Nathalie Appéré
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Nathalie Appéré (; born 8 July 1975) is a French politician who has served as the president of
Rennes Métropole Rennes Métropole () is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Rennes. It is located in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, in the Brittany region, western France. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previou ...
since 2020 and the mayor of
Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
since 2014. She is 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 th ...
(PS). Appéré was born in
Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...
and moved to Rennes in 1993 to study at Sciences Po Rennes. She graduated three years later and entered the public service. In 1995, Appéré joined the Young Socialist Movement (MJS) in 1995 and then the Socialist Party. She was named by Edmond Hervé to his electoral list in the 2001 French municipal elections, after which she was appointed his deputy for community living. Appéré then managed Daniel Delaveau's successful mayoral campaign in 2008, with Delaveau subsequently appointing her deputy mayor, in charge of Solidarity, as well as vice-president of Rennes Métropole, in charge of Social Cohesion. Appéré was elected to 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 ...
in the
2012 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 10 and 17 June 2012 (and on other dates for small numbers of voters outside metropolitan France) to select the members of the 14th National Assembly of France, National Assembly of the Fifth French R ...
s, representing Ille-et-Vilaine's 2nd constituency. She then became the first female mayor of Rennes in 2014 and was re-elected in 2020, when she also won the presidency of Rennes Métropole.


Early life and education

Nathalie Appéré was born on 8 July 1975 in Ploemeur,
Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...
. Appéré moved to
Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
in 1993 after obtaining her ''
baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...
''. She enrolled in Sciences Po Rennes and graduated in 1996, writing a senior thesis titled "Study for a Diagnostic and the Definition of a Research Strategy in the Rennes Agglomeration: Final Report Relating to the Study Contract with the City of Rennes–University of Rennes 1" with Jacques Hardy as her advisor. Appéré then became a lecturer in public law. Appéré's professional career centred around city politics and urban social development. She first entered the public service as a research analyst for the Regional Institute of Social Work in Rennes from 1996 to 1998, after which she took up the post of director of public infrastructure for Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande from 2000 to 2008.


Political career

After arriving in Rennes, Appéré joined the Young Socialist Movement at the age of 20 during the
1995 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April, with a second round on 7 May. Background The Socialist incumbent president François Mitterrand, who had been in office since 1981, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had termi ...
. She became 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 th ...
(PS) and took up several departmental posts within the party, notably that of spokesperson for the Socialist federation of
Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Ill-e-Vilaenn'', ) is a departments of France, department of France, located in the regions of France, region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named a ...
. Appéré joined Edmond Hervé's electoral list for Rennes in the 2001 municipal elections, after which she was appointed deputy mayor for community living. It was in this position that she led major city projects such as the reform of the Rennes Social and Cultural Office.


Rise to prominence

Appéré was the director of Daniel Delaveau's successful campaign for mayor of Rennes in the 2008 municipal elections, after which she was appointed first deputy mayor, in charge of Solidarity, and vice-president of
Rennes Métropole Rennes Métropole () is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Rennes. It is located in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, in the Brittany region, western France. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previou ...
, in charge of Social Cohesion. Among her initiatives were the implementation of the "Sortir" tourism card, providing discounts for visitors to cultural and entertainment attractions in Rennes, as well as the rehabilitation of the city's heritage district. Appéré also served as the president of the supervisory board of Guillaume-Régnier hospital from 2010 to 2012. In early 2012, she supported a strike at the hospital protesting the facility's insufficient patient capacity. At the national level, Appéré was named vice-president of the National Council of Cities in 2010. The body is presided over by the Prime Minister of France and discusses issues surrounding municipal politics, neighbourhood public policy and territorial difficulties. Appéré endorsed
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. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...
in the PS' 2011 open presidential primary.


Member of the National Assembly

During the
2002 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 9 and 16 June 2002, to elect the 12th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, in a context of political crisis. The Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced his political retirement after h ...
s, Appéré was elected as the designated substitute of Philippe Tourtelier, Socialist deputy for Ille-et-Vilaine's 2nd constituency. After Tourtelier announced that he would not run for a third term in the 2012 legislative elections, Appéré was nominated by the PS in his riding. Speaking after receiving the nomination, she promised party activists that she would resign her executive offices in Rennes but also signalled that she would continue to sit on the city's municipal council. Appéré was elected to 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 ...
on 17 June 2012, winning 63.45% of the vote in the second round against Bertrand Plouvier of the
Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...
(UMP). In December 2012, she declared her candidacy for the Socialist nomination for mayor of Rennes in the
2014 French municipal elections The French municipal elections of 2014 were held on 23 March of that year with a second round of voting, where necessary, on 30 March to elect the municipal councils of France's communes. The first task of each newly constituted municipal council ...
. Although Appéré had previously stated her opposition to the law on the accumulation of electoral mandates several times, she ultimately announced that she would serve out her full term as deputy if she were to be elected to the mayoralty.


Mayor of Rennes


First term

Appéré was elected mayor of Rennes on 4 April 2014 with 55.83% of the vote in the second round after forming an alliance with the
Europe Ecology – The Greens The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...
Left Front electoral list. She thus became the city's first female mayor. The beginning of Appéré's term was marked by several violent protests against the Grand Ouest Airport project in January 2016 as well as the El Khomri law between March and May of the same year. She responded by demanding a "clear decision from the French state" on the airport. Further riots broke out after the announcement of the El Khomri law, with a 20-year-old student notably losing an eye in the violence on 28 April. This led student protesters to interrupt a session of the Rennes municipal council on 2 May, calling for the mayor to put an end to police brutality. In 2016, Appéré endorsed
Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (born 13August 1962) is a French–Spanish politician who serves as Minister of the Overseas in the Bayrou government since 2024. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president Françoi ...
in the 2017 Socialist presidential primary and joined his campaign's organizational staff. Valls was defeated in the primary by Benoît Hamon, whom Appéré subsequently endorsed in the
presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...
. In accordance with the law on the accumulation of electoral mandates, Appéré did not seek re-election in the
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 ...
s. In 2018, she supported
Olivier Faure Olivier Faure (; born 18 August 1968) is a French politician who has served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party since 2018 and Deputy (France), Member of the Nati ...
for first secretary of the PS during its Aubervilliers Congress. Appéré was appointed to the party's national bureau on 15 April of that year. On 12 February 2019, the City Mayors Foundation awarded Appéré a World Mayor Commendation, along with Mayor Ros Jones of
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
, Mayor Charlotte Britz of
Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
and Mayor Beng Climaco of
Zamboanga City Zamboanga City, officially the City of Zamboanga (; ; Subanen languages, Subanen: ''Bagbenwa Sembwangan''; Sama–Bajaw languages, Sama: ''Lungsud Samboangan''; ; ; ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city i ...
. The foundation announced that she had received the distinction for her housing policies, establishment of a participatory budget system and overseeing of demographic and economic development. Appéré's first term also saw the opening of the LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire high-speed railway in July 2017, the Convent of the Jacobins Convention Centre in January 2018 and the renovated
Rennes station Rennes station (French language, French: ''Gare de Rennes'') is situated in the town centre of Rennes, France. It is situated on the Paris–Brest railway, Paris–Brest, Rennes–Saint-Malo railway, Rennes–Saint-Malo and the Rennes–Redon ra ...
in July 2019. Other infrastructure projects included two new public parks—the Saint-Martin Meadows and Baud Beaches.


2020 Rennes municipal election campaign


= Pre-election manoeuvres

= On 26 June 2019, Appéré launched a discussion platform named "200 Days for Rennes" in the lead-up to the 2020 French municipal elections. The platform had a website with the address "avecnathalieappere.fr" ("With Nathalie Appéré"). In an interview with ''
Ouest-France ''Ouest-France'' ( ; French for "West-France") is a daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on both local and national news. The paper is produced in 47 different editions covering events in different French départements within the régi ...
'' on 13 September, she confirmed that she would be a candidate in the upcoming municipal elections but would begin her campaign later than her competitors, citing her ongoing consideration of whether to run for the presidency of
Rennes Métropole Rennes Métropole () is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Rennes. It is located in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, in the Brittany region, western France. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previou ...
following the expected retirement of Socialist incumbent Emmanuel Couet. She received the endorsement of deputy François André, an independent affiliated with the La République En Marche group, four days later. Nevertheless, La République En Marche itself announced that it would be running its own electoral list in the elections.


= Campaign and policy platform

= Appéré announced her candidacy for the mayoralty of Rennes and the presidency of Rennes Métropole on 10 December 2019, during an 800-person event at Rennes' Le Liberté performance hall concluding the 200 Days for Rennes campaign. The latter ended after collecting the views of 1 000 Rennais, according to its organizers. Appéré was joined by representatives from the
French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
, the
Radical Party of the Left The Radical Party of the Left (, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG has been a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Socialist Party (, PS). Af ...
, Génération.s and Place Publique who declared their parties' support for her campaign. The event also saw her announce the first planks of her platform, such as the creation of five rapid transit bus lines, which she called "trambuses," the laying out of 100 kilometres of safe bicycle lanes, the adoption of free public transit for riders under 12 years old, the planting of 30 000 trees in six years, the uncovering of the
Vilaine The Vilaine (; ) is a river in Brittany, in the west of France. The river's source is in the Mayenne ''Département in France, département'' (53), and it flows out into the Atlantic Ocean at Pénestin in the Morbihan ''département'' (56). It is ...
river in front of the Palace of Commerce as well as the establishment of a nighttime municipal police department and a police brigade combating anti-social behaviour. The following month, Appéré had the City of Rennes acquire the Jacques Cartier Prison with plans of converting it into a cultural attraction. She also announced the construction of an aquatic centre that would replace a public pool in the neighbourhood of Villejean. Appéré released her full platform on 7 February 2020, which included commitments to create citizens' panels for urban redevelopment projects and the redefinition of certain municipal policies, build a "Neighbourhood of Creation" for "cultural and creative industries" next to the city's
SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...
station and never increase local taxes. On 21 February, she confirmed her candidacy for president of Rennes Métropole and joined 25 other electoral list leaders and 12 incumbent mayors in unveiling a metropolitan platform. On 5 March, Appéré held a rally in advance of the first round of the elections that attracted 800 people. The following day, she received the public endorsement of former mayor Edmond Hervé, under whom she had served as deputy mayor from 2001 to 2008.


= Re-election victory

= The first round of the election on 15 March 2020 was marked by the rapidly worsening
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Appéré's list won 32.77% of the vote, putting it in first place ahead of the lists of Matthieu Theurier and
Europe Ecology – The Greens The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...
(EELV), Carole Gandon and La République En Marche (LREM) and Charles Compagnon and the
Miscellaneous right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to centre-right or right-wing candidates who are not members of any large party. This can include members of small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their party for running against thei ...
(DVG). Due to the COVID-19 lockdown in France, the second round was postponed to 28 June. It was during this delay that Appéré announced on 30 May that she had successfully concluded an electoral pact with the EELV to unite their lists in the second round against those of Gandon and Compagnon. Appéré's list won the second round with 65.35% of the vote, though voter turnout fell to a historic low of 68.33% of the electorate. Consequently, her result was ten percentage points higher than in 2014 but consisted of almost 9 000 fewer votes. She also finished far ahead of Gandon and Compagnon's lists, which recorded 17.49% and 17.15% of the vote respectively. Responding to the results, Appéré praised the "clear, definite and massive choice of Rennais" and welcomed the "large victory with pride and emotion," while also promising to "work to reinforce local democracy" to remedy low voter turnout. She additionally described Rennes as "the vanguard of a social and environmentalist left."


Second term

During the first session of the new municipal council on 3 July, Appéré was re-elected mayor with 51 votes against 10 blank votes and one invalid vote for Hervé cast by an opposition councillor. Speaking after assuming office, Appéré spoke of the great "emotion he was feelingat this moment" and paid homage to her predecessors. She then appointed 21 deputy mayors, including 12 candidates from her municipal election list and nine from Theurier's EELV list. Several of the latter received important portfolios like Education, Culture and Finance. Also among the nominees was the son of Edmond Hervé, Marc Hervé, whom Appéré promoted from seventh deputy mayor, in charge of Finance, to first deputy mayor, in charge of Urban Planning.


President of Rennes Métropole

Appéré stood for the presidency of Rennes Métropole during the inaugural session of its communal council on 9 July 2020. She was the sole candidate and was elected with 78 votes out of 111 councillors present. This was followed by the new president's nomination of an executive cabinet consisting of 20 vice-presidents, 12 of which were not from Rennes (one more than in the previous government). A group of 11 mayors then announced that they would form an "independent" group, though without leaving the opposition benches. On 24 September, Appéré was named secretary-general of France Urbaine, an association of elected officials from urban municipalities across France. She succeeded the former mayor of Nancy, André Rossinot, in this position. Six months later, she established the "Idées en Commun" discussion platform (originally proposed by Mayor
Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). Hidalg ...
of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
), to address housing issues. Appéré then joined Hidalgo on 12 September 2021 for an event launching the Paris mayor's campaign in the
2022 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...
.


Personal life

Appéré is married and has 2 children. She lives in Rennes and has previously resided in its Maurepas-Patton neighbourhood.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Appere, Nathalie 1975 births Living people People from Ploemeur Politicians from Brittany Socialist Party (France) politicians Mayors of Rennes Women members of the National Assembly (France) Women mayors of places in France Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic 21st-century French women politicians Members of Parliament for Ille-et-Vilaine