The turbulent political career Laurent Fabius – Le Figaro

PICTURES – At 69, this heavyweight French politics will be passed by virtually all positions, except for the highest office, he could never run.

for 69 years, Laurent Fabius must become for nine years Chairman of the constitutional Council, after over thirty years of checkered career. Born August 20, 1946 in Paris, Laurent Fabius went through the elite institutions in France and the Ecole Normale or the Ecole Nationale d’Administration. Coming from a family of antique dealers and himself a great art lover, with treacherous opponents, man remains discreet about his private life. He refuses particular comment on the antics of his son Thomas, passionate casinos and recently indicted for forgery and use.

heavy of French politics Weight, Laurent Fabius was, in the words remained in annals, “the youngest Prime Minister of France” between 1984 and 1986, during the first seven Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. He was then 37 years old and already behind him ten years of policy bath. First Mayor of Grand-Quevilly then MP for Seine-Maritime, he entered the government in 1981 to the Department of Budget, with the portfolio of Industry and Research. Laurent Fabius know almost all positions: PS first secretary, boss of the Socialists, chairman of the National Assembly twice, Economy Minister under Lionel Jospin … Only the Supreme Judicial escapes

His career also remains marked by a dramatic episode: the tainted blood , which remains one of the most serious health scandals in France, with distribution starting in 1985 by the National Centre of blood contaminated batches with the HIV virus. Laurent Fabius was then Prime Minister. Accused by justice, he was released in 1999. Another setback, purely political one, his “no” in the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution, in contradiction to the line defined by the Socialist Party, he is of be excluded from the national secretariat of the party. The episode exacerbates hostility with Francois Hollande, Socialist Party boss then and now President of the Republic.

On his arrival at the Foreign Ministry, Laurent Fabius is but a novice in foreign policy. It is immediately immersed in an accumulation of crises and shows mixed results after almost four years as head of French diplomacy . The position of France on Syria had to evolve or change completely all under the pressure of events. In the Middle East, Laurent Fabius, sincere supporter of the two-state solution, trying to push the French initiatives which fizzle. Africa, it was left to the defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian. In one of his last appointment at the Foreign Ministry this week with reporters, the minister still referred to the two “hits”: COP 21 in December and the agreement on the Iranian nuclear in July . And add, about the ministry which he will hand over the keys: “I leave a Rolls Royce”

(With AFP)

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