Jump to content

Claude Bartolone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Claude Bartolone
Bartolone in 2016
President of the National Assembly
In office
26 June 2012 – 20 June 2017
Preceded byBernard Accoyer
Succeeded byFrançois de Rugy
President of the General Council of
Seine-Saint-Denis
In office
20 March 2008 – 4 September 2012
Preceded byHervé Bramy
Succeeded byStéphane Troussel
Delegate Minister for the City
In office
30 March 1998 – 6 May 2002
Prime MinisterLionel Jospin
Preceded byÉric Raoult
Succeeded byJean-Louis Borloo
Member of the French National Assembly
In office
20 June 2012 – 20 June 2017
Preceded byÉlisabeth Guigou
Succeeded bySabine Rubin
ConstituencySeine-Saint-Denis's 9th
In office
2 July 1981 – 19 June 2012
Preceded byJacqueline Chonavel
Succeeded byÉlisabeth Guigou
ConstituencySeine-Saint-Denis's 6th
Personal details
Born (1951-07-29) 29 July 1951 (age 73)
Tunis, Tunisia
Political partySocialist Party (1974-2022)
SpouseVéronique Ragusa
Alma materPierre and Marie Curie University

Claude Bartolone (French pronunciation: [klod baʁtɔlɔn]; born 1951) is a Tunisian-born French politician who served as President of the National Assembly of France from 2012 to 2017.

A member of the Socialist Party from 1974 to 2022, Bartolone was first elected to the National Assembly, representing the Seine-Saint-Denis department, in 1981. He served as Delegate Minister for the City in the government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin from 1998 to 2002, and he was President of the Seine-Saint-Denis General Council from 2008 to 2012.

Early life and education

[edit]

Bartolone was born on 29 July 1951 in Tunis, Tunisia.[1] His mother was from Malta and his father from Sicily; both his parents were working-class.[2][3] At the age of nine, he moved to Le Pré-Saint-Gervais in France and grew up in a council estate.[2][4]

After he was encouraged by a teacher named Marie-Thérèse Thoullieux not to get a professional degree, Bartolone attended the Lycée Turgot in Paris.[2][3] He received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.[3]

Political career

[edit]

Career in local politics

[edit]

Bartolone was a municipal councillor of Le Pré-Saint-Gervais from 1977 to 1983, and from 1995 to 2008. He served as Deputy Mayor of Le Pré-Saint-Gervais from 1977 to 1983, from June to October 1995, as Mayor from 1995 to 1998, and again as Deputy Mayor from 2001 to 2008. He was also municipal councillor of Les Lilas from 1983 to 1989.

Bartolone served as Seine-Saint-Denis general councillor from 1979 to 1992, and has served again since 2008. From 1985 to 1992, he served as vice-president of the Seine-Saint-Denis General Council, and as president from 2008 to 2012. From 1998 to 2002, he served as regional councillor of Ile-de-France.

Career in national politics

[edit]

Bartolone served as a member of the National Assembly for the sixth district, encompassing Seine-Saint-Denis from 1981 to 1998. From 1998 to 2002, he served as Delegate Minister for the City. From 2002, he served as member of the National Assembly again.

When Martine Aubry took over as leader of the Socialist Party in 2008, Bartolone joined the party’s leadership and was put in charge of relations to other Socialist parties internationally.[5] In the Socialist Party's 2011 primaries, he endorsed Aubry as the party's candidate for the 2012 presidential election.[6]

Following the June 2012 parliamentary election, in which the Socialist Party won a parliamentary majority, Bartolone was designated as the Socialist candidate for the post of President of the National Assembly. In the vote, held on 26 June 2012, Bartolone was accordingly elected to the post, receiving 298 votes against 185 votes for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidate Bernard Accoyer, who held the post during the preceding parliamentary term.[7]

Candidates Parties Socialist Primary First round
Votes % Votes %
Bernard Accoyer Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire) UMP 185 38.30%
Claude Bartolone Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) PS 127 49.22% 298 61.70%
Jean Glavany Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) PS 59 22.87%
Élisabeth Guigou Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) PS 50 19.38%
Daniel Vaillant Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) PS 22 8.53%

From 2012 to 2017, Bartolone served as President of the National Assembly of France.[4][8] Thus, he lived in the Hôtel de Lassay.[4]

Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2012 convention in Toulouse, Bartolone publicly endorsed Jean-Christophe Cambadélis as candidate to succeed Martine Aubry at the party's leadership.[9] Ahead of the party's 2017 primaries, he endorsed Manuel Valls as its candidate for the presidential election later that year.[10]

Controversy

[edit]

In April 2013, Bartolone received a menacing letter containing ammunition powder, suggesting he should stop supporting same-sex marriage.[11][12][13][14]

When President François Hollande gave a public speech in 2016 honoring the centennial of François Mitterrand, Bartolone walked out; shortly before, Gérard Davet and François Lhomme from daily Le Monde had quoted Hollande in their book, “A President Shouldn’t Say That”, as saying that Bartolone “doesn’t have the stature to be prime minister” and “is not big on charisma.”[15]

Personal life

[edit]

Bartolone is married, in a second marriage, with Véronique Ragusa, a parliamentary collaborator. He resides in a 320 square metre mansion on the outskirts of Paris.[16]

Honours

[edit]

Foreign Honours

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Office of the Secretary General (2012). "Claude Bartolone". Assemblee-nationale.fr (in French). National Assembly of France. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b c « J'ai dit à l'élève Bartolone : Vous devriez viser plus haut » Archived 2012-06-27 at the Wayback Machine, Le Parisien, June 26, 2012
  3. ^ a b c Paul de Coustin, La prof qui a poussé Bartolone à entrer au lycée, Le Figaro, June 26, 2012
  4. ^ a b c François-Xavier Bourmaud, Bartolone, de la Seine-Saint-Denis au perchoir, Le Figaro, June 21, 2012
  5. ^ Nicolas Barotte (2 January 2009), Au sein de la direction du PS, Martine Aubry compte plus d'alliés que de proches Le Figaro.
  6. ^ Estelle Gross (6 July 2011), Primaire : qui soutient qui au PS ? L'Obs.
  7. ^ "Claude Bartolone élu au perchoir", AFP, 26 June 2012 (in French).
  8. ^ Sophie Huet, Bartolone, futur président de l'Assemblée nationale, Le Figaro, June 21, 2012
  9. ^ Caroline Vigoureux (7 September 2012), Face à Cambadélis, Désir engrange les soutiens Le Journal du Dimanche.
  10. ^ Grégoire Poussielgue and Pierre-Alain Furbury (15 December 2016), Primaire du PS : Valls engrange les soutiens Les Échos.
  11. ^ Scott Roberts, France: National Assembly speaker urged to delay equal marriage vote in ammunition powder letter, Pink News, April 22, 2013
  12. ^ Nicolas Germain, Mariage pour tous : Claude Bartolone reçoit des menaces de mort, France 24, April 22, 2013
  13. ^ Mariage pour tous : Claude Bartolone reçoit des menaces de mort, The Huffington Post, April 22, 2013
  14. ^ Loi sur le mariage gay : Claude Bartolone a reçu une lettre de menaces, Le Parisien, April 22, 2013
  15. ^ Adam Nossiter (28 October 2016), François Hollande, His Ratings Poor, Speaks Candidly. The Hole Gets Deeper. New York Times.
  16. ^ Visitez la maison de Claude Bartolone Archived 2015-12-20 at the Wayback Machine, Le Journal du Dimanche, April 17, 2013
  17. ^ Italian Presidency website, Sig. Claude Bartolone (Presidente dell'Assemblea Nazionale ) - Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana
Political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
Éric Raoult
Delegate Minister for the City
1998–2002
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the French National Assembly
2012–2017
Succeeded by