Arnaud Montebourg (born October 30, 1962, in Clamecy

Clamecy, Nièvre

Clamecy is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.Clamecy is the capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nièvre, at the confluence of the Yonne and Beuvron and on the Canal du Nivernais, 46 m. N.N.E...

, Nièvre

Nièvre

Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

) is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 politician, and a deputy of the fifth district of Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...

 to the French National Assembly

French National Assembly

The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....

 for the Socialist Party. He has also been elected president of the local assembly of Saône et Loire after local elections in 2008. Montebourg was also candidate to the socialist presidential primary of 2011

French Socialist Party presidential primary, 2011

The 2011 French Socialist Party presidential primary was the first open primary of the French Socialist Party and Radical Party of the Left for selecting their candidate for the 2012 presidential election. The filing deadline for primary nomination papers was fixed at 13 July 2011 and six...

.

Biography

He is the son of Michel Montebourg, a civil servant employed in the Ministry of Economy and Finances, and of Leïla Ould Cadi, a professor of Spanish born in a family of Wāli

Wali

Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...

s in French Algeria

French Algeria

French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...

 , from an Algerian descent.

Politics

Alongside Bastien François, a Professor of Political Science at the Sorbonne University, Montebourg was the cofounder in 2001 of the Convention pour la VIe République (C6R). This called for significant constitutional change in France, leading to the founding of a "Sixth Republic".

Montebourg was one of the founding members of the political current known as the Nouveau Parti Socialiste (New Socialist Party), but left to create a new movement within the socialist party called "Rénover, Maintenant" ("Renewal Now"). He was one of the leading opponents of President

President of the French Republic

The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....

 Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

's immunity from prosecution

Sovereign immunity

Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine by which the sovereign or state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution....

, especially concerning the corruption scandals in the Paris region

Corruption scandals in the Paris region

In the 1980s and 1990s there were, in the Paris region , multiple instances of alleged and proved political corruption cases, as well as cases of abuse of public money and resources...

. Montebourg also supported reporter Denis Robert

Denis Robert

Denis Robert is a French freelance journalist and a writer. Robert formerly worked for Libération newspaper for 12 years....

 for his role in revealing the illegal system of double-accounts maintained by Clearstream

Clearstream

Clearstream Banking S.A. is the clearing and settlement division of Deutsche Börse, based in Luxembourg and Frankfurt. Clearstream was created in January 2000 through the merger of Cedel International and Deutsche Börse Clearing...

, a clearing-house

Clearing house (finance)

A clearing house is a financial institution that provides clearing and settlement services for financial and commodities derivatives and securities transactions...

 based in Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

.

He has been engaged in a campaign against the rules governing taxation of foreign nationals and banking secrecy of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Montebourg was appointed as spokesman for Ségolène Royal

Ségolène Royal

Marie-Ségolène Royal , known as Ségolène Royal, is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party...

's presidential campaign following his endorsement of her candidacy during the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (France)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

 primary election of November 2006. On January 18, 2007, Royal suspended Montebourg from her campaign for one month after he stated, on a Canal+

Canal+

Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...

 talk show the previous night, that "Ségolène Royal has only one fault, her partner." He was referring to the contradictory statements made by Royal's partner, François Hollande

François Hollande

François Gérard Georges Hollande is a French politician. From 1997 to 2008, he was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party. He has also served as a Deputy of the National Assembly of France, representing the first constituency of Corrèze, since 1997. He previously represented that seat...

 who is also leader of the Socialist Party, with regards to tax policy. Montebourg had offered his resignation, which Royal refused to accept.

In 2010, celebrity magazines revealed that he was in a relationship with Audrey Pulvar

Audrey Pulvar

Audrey Pulvar is a French journalist.-Personal life:She is the daughter of Marc Pulvar, a syndicalist and political Caribbean independantist. She has a daughter born in 1997. She lived with the chef Alain Passard from 2008 to 2009...

, a French journalist.

In 2011, when Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn , often referred to in the media, and by himself, as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, politician, and member of the French Socialist Party...

 was released from jail and flew back to France, Montebourg urged him to apologize for embarrassing the Socialist Party.

Political career

• Electoral mandates
  • National Assembly of France
    • Member of the National Assembly of France for Saône-et-Loire
      Saône-et-Loire
      Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
      
       : Since 1997. Elected in 1997, reelected in 2002, 2007.
  • General Council
    • President of the General Council of Saône-et-Loire
      Saône-et-Loire
      Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
      
       : Since 2008.
    • General councillor of Saône-et-Loire
      Saône-et-Loire
      Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
      
      : Since 2008.

External links

• Official website
• Webpage from the National Assembly site
• Michael C. Behrent, "Stop the World": Arnaud Montebourg and "Deglobalization"(blog post)