Jean François-Poncet

Jean François-Poncet

Jean François-Poncet (born December 8, 1928 in Paris , † July 18, 2012 there ) was a French diplomat and politician . He was the son of André François-Poncet and the brother-in-law of François Missoffe .

Life

Studies and diplomatic career

After studying law and economics and graduating from the École nationale d'administration (ENA), he entered the diplomatic service . First he became embassy secretary in 1955. He was later employed as office manager of the State Secretary in the Foreign Ministry and as Secretary General of the French delegation in negotiations on a common market within the then European Communities and the establishment of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) .

He was then sub-department head for European organizations on the Quai d'Orsay and head of a technical support mission in Morocco . Most recently he was counselor at the embassy in Persia .

In 1970 François-Poncet left the diplomatic service and for the next six years was a director at the leading French manufacturer of metal packaging, the public limited company Carnaud SA .

Political career

Promotion to Foreign Minister

In January 1976 he returned to government service and was initially appointed Secretary of State to Foreign Minister Jean Sauvagnargues in Jacques Chirac's first cabinet . As early as August 1976, he was then General Secretary of the then President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in the Élysée Palace .

On November 29, 1978, he was appointed to succeed Louis de Guiringaud as Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Raymond Barre . He held this office until the defeat of the Union pour la démocratie française on May 13, 1981. As Foreign Minister in the first half of 1979, he was also President of the Council of the European Union .

senator

In 1978, François-Poncet was first elected President of the General Council (Conseil général) of the Lot-et-Garonne department . He held this office until 1994 and then again from 1998 to 2004.

In 1983 he was elected senator for the first time for the Rassemblement Démocratique et Européen (RDE), which today belongs to the party alliance Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP) . He was confirmed in this office in 1992 and 2001. As a senator, he was Vice-President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces and Vice-President of the Senate's European delegation.

In addition, since 1991 he was President of the Mouvement Européen-France (ME-F), the French branch of the European movement . He also wrote several articles on political issues.

plant

• Quay d'Orsay 37. Memories and reflections for today and tomorrow. Translated from the French by Hermann Kusterer, Bouvier Verlag, Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-416-03292-6 .

literature

• Where the clocks go differently. With ex-Minister François-Poncet on an election campaign trip . In: Die Zeit , No. 11/1982

Web links

• Interview with Jean François-Poncet March 2007 / July 2008 CVCE
• Literature by and about Jean François-Poncet in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography on the homepage of the French Senate
• TV interview on the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 2006

Individual evidence

1. ^ Décès de l'ancien ministre Jean François-Poncet. Retrieved July 19, 2012 (French).