it in 2007. A centrist, he was a candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 presidential elections. ...

, did not make it to the 2nd round, he hinted that he attempted to create an alliance with 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 ...

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 The Centrists (french: Les Centristes, LC), formerly known as New Centre (''Nouveau Centre'', NC) and European Social Liberal Party (''Parti Social Libéral Européen'', PSLE), is a centre-right political party in France formed by the members of ...

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

replaced him as representative.

Minister of Defence

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

in a show of support for

Idriss Deby Idriss may refer to: * Idriss Arnaoud Ali (born 1945), President of the National Assembly of Djibouti * Idriss Carlos Kameni (born 1984), Cameroonian football player * Idriss Déby (1952–2021), President of Chad * Idriss Ndele Moussa, Chadian p ...

, 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, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

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 of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

for reinforcements to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

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

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

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 informatio ...

DGSE The General Directorate for External Security (french: link=no, Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure, DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 2 April 1982. ...

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. 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 (french: Union des démocrates et indépendants, UDI) is a Centrism, centre to Centre-right politics, centre-right list of political parties in France, political party in France and former Electoral alliance ...

(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 2 ...

. In the Republicans' 2016 primaries, Morin endorsed

Bruno Le Maire Bruno Le Maire (; born 15 April 1969) is a French politician and former diplomat who has served as Minister of the Economy and Finance since 2017 under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which he left in 2017 to ...

as the center-right parties joint candidate for the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! (EM) and Marine Le Pen of the Nationa ...

; after Le Maire was eliminated in the first round, Morin supported

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

. Shortly after, he left the UDI. Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, Morin publicly declared his support for

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Pécresse (; born Roux, 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has served as President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republicans (LR), she previously served as Minister of Higher Education and ...

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

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'', 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 (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 known a ...

for

Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.3rd 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 Upper Normandy (french: Haute-Normandie, ; nrf, Ĥâote-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Upper and Lower Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. History It was created in 1956 from two ...

, 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 A ''communauté de communes'' (, "community of communes") is a federation of municipalities (communes) in France. It forms a framework within which local tasks are carried out together. It is the least-integrated form of ''intercommunalité'' (in ...

of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014. Member of the

of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014.

Other activities

Bpifrance ''Banque publique d'investissement'' (literally ''renchPublic Investment Bank'', also known as Bpifrance, BPI Groupe S.A.) is a French public investment bank. It is a joint venture of two public entities: the Caisse des dépôts et consignations ...

, 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 French Ministers of Defence 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