Marie-George Buffet

Marie-George Buffet in March 2008

Marie-George Buffet (born May 7, 1949 in Sceaux near Paris) is a French politician. From 2001 to 2010 she was Secretary General of the PCF . She is a member of the French National Assembly .

Life

After studying history and geography, she became an employee in the municipality of Le Plessis-Robinson . In 1969 she joined the PCF and rose continuously in the party. In 1984 she became a member of the Central Committee and in 1994 a member of the Politburo, in which she joined Robert Hue . During this time she was editor-in-chief of the PCF's monthly theoretical magazine, Cahiers du Communisme . In 1997 she joined the party secretariat.

After the victory of the Gauche plurielle in 1997, she became Minister for Youth and Sport in the Jospin cabinet . It attracted attention with actions against doping and the convening of a national youth council. Following the resignation of Lionel Jospin in May 2002, Jean-François Lamour was her successor in the ministerial office.

When Robert Hue took over the newly created office of party president in 2001, she became general secretary of the PCF. On June 16, 2002 she was elected as a member of the 4th constituency in the Seine-Saint-Denis department . When Hue drove the party into political and financial distress after a poor election result in the presidential elections in 2002 and then resigned, Buffet remained alone in the party's concept of dual leadership. In 2004 she was the PCF's top candidate in the regional elections for Île-de-France .

As an active feminist , she took part in campaigns for abortion law and contraception. She is married and has two children.

In November 2006, Buffet was elected in a PCF ballot for the 2007 French presidential election with 96% of the vote. However, at a gathering of anti-liberal and anti-globalization citizens' initiatives in Paris in mid-December 2006, it did not receive their unanimous support. After another ballot within the PCF, in which Buffets candidacy was again confirmed with 81 percent of the vote, Buffet announced on December 22, 2006, her candidacy for the French presidential elections on the TV channel TF1 . On January 4, 2007, she resigned her position as party leader for the duration of the presidential election campaign in order not only to be considered a candidate for the PCF and thus also to gain votes from other camps. In the first ballot it failed with around 1.94% of the votes cast.

On April 26, 2007 she was re-elected as Secretary General. On June 18, 2010, she was removed in this office, her successor was Pierre Laurent .

Political offices

1997–2002: Minister for Youth and Sport
1998–2002, 2004: Member of the regional council of Île-de-France
since 2001: City Councilor of Le Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis)
1997 and since 2002: Member of the National Assembly for Seine-Saint-Denis (resignation in 1997 due to joining the government)