Michel Durafour

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Michel Durafour

Michel André François Durafour (born April 11, 1920 in Saint-Étienne , Département Loire ; † July 27, 2017 ibid) was a French politician of the Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance (UDSR), the Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste (PRRRS), the Center républicain (CR), the Union pour la démocratie française - Parti radical (UDF-Radical) and most recently the Mouvement des réformateurs (MDR) and writer , who was both a member of the Senate and the National Assembly . He was Mayor of Saint-Étienne from 1964 to 1977 and Minister of Labor from 1974 to 1976 . He also served as President of the Regional Council of the Rhône-Alpes Region from 1980 to 1981, and Minister for Public Service and Administrative Reforms between 1988 and 1991. As a writer, Durafour wrote numerous novels under his name and under various pseudonyms .

Life

Unsuccessful candidacies for the National Assembly and Mayor of Saint-Étienne

Michel André François Durafour was a son of the politician Antoine Durafour , who was also Minister of Labor between 1925 and 1926 and Mayor of Saint-Étienne from 1930 to 1932. After attending the Lycée Claude Fauriel , he began to study law at the University of Paris , which he had to abandon in 1939 after the start of the Second World War . He then did military service, from which he was released after the Compiègne armistice in 1940. In 1941 he continued his studies at the École libre des sciences politiques , which was then relocated to Lyon . In September 1944 he became an employee of the Ministry of Information and worked there until January 1946 in the office of the Information Ministers Pierre-Henri Teitgen , Jacques Soustelle and finally André Malraux . He then worked as a journalist at different times of the day.

After the end of the war, Durafour began his political career in local politics when, in May 1945, he was a candidate for the Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance (UDSR) on a joint list with the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière (SFIO) for the first time as a member of the city council was chosen by Saint-Étienne . In June 1946 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Constituent Assembly. He was also first vice-mayor of Saint-Étienne between 1947 and 1953 and was elected to the general council of the Loire department in 1949, where he represented the canton of Saint-Étienne-Nord-Est until 1955 . He was Vice-Mayor of Saint-Étienne between 1953 and 1959, and in November 1958 again unsuccessfully applied for a seat in the National Assembly. He was in first place in the first ballot with 25.3 percent, but was defeated in the second ballot with 26.4 percent of the vote to the candidate of the Center démocratique Jean-Louis Chazelle , who received 33.7 percent. From 1959 to 1965 he served again as First Vice Mayor of Saint-Étienne. As a candidate for the Center républicain (CR) he ran in the second constituency of the Loire department in November 1962 again unsuccessfully for a seat in the National Assembly, but received only 10.1 percent of the votes in the first ballot. He then decided not to run again in the second ballot, which the Gaullist candidate Lucien Neuwirth won.

After the death of Alexandre de Fraissinette on December 10, 1964, Michel Durafour was initially acting mayor of Saint-Étienne and held the post of mayor of Saint-Étienne from March 21, 1965 until he was replaced by Joseph Sanguedolce on March 20, 1977. During his tenure as mayor, the University of Saint-Étienne was founded on March 27, 1969, as well as a new house of culture. In 1969 Saint-Victor-sur-Loire was incorporated, Terrenoire in 1970 and Rochetaillée in 1973, since then the population, which has now exceeded 200,000, has decreased somewhat. The crisis in the coal and steel industry ( steel crisis , coal crisis ) in the 1970s also hit Saint-Étienne, whereupon a reorientation towards the service sector began.

Senator and member of the National Assembly

In the Senate elections in September 1965, Durafour received 622 of the 1,441 votes in the first ballot and was then elected in the second ballot on September 26, 1965 with 763 of the 1,456 votes as a representative of the Loire Department as a member of the Senate . During his membership in the Senate, he was a member of the Legal Committee (Commission des lois) between 1965 and 1967 . In the elections in March 1967, however, he ran again for the National Assembly in the first constituency of the Loire Department and initially won 37.6 percent of the vote in the first ballot and then became a member of the on March 12, 1967 with 59.4 percent in the second ballot National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) elected. He was well ahead of the Parti communiste français (PCF) candidate Michel Olagnier, who received 40.6 percent of the vote. He then resigned from the Senate on April 3, 1967. While in parliament he was a member of the Legal Committee of the National Assembly. He was also on October 1, 1967 again a member of the General Council of the Loire Department and after his re-election on October 1, 1973 to March 25, 1979 again represented the canton of Saint-Étienne-Nord-Est.

Durafour, who was Vice-President of the Center républicain from 1967 to 1975, was re-elected to the National Assembly in the June 1968 elections. While he received 35.4 percent of the vote in the first ballot, he was ahead of the PCF candidate, Michel Olagnier (29.8 percent), and the Républicains indépendants (RI) candidate with 42.5 percent of the votes in the second ballot. , Lucien Nicolas (27.6 percent). During the fourth legislative period, he was again a member of the Legal Committee between June 1968 and April 1973 and was a member of the National Council for public services in the departments and municipalities (Conseil national des services publics départementaux et communaux) . In the elections in March 1973, he ran for the coalition of the center, the Mouvement Réformateur , for his re-election to the National Assembly and received 43.6 percent in the first ballot. In the second ballot he was able to prevail with 60.6 percent of the vote against the PCF candidate, Maurice Théolet, who received 39.4 percent. He was then in the fifth electoral term from April 3, 1973 to May 28, 1974 chairman of the Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste (PRS), Center démocrate (CD), Center républicain (CR), Mouvement démocrate-socialiste de France (MDSF), Parti de la démocratie socialiste (PDS), Parti libéral européen (PLE) and Mouvement national progrès et libertés (MNPL) formed fraction Réformateurs démocrates sociaux . During this legislative period he was a member of the Committee on National Defense (Commission de la défense nationale) between 1973 and 1974 . He was also a member in 1973 of the Regional Council of the Region Rhone-Alpes .

Minister of Labor and President of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council

Following the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to President Michel Durafour was on May 28, 1974 Minister of Labor (Ministre du Travail) in the Cabinet Chirac I called and held this ministerial post until 25 August 1976. In the next Cabinet Barre I acted between August 28, 1976 and March 30, 1977, he was Minister Associate with the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance (Ministre délégué auprès du Premier ministre, chargé de l'économie et des finances) . In this role he was instrumental in the government program to strengthen the economy and fight inflation.

In 1977 Durafour became a member of the executive board of the Parti radical, of which Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber was chairman . In the local elections in March 1977, he lost his post as mayor of Saint-Étienne after twelve years when he received only 48.5 percent of the vote, while his opponent from the PCF Joseph Sanguedolce received 51.4 percent and thus the city's first left-wing mayor has been. In the parliamentary elections in March 1978, however, he was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly for the Union pour la démocratie française in the first constituency of the Loire department. After he had received 35.5 percent of the vote in the first ballot, he was able to prevail with 52.8 percent in the second ballot against the candidate of the PCF Marc Bruyère, who received 47.2 percent. During his renewed membership in parliament, he was chairman of the Committee on Production and Trade (Commission de la production et des échanges) during the sixth legislative period between March 19, 1978 and May 22, 1981 . In 1980 he also took over from Paul Ribeyre as President of the Regional Council of the Rhône-Alpes Region and held this position until 1981, when Charles Béraudier succeeded him.

Loss of parliamentary mandate and re-election to the Senate

In the parliamentary elections in June 1981 following the election of François Mitterrand from the Socialist Party (PS) as President, Michel Durafour lost his seat in the National Assembly. After he was in first place in the first ballot with 33.9 percent of the vote, he lost 49.4 percent in the second ballot to the PCF candidate Paul Chomat , who received 50.6 percent. He then took over a professorship at the University of Lyon III , the so-called Jean-Moulin University, and later at the University of Paris-IX, the so-called Paris-Dauphine University . In 1982 he also became President of the UDF of the Rhône-Alpes region.

In the Senate elections in 1983, however, he was re-elected as a member of the Senate. After he had received 606 of the 1,619 votes in the first ballot, he was elected on September 25, 1983 for the Loire department in the second ballot with 1,000 of the 1,616 votes. After moving back to the Palais du Luxembourg , he became a member on October 5, 1983, and then Vice-President of the Culture Committee (Commission des affaires culturelles) in 1985 . He was also a member of the National Council of the UDF and Vice-President of the Parti radical. In 1987 he became Vice-President of the Senate's Finance Committee (Commission des finances) . He also became a member of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council again in 1986. In the 1988 presidential elections , he supported Raymond Barre's candidacy. After he was eliminated in the first ballot on April 24, 1988 with 5,035,144 votes (16.54 percent), he founded the Association des démocrates and supported the candidacy of President François Mitterrand in the second ballot on May 8, 1988 in place of the previous Prime Minister Jacques Chirac . He thought President Mitterrand was more capable of reducing the political influence of the Front National (FN), which he considered to be a serious threat to the republic. The chairman of the FN, Jean-Marie Le Pen , described Durafour's statements as a crematorium (M. Durafour crématoire) and was therefore later sentenced to a fine of 10,000 francs .

Minister of State and withdrawal from political life

After Mitterrand had been re-elected President on May 8, 1988 with 16,704,279 votes (54.02 percent), Durafour was appointed Minister for Public Service and Administrative Reforms on May 12, 1988 (Ministre de la Fonction publique et des Réformes administratives ) appointed to the Rocard I cabinet . From June 22, 1988 to February 22, 1989, he also held this office in the Rocard II cabinet , where he was Minister of State for the Civil Service and Administrative Reforms (Ministre d'État, de la Fonction publique et des Réformes administratives) . In this role he reached an agreement with five unions in 1990 to reform the public service. Nevertheless, he was no longer appointed to the Cresson Cabinet , which was formed on May 15, 1991 .

After leaving the government, Michel Durafour served as Extraordinary Advisor to the State from 1992 to 1996 (Conseiller d'État en service extraordinaire) . In 1997 he resigned his last elected mandate as a member of the Regional Council of the Rhône-Alpes Region, of which he had been a member since 1986. Although he had retired from political life, in 2007 he was the head of the support committee for the presidential candidacy of Ségolène Royal in the Loire department.

Publications

In addition to his decades of political activity, Michel Durafour was also active as a writer and wrote around twenty novels and plays. His book Les Démoniaques was awarded the Grand Prix du théâtre in 1950. His 1952 published novel Notre Rêve qui êtes aux cieux in 1954 under the title Les Fruits sauvages ( "Wild Fruits") by Hervé Bromberger filmed . He also wrote crime and adventure novels under the pseudonyms Pierre Jardin , Rémi Sibel and Cécil Viborg . For his novel Agnès et les vilains messieurs , published under the pseudonym Pierre Jardin , he received the Prix ​​du Roman d'Aventures in 1963 . His works include:

Novels

Michel Durafour novels

  • Japy et le Chien-Fou , Dumas, Paris 1948.
  • Bettina Éditions du Carrousel, Paris 1950.
  • Jus de citron , Éditions Segep, Paris 1951.
  • Notre rêve qui êtes aux cieux , Éditions du Carrousel, Paris 1952.
  • Des fourmis sur la terre , co-author Yves Denaux, A. Martel, Givors 1952.
  • Le Juif du ciel , Éditions Le Jour se lève, Paris 1955.
  • Les Moutons du ciel , Fayard, Paris 1973.
  • Ma baïonnette de Mirabeau , Jean-Claude Lattès, Paris 1987.
  • La Métisse , co-author Jacqueline Dauxois , Albin Michel, Paris 1996.
  • Marais salaces , Salvy, Paris 2001.
  • Ciel cocasse , co-author Christian Soleil, éditions Edilivre-Aparis, Paris 2010.
  • L'Interview de Neron , co-author Christian Soleil, éditions Edilivre-Aparis, Paris 2013.
in German language
  • Become a flame and pass away. Bettina Colonna , Verlag der Europäische Bücherei, Bonn 1956.

Pierre Jardin novels

  • Pascaline mène l'enquête , Éditions La Vague, Paris 1960.
  • Dites-le… avec des pastèques , Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Paris 1961.
  • Pascaline contre Pascal , Éditions La Vague, Paris 1961.
  • Bagarres et Franfreluches , Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Paris 1962.
  • Agnès et les Vilains Messieurs , Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Paris 1963.
  • Une Chinoise dans la mêlée , Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Paris 1964.
  • Excusez-moi, Dorothy… Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Paris 1964.
in German language
  • Was it murder or suicide? Two detective novels , co-author Geneviève Jardin, Verlag Frieling, Berlin 1996, ISBN 978-3-8280-0051-3
  • Was it confidentiality or was it love? , Co-author Genevieve Jardin, Verlag Norderstedt, 2005, ISBN 978-3-8334-5778-4

Remi Sibel novels

  • Un cadavre dans le coffre-fort , Éditions La Vague, Paris 1960.
  • La Mort au 421 , Editions La Vague, Paris 1961.

Cécil Viborg novels

  • Lieux de pêche , Éditions La Vague, Paris 1960.
  • Un pendu dans le vent , Éditions La Vague, Paris, 1961.

Non-fiction books and other publications

  • Il neige sur la mer , Les Cahiers de la Table ronde, Paris 1945.
  • Les Finances communales , Center départemental de documentation pédagogique, Saint-Étienne 1968.
  • Saint-Étienne, métropole d'équilibre, un gigantesque atelier au center de la France , Center départemental de documentation pédagogique, Saint-Étienne 1970.
  • Les relations franco-allemandes depuis 1963. Textes rassemblés et présentés by Pierre Jardin , Documentation Française, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-11-004077-7

Background literature

  • Christian Soleil: Michel Durafour. Le Feu sous la cendre , Saint-Étienne, Actes graphiques, 1997.
  • Christian Soleil: Michel Durafour. Le Vent du large , Saint-Étienne, Actes graphiques, 1998.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Saint-Étienne: Mayor (rulers.org)
  2. ↑ Chirac I cabinet
  3. ↑ Chirac cabinet (kolumbus.fi)
  4. ^ A b c France: Ministries, political parties, etc. from 1870 (rulers.org)
  5. ^ Cabinet Barre I.
  6. ↑ Cabinet Barre I (kolumbus.fi)
  7. ↑ France: Regions (rulers.org)
  8. ^ Cabinet Rocard I
  9. ↑ Cabinet Rocard I (kolumbus.fi)
  10. ^ Cabinet Rocard II
  11. ↑ Cabinet Rocard II (kolumbus.fi)
personal data
SURNAME Durafour, Michel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Durafour, Michel André François (full name); Jardin, Pierre (pseudonym); Sibel, Rémi (pseudonym); Viborg, Cécil (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French politician (UDSR, PRRRS, CR, UDF-Radical, MDR), member of the National Assembly and senator, writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint-Etienne , Loire department
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 2017
Place of death Saint-Etienne , Loire department