Jean-Louis Debre

Jean-Louis Debré in September 2012

Jean-Louis Debré (born September 30, 1944 in Toulouse ) is a French politician ( UMP ) and lawyer . From 2007 to March 2016 he was President of the French Constitutional Court, the Conseil constitutionnel . Before that, he was President of the French National Assembly from June 2002 to February 2007 .

Life and work

Debré is the son of the French Prime Minister between 1959 and 1962, Michel Debré , and thus belongs to the Debré family, which is well known in France. Debré missed the French Abitur ( baccalauréat ) due to a back problem , but acquired a law degree through a Capacité en droit . He graduated with a diploma in public law and political science and obtained a doctorate in public law. He also studied at Sciences Po , from which he did not, however, obtain a degree.

From 1971 to 1975 Debré worked as an assistant at the Law Faculty of the University of Paris . At the same time he was advisor to Jacques Chirac from 1973 to 1974 in his functions as Minister of Agriculture (1973–1974) and then as Minister of the Interior (1974), after which he worked from 1974 to 1976 in the office of Prime Minister Chirac .

From 1976 to 1978 he worked for the public prosecutor's office at the Tribunal de Grande Instance Evry - Corbeil , before briefly moving to the Ministry of Justice in 1978 as an official . From 1978 to 1979 he was the office manager of Maurice Papon , who was budget minister in the Barre III cabinet . In 1979 he returned to the judiciary as an investigating judge at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris. He has been a full-time politician and constitutional judge since 1986.

Debré has been widowed since July 2007 and has three children from his wife Anne-Marie: Charles-Emmanuel Debré, Guillaume Debré (journalist) and Marie-Victoire Debré (Comédienne).

Political career

Debre's political career began through positions in the offices of Jacques Chirac (1973 to 1976) and Maurice Papon (1978 to 1979).

In 1986 Debré was elected for the first time for the Eure department and as a candidate for the Rassemblement pour la République in the National Assembly. This he belonged, interrupted by his membership in the government, until 2007. In his first years he was active in the National Assembly, mainly in the Legal Committee and various committees of inquiry. From 1990 to 1995 he was Vice President of the RPR parliamentary group.

Parallel to his membership in the National Assembly, Debré was a city councilor in Évreux from 1986 . In 1995 he did not run there again and was instead elected to the Conseil de Paris , the city and general council, for the 18th arrondissement . This elected him to the deputy of the Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi . He resigned from these functions in 1997 because he returned politically to the Eure department.

In 1995 Debré was appointed Minister of the Interior in his government by the newly appointed Prime Minister Alain Juppé . He was also a member of Juppé's second government . After the right-wing parties were defeated in the 1997 parliamentary elections , Debré resigned from government.

In the 1997 parliamentary elections, Debré was re-elected as a member of the Eure département. In the National Assembly in September 1997, he became parliamentary group leader of the RPR, which he remained until 2002. After the Union pour la majorité présidentielle won the parliamentary elections in 2002 , he became President of the National Assembly for the UMP. He remained so until his appointment as President of the Conseil constitutionnel in March 2007.

In the local elections in 2001, Debré ran as the top candidate for the city council of Évreux and was elected mayor of the city after the election victory of his list. He also resigned from these functions in March 2007.

Debré was considered a confidante of Jacques Chirac in his political career. He supported this in the disputes over the presidential candidacy for the right-wing camp in 1995 , when both Chirac and Édouard Balladur ran. He also supported Chirac in his conflicts with Nicolas Sarkozy during Chirac's second term from 2002 to 2007.

President of the Conseil constitutionnel

On February 23, 2007, Debré was appointed a member and immediately President of the Conseil constitutionnel by President Jacques Chirac . He was sworn in on March 5, 2007 and thus took office. His term of office ended in March 2016, and he was succeeded by Laurent Fabius .

Awards

• Knight of the Order of Merit for Agriculture
• Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic

Publications

Scientific and political publications

• Essai sur les idées constitutionnelles du Général de Gaulle. Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-275-01303-2 . (Dissertation, awarded the Prix ​​Edmond Michelet )
• with Jean Pierre Boivin: La Constitution de la Ve République. Presses universitaires de France, Paris 1975, ISBN 2-13-033451-2 .
• with Michel Debré: Le pouvoir politique. Seghers, Paris 1976.
• with Michel Debré: Le gaullisme. Plon, Paris 1977, ISBN 2-259-00330-3 .
• La justice au XIXe siècle. Volume 1: les magistrats. Librairie Académique Perrin, Paris 1980, ISBN 2-262-00215-0 .
• La justice au XIXe siècle. Volume 2: Les Républiques des avocats. Librairie Académique Perrin, Paris 1984, ISBN 2-262-00307-6 .
• En mon for interior. Jean-Claude Lattès, Paris 1997, ISBN 2-7096-1803-6 .
• Le gaullisme n'est pas une nostalgie. Robert Laffont, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-221-09015-2 .
• Les oubliés de la République. Fayard, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-213-63709-9 .
• Dynasties republicaines. Fayard, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-213-64339-7 .
• with Philippe Lorin: En tête à tête avec Charles de Gaulle. Gründ, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-7000-2930-7 .
• with Philippe Lorin: En tête-à-tête avec les Présidents de la République. Gründ, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-7000-3263-5 .
• with Valérie Bochenek: Ces femmes qui ont réveillé la France. Fayard, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-213-67180-2 .
• Le monde selon Chirac. Tallandier, Paris 2015, ISBN 979-10-210-0866-3 .

Novels

• Le curieux. Edition n ° 1, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-86391-199-6 .
• Pièges. Robert Laffont, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-221-08814-X .
• Quand les brochets font courir les carpes. Fayard, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-253-12510-5 .
• Meurtre à l'Assemblée. Fayard, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-213-64284-0 .
• Regard de femme. Fayard, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-213-65570-3 .
• Jeux de haine. Fayard, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-213-66203-9 .

Web links

Commons : Jean-Louis Debré  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Presentation to the Conseil constitutionnel
• Datasheet at the French National Assembly
• Presentation on the website of the French Ministry of the Interior

predecessor	Office	successor
Raymond Forni	President of the French National Assembly June 25, 2002 - March 2, 2007	Patrick Ollier