Alain Poher

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Alain Poher (1969)

Alain Émile Louis Marie Poher (born April 17, 1909 in Ablon-sur-Seine , Département Val-de-Marne , † December 9, 1996 in Paris ) was a French politician and, as President of the French Senate, twice acting head of state of France .

Life

Poher attended the Louis-le-Grand and Saint-Louis high schools in Paris and then studied at the Law Faculty of the Sorbonne , where he passed his state examination ("License") in law and obtained a diploma from the School of Political Science. He also completed a degree in mining engineering.

On August 19, 1938, he married Henriette Tugler , with whom he had a daughter, Marie-Agnès , the widow of Jean-Pierre Joussain .

Career

As a politician of the Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP), he began his political career in 1939 as a civil servant in the central administration of the Ministry of Finance, where he quickly rose to the position of deputy head of unit.

On July 20, 1944, he was appointed President of the Liberation Committee in the Ministry of Finance, and from 1945 he took over the department for social affairs in the Ministry of Finance. In the same year he became mayor of Ablon-sur-Seine.

In 1946 he was appointed senior government councilor and headed the office of Finance Minister Robert Schuman from June to November, becoming a government director in 1948 and a ministerial councilor in 1954. From December he was a member of the first council of the republic , the French upper house, from 1946 to 1948 as chief reporter of the finance committee, from 1948 to 1950 as general commissioner for German and Austrian affairs and from 1950 to 1952 as delegate of France and chairman of the International Ruhr Authority in Düsseldorf , 1952 to 1958 as a member of the Joint Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community and as chairman of the Transport Committee.

In 1948 he ran for the first time in the Senate elections, in 1952 he became Senator of the Seine-et-Oise department .

From 1966 to 1969 he was President of the European Parliament , the so-called Assembly of the European Communities , which was then still appointed by the national parliaments .

In 1968 he was elected President of the French Senate, which he remained until 1992. He won all re-elections in 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1986 and 1989; In 1992 he stopped running. He played a decisive role in shaping this body over these 24 years. According to the French Constitution, the President of the Senate represents the President if the President becomes incapacitated or resigns. That was the case during Poher's term in office in 1969 and 1974.

On April 29, 1969, Charles de Gaulle resigned because his proposal for a larger regionalization had failed in a referendum. Poher, who had opposed de Gaulle's proposal, not only became the incumbent head of state, but also ran in the following presidential elections on June 1, 1969 , gaining 23.3% of the vote in the first ballot. In the runoff election on June 15, 1969, he lost 41.8% of the vote against the previous Prime Minister Georges Pompidou .

Pompidou died five years later on April 2, 1974 in office, so that Poher was again acting head of state until Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was elected President on May 27, 1974 .

Offices

  • Honorary Chairman (1980) of the cross-party association of senators who are members of the LICRA (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism).
  • Honorary Chairman (1983) of the Association of French Mayors.
  • Member of the Honorary Committee of the French Organization of the European Movement.
  • Deputy Chairman of the Association for the Study of Problems in Europe.
  • Member of the honorary committee of the Center européen de recherches économiques et commerciales (CEREC, European Center for Studies in Economics and Commerce).
  • Member of the commission for international exchange in the municipal sector.
  • Member of the Commission for Studies on Transport in the Common Market.
  • Member of the Board of Trustees of the Center européen d'observation par sondage (CEROS, European center for observation through surveys).
  • Member of the Steering Committee of the French Association for the Council of European Local Authorities.
  • Member of the board of trustees of the “General Pierre Koenig” foundation.
  • Member of the Standing Committee of the High Council on Tourism.
  • Member of the Council of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe.
  • Administrator of the Robert Schuman Foundation.
  • Founding member of the "Economy and Progress" association.
  • Member of the Honorary Committee of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism.
  • Chairman of the Association for Research and Information on Development Aid (ARIAD) and the Association for Joint International Funding.

Works

  • Trois fois Président ("Three times President"), 1993.

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Poher, Alain
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Poher, Alain Émile Louis Marie (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French President of the Senate, Interim President of France, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Ablon-sur-Seine , Val-de-Marne department , France
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1996
Place of death Paris