Henri Emmanuelli
Encyclopedia
A member of 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...
(Parti socialiste or PS), he has been deputy for Landes from 1978 to 1981, from 1986 to 1997 and since 2000.
Biography
Emmanuelli was born in Eaux-BonnesEaux-Bonnes
Eaux-Bonnes is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.Nearby is the impressive villa Cockade, the construction of which is detailed in Dornford Yates's novel The House That Berry Built....
in the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
. He grew up with a working-class background and lost his father at a very young age. He studied at Sciences Po Paris
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...
University and he joined the Financial Company of Edmond James de Rothschild
Edmond James de Rothschild
Baron Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild was a French member of the Rothschild banking family. A strong supporter of Zionism, his generous donations lent significant support to the movement during its early years, which helped lead to the establishment of the State of Israel.- Early years :A...
. In 1971 he was appointed to the management of this company, becoming a senior banking executive and a co-director in 1975. He continued his professional career at the Rothschild’s bank until he was elected to the National Assembly aged 32 in 1978.
He joined the Socialist Party in 1971.
On the request of François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
he was, at the age of 27, a candidate in the legislative elections of March 1973 in the second circonscription of Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot and Garonne rivers.-History:Lot-et-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
. But it was on the 19th of March 1978 that he was elected for the first time as the deputy for the third electoral district of Landes, which moved the district to the left-wing.
In 1982 he was elected for the first time as the President of the General Council
President of the general council
In France, the President of the General Council is the locally-elected head of the General Council, the assembly governing a departments in France. The position is elected by the general councillors from among their number. If there is a tie, the senior Councillor is elected.The President of the...
of Landes.
Between 1981 and 1986 he served in the governments of Pierre Mauroy
Pierre Mauroy
Pierre Mauroy is a French Socialist politician and former Prime Minister under François Mitterrand . Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. Mauroy is currently emeritus mayor of Lille.-Biography:...
and Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early life:...
as the Secretary of State charged with the DOM-TOM territories of France between 1981 and 1983, as Secretary of State for Budget between 1983 and 1986, and Secretary of State for Consumption between 1984 and 1986.
Between 1992 and 1993 he was chairman of the National Assembly
He was elected as the First Secretary of the Socialist Party on the 19th of June 1994 and held this office until October 1995. His election to this position was seen as revenge for the Mitterrandist wing of the Socialist Party against Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard is a French politician, member of the Socialist Party . He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991, during which he created the Revenu minimum d'insertion , a social minimum welfare program for indigents, and led the Matignon Accords regarding the status...
, the incumbent First Secretary, who had been weakened by the party's poor result in the 1994 European Parliament election. However, he was defeated by Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...
in the race to represent the Socialists in the 1995 presidential election
French presidential election, 1995
Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election in a...
. Jospin also took on the role of First Secretary of the Party at this time. One year later, Emmanuelli was convicted for the illicit financing of the PS when he was its treasurer. He re-entered politics in 2000.
Whilst he was a faithful supporter of François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
until the latter's death, he is identified as belonging to the left-wing of the PS, and was one of the leaders of the party's "New World" faction formed in 2002 which aimed to steer the party leftwards after Jospin's poor performance in that year's presidential election. In the campaigns for the Referendum on the European Constitution in 2005 and the Treaty of Rome of 2004
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , , was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union...
he publicly declared himself in favour of the no campaign which put him in direct opposition to the official line of the Socialist Party which was in favour of the treaty. He believed that the treaty was a move away from the idea of a Federal Europe, which he endorsed, notably in his “Plea for Europe”.
He is followed by his close supporters, one of which is Michel Vergnier, the deputy for la Creuse. In 2000 he took part in the Congress of Grenoble of the Socialist Party and was an avid campaigner for a Socialist Party which was clearly aligned to the left. For the Congress of Mans in November 2005 he associated himself with the New Socialist Party motion of Arnaud Montebourg
Arnaud Montebourg
Arnaud Montebourg is a French politician, and a deputy of the fifth district of Saône-et-Loire to the French National Assembly for the Socialist Party. He has also been elected president of the local assembly of Saône et Loire after local elections in 2008...
, Vincent Peillon
Vincent Peillon
Vincent Benoît Camille Peillon is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the north-west of France...
et Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon is a French politician, member of the Socialist Party , part of the Party of European Socialists. He was Member of the European Parliament for the East of France from 2004 to 2009. He was national secretary for Europe in the French socialist party. At present, he is spokesman...
.
He lives in his electoral district, in the canton of Murgon.
Integrity and legal convictions
- On the 14th of September 1992 he was investigated regarding his role as the Socialist Party’s treasurer in the Urba AffairUrba affairThe Urba affair was an incident of political corruption in France pertaining to skimming receipts from public works for use for party campaigning during the 1970s and 1980s...
, concerning illicit funding of the Socialist Party. He was convicted of playing a part in influence peddlingInfluence peddlingInfluence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence ...
and on the 16th of December 1997 he was given a suspended sentence of 18 months and was banned from public service for two years.
- He was also investigated on the 15th of October 1998 over the Destrade affair which once again dealt with illegal funding to the Socialist Party, however he was released without charge, as the judge dismissed his case.
Political career
Governmental functionsSecretary of State for Overseas Territories : 1981-1983.
Secretary of State for Budget and consommation : 1983-1986.
Electoral mandates
National Assembly of France
President of the National Assembly of France : 1992-1993.
Member of the National Assembly of France for Landes (department) : 1978-1981 (Became secretary of State in 1981) / 1986-1997 (Sentenced to prison in 1997) / And since 2000. Elected in 1978, reelected in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2007.
Regional Council
Regional councillor of Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
: 1986-1988 (Resignation).
General Council
President of the General Council of Landes (department) : 1982-1997 (Sentenced to prison in 1997) / Since 2001. Reelected in 1985, 1988, 1992, 1994, 2001, 2004, 2008.
General councillor of Landes (department) : 1982-1997 (Sentenced to prison in 1997) / Since 2001. Reelected in 1988, 1994, 2001, 2008.
Political function
First Secretary (leader) of the Socialist Party (France)
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...
: 1994-1995. Elected in 1994.
Publications
- Plaidoyer pour l’Europe, Éditions Flammarion, juillet 1992. (A Plea for Europe)
- Citadelles interdites, ed. Ramsay, 2000 (roman). (Forbidden Citadels)