Patrick Devedjian

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Patrick Devedjian, 6 June 2007

Patrick Devedjian (born on 26 August, 1944 in Fontainebleau) is a French politician.^[1]

As a student at the University of Paris II, he was a member of the far-right group Occident. He was admitted to the Paris bar in 1970. He became a militant in the Gaullist movement as early as 1971 and participated in the foundation of the RPR party in 1976. In 1983, he was elected mayor of Antony (Hauts-de-Seine) for the first time, and was re-elected in 1989, 1995 and 2001. In 1986, he was elected Member of Parliament from the Hauts-de-Seine department and was re-elected four times in 1988, 1993, 1997 and 2002. He was appointed Minister for Local Liberties in 2002, serving until 2004. He was the Minister of the Industry in 2004, serving until 2005. He was a close adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy and supported his candidacy for the Presidency of the French Republic.^[2]

After the election, tensions appeared between Sarkozy and Devedjian, who had been predicted to become Minister of Justice. Instead, Sarkozy chose Rachida Dati, the first time a woman of North African ancestry has held a Ministry in France. Devedjian was not included in the government. Instead, he became President of the Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine, the richest département in France. He was also named executive secretary general of the UMP, replacing Brice Hortefeux, and shared the direction of the UMP with Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Jean-Claude Gaudin and Pierre Méhaignerie.

1 Deputy
- 1.1 Proposed Armenian genocide denial bill
- 1.2 Controversy over Devedjian's insulting Ms Anne-Marie Comparini, a former MP
2 Minister
3 The Sarkozy Presidency
- 3.1 References
- 3.2 External links

[edit] Deputy

Patrick Devedjian was elected as deputy in 1986. He was member of the Committee of the Finances until 2002. Reporter of the General Agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) committee. In 1992, he was one of the few members of the RPR (his political party) who voted to support the Maastricht Treaty. He is considered as a liberal in the RPR. During the presidential campaign of 1995, he supported Edouard Balladur with Nicolas Sarkozy. After the failure of Edouard Balladur against Jacques Chirac, he was hold apart in the RPR. He became in favour during the presidential campaign of 2002.

[edit] Proposed Armenian genocide denial bill

Devedjian proposed an amendment to a proposed bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide on 9 October, 2006 that read, "These regulations do not apply to academic and scientific researches and studies." Devedjian added a statement to the amendment that according to panarmenian.com would "prevent any provocations and political demonstrations organized by a foreign country."^[1]

As a lawyer, he was involved in several cases of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), defending members of the organization, that was described as a terrorist organization by the United States, in 1980. ^[3]

[edit] Controversy over Devedjian's insulting Ms Anne-Marie Comparini, a former MP

During an interview filmed by Télé Lyon Métropole (TLM) on the subject of new local deputies to the National Assemply, the UMP deputy of the Bouches-du-Rhône region introduced Michel Havard to Patrick Devedjian, saying that Havard had beaten Anne-Marie Comparini of the Mouvement démocrate (MoDem). Devedjian congratulated Havard and then added "...cette salope!" about Comparini ("salope" is considered highly offensive).

The same evening, Devedjian apologized in private, then issued a press release deploring the broadcast of "stolen images of a private conversation." He said he regretted his "inappropriate exclamation about Madame Anne-Marie Comparini" and said "he sent her his regards and esteem". He apologized again in public at a press conference the next day, but it was too late to forestall a storm of criticism. The president of TLM said that Devedjian had asked them not to broadcast the interview "but Mr. Devedjian knew he was being filmed".

[edit] Minister

Jacques Chirac won the presidential election in 2002. French Home Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy named Patrick Devedjian minister in charge of locales affairs. The President requested the ministers did not to have executive powers, so that he left his charge of mayor of Anthony. Raymond Sibille and then Jean-Yves Sénant became mayors. According to the law, his substitute Georges Siffredi took his place at the Parliament, as deputy.

When Nicolas Sarkozy became minister of Economy and Finances, Patrick Devedjian was posted minister in charge of Industry. In 2005, Dominique de Villepin became Prime minister and did not include Patrick Devedjian in the government. In October 2005, Georges Siffredi dismissed in order to allow him to be elected deputy of the 13th ward of “Hauts-de-Seine” (Anthony, Bourg-la-Reine, Châtenay-Malabry, Sceaux).

When Nicolas Sarkozy resigned in order to take the head of the UMP (composed by RPR, PR UDF), Patrick Devedjian became political advisor. Patrick Devedjian proclaims that NS is the one to represent the liberal and un-complexed right. To be noticed, he stood against the CPE which he defended when voted former convention.

[edit] The Sarkozy Presidency

While the Presidential election of 2007, Patrick Devedjian supported the candidature of Nicolas Sarkozy without any surprise. As soon as the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy, was confirmed, tensions remained between the President of the Republic and Patrick Devedjian. The ex-President of the UMP has always said he would offer the position of secretary of state for justice. Finally, he chose Rachida Dati. . On May 18th 2007, Patrick Devedjian was not included in the Fillon’s government. He succeeded to Nicolas Sarkozy at the presidency of the General Council of the Hauts-de-Seine on June 1st, 2007. Named General Delegate Secretary of the UMP in spite of Brice Hortefeux, then General Secretary on September 25th, 2007, he now leads the UMP with the first vice-president, Jean-Pierre Raffarin.