Jean-François Copé

Jean-François Copé
Copé, January 2015.
President of the UMP
In office 19 November 2012 – 15 June 2014
Preceded by	Nicolas Sarkozy
Succeeded by	interim collegial leadership Alain Juppé Jean-Pierre Raffarin François Fillon
General Secretary of the UMP
In office 17 November 2010 – 19 November 2012
Preceded by	Xavier Bertrand
Succeeded by	Michèle Tabarot
Mayor of Meaux
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2005
Preceded by	Ange Anziani
In office 19 June 1995 – 20 June 2002
Preceded by	Jean Lion
Succeeded by	Ange Anziani
Minister of the Budget
In office 31 May 2005 – 18 May 2007
Prime Minister	Dominique de Villepin
Preceded by	Dominique Bussereau
Succeeded by	Éric Woerth
Member of the National Assembly for Seine-et-Marne's 6th constituency
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 June 2002
Preceded by	Nicole Bricq
Personal details
Born	5 May 1964 Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Political party	RPR (Before 2002) UMP (2002–2015) Les Républicains (2015-present)
Spouse(s)	Valérie Ducuing (m. 1991; div. 2007) Nadia D'Alincourt (m. 2011)[1]
Children	4
Alma mater	Institute of Political Studies, Paris École nationale d'administration
Religion	Judaism (non-practicing)
Website	Official website

Jean-François Copé (French: [ʒɑ̃.fʁɑ̃.swa kɔ.pe]; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician. He is Mayor of Meaux, Deputy (Député) for the 6th constituency of Seine-et-Marne, and acts as President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Group in the French National Assembly. He was Spokesperson for the French Government between 2002 and 2007, and assumed other tenures in the government—including Minister of the Budget—at the same time. In November 2010 he became General Secretary of the UMP. In August 2012 he announced that he would run for the presidency of the UMP, facing the former Prime Minister François Fillon.

On 19 November 2012 he was elected President of the UMP with 50.03% of votes from its members, defeating François Fillon, who asserted his own victory.^[2] He resigned from the post on 27 May 2014 following a invoices scandal and poor results for the UMP at the 2014 European elections.

Personal life

Jean-François Copé was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, the son of Professor Roland Copé, a surgeon of Romanian Jewish origin, and Monique Ghanassia, of Algerian Jewish origin. His paternal grandparents were Marcu Hirs Copelovici, a physician born in Iaşi (Romania), and Gisele Lazerovici. His maternal grandparents were Ismael André Ghanassia, a lawyer in Algiers (son of Moïse Ghanassia and Djouhar Soussi, from Miliana, in Algeria), and Lise Boukhabza (granddaughter of a Tunisian rabbi).^[3]

Raised in a French Jewish family, he describes himself as "a non-practising Jew" ("Juif non pratiquant").^[4] He studied at the École Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel, and then at Lycée Victor Duruy, where he obtained his Baccalauréat. In 1985 he entered Sciences Po for two years, before attending the École nationale d'administration, from which he graduated in 1989. He followed training seminars on New Public Management in the United States, and he is a proponent of Benchmarking on budget matters. Divorced, he has four children, François-Xavier, Pierre-Alexis, and Raphaëlla, from his previous marriage, and Faustine, from his current union.

Career

Following his graduation in 1989, he joined the Caisse des dépôts et consignations until 1991. He then worked as head of cabinet for the CEO at Dexia, while teaching Local Economy and Finance at Science-Po. He left those attributions in 1993 to get involved in the leading right-wing party at the time, the RPR.

In 1997 he came back to teaching as an Associate Professor of Economy and Finance at Paris 8 University, up until 2002. He also returned to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations between 1997 and 1999, before joining the supervisory board of Dexia from 2000 to 2002.

Political functions

After serving in various political roles in the RPR and the Balladur government, he became spokesperson for the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in 2002. On 24 November 2004 he became Minister of the Budget and spokesperson for the government in the Raffarin III government; he was renewed in this function in the following Villepin government. Following the 2007 parliamentary election, he became leader of the UMP parliamentary group in the 13th Legislature.

In 1995 he became Mayor of Meaux at 35, and was re-elected in 2001 and 2008. Because of his nomination in the government in 2002, he had to step down in favour of Ange Anziani. Nonetheless, he took back the office in 2005 after Anziani's resignation. He was also regional councillor of Ile-de-France from 1998 to 2007 and was list leader of the UMP-UDF in Ile-de-France in the 2004 regional elections.

He became deputy of the 5th constituency of Seine-et-Marne in 1995, following the nomination of the incumbent to the Juppé government. However, he was defeated in 1997 by a Socialist candidate in a difficult RPR-PS-FN three-way second round race. In 2002, he was elected in the 6th constituency. He was re-elected there by the first round in 2007, becoming President of the UMP Group in the French National Assembly at the same time.

In November 2010 he became General Secretary of the Union for a Popular Movement. He declared himself a candidate for the presidency of the UMP in August 2012, facing François Fillon, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Bruno Le Maire. He was supported by many strong UMP members, such as former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, UMP leader at the National Assembly Christian Jacob and former Minister of Education Luc Chatel.

In September 2012 Copé denounced the development of an anti-White racism by people living in France, sparking a nationwide controversy in media and politics.^[5][6][7]

On 19 November 2012 Copé declared himself winner of the Union for a Popular Movement leadership election with 50,03% of votes, an assertion that was contradicted by François Fillon who asserted his own victory. In the following days, the crisis amplified with a mutual accusation of fraud.

On 27 February 2014 Le Point magazine accused Copé of using a friend's company as contractor for UMP's events organisation, and overpaying it.^[8] Copé rejected the charges, accused the magazine's editor of persecution^[9] and sued him.^[10] Following UMP's poor results in the 2014 European elections and accusations linked with the Bygmalion invoices scandal, Copé was forced to resign as UMP chairman on 27 May 2014.^[11]

Political career

Governmental functions

Secretary of State for Relationships with Parliament and Government's spokesman : 2002–2004.

Minister deleguated to Interior and Government's spokesman : March–November 2004.

Minister of Budget, Budget Reform and Government's spokesman : 2004–2005.

Minister of Budget, State Reform and Government's spokesman: 2005–2007.

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

President of the Union for a Popular Movement Group in the National Assembly : 2007–2010 (Resignation).

Member of the National Assembly of France for Seine-et-Marne (5th, then 6th constituency) : 1995–1997 / Reelected in 2002, but he became secretary of State / Since 2007. Elected in 1995, reelected in 2002, 2007, 2012.

Regional Council

Regional councillor of Île-de-France : 1998–2007 (Resignation). Reelected in 2004.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Meaux : 1995–2002 (Resignation) / Since 2005. Reelected in 2001, 2005, 2008.

Deputy-mayor of Meaux : 2002–2005.

Municipal councillor of Meaux : Since 1995. Reelected in 2001, 2008.

Agglomeration community Council

Président of the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays de Meaux : Since 2003. Reelected in 2008.

Member of the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays de Meaux : Since 2003. Reelected in 2008.

Political functions

Deputy General secretary of the Rally for the Republic : 2001–2002.

General Secretary of the Union for a Popular Movement : 2010-2012.

Président of the Union for a Popular Movement : 2012-2014.

Bibliography

Books by Jean-François Copé

• 1990 : Finances locales – Economica (Reissued in 1993 (ISBN 978-2717825688), and with François Werner in 1997 (ISBN 978-2717833034))
• 1999 : Ce que je n'ai pas appris à l'ENA. L'aventure d'un maire – Hachette Littératures. ISBN 978-2-01-235477-7.
• 2002 : Devoir d'inventaire. Le dépôt de bilan de Lionel Jospin – Éditions Albin Michel. ISBN 978-2-226-13314-4.
• 2006 : Promis, j'arrête la langue de bois – Hachette Littératures. ISBN 978-2-01-235943-7.
• 2012 : Manifeste pour une droite décomplexée - Editions Fayard. ISBN 978-2213671796

References

1. Costey, Laure (5 December 2011). "Jean-François Copé et Nadia d’Alincourt: un amour de jeunesse" [Jean-Francois Cope and Nadia Alincourt: young love]. Gala.fr (in French). Retrieved 20 April 2013.
2. The Times: "Leadership squabble leaves Centre Right on the edge"', 23 November 2012.
3. Solenn de Royer, Copé, l'homme pressé, l'Archipel, 2010, pp. 118-127.
4. Ma communauté, c'est la communauté nationale. Tribune juive (France), 15 February 2002
5. Libération: «Racisme anti-blanc» : Copé persiste et signe, 27 September 2012, retrieved 13 October 2012
6. Le Figaro: Copé dénonce l'existence d'un «racisme anti-Blanc», 26 September 2012, retrieved 13 October 2012
7. Le Monde: "Racisme anti-Blancs" : Marine Le Pen dénonce le "cynisme" de Copé, 26 September 2012, retrieved 29 October 2012
8. Delattre, Mélanie (27 February 2014). "Affaire Copé : des copinages qui coûtent cher à l'UMP". Le Point. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
9. "Copé se dit victime d'une " chasse à l'homme "". Le Monde. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
10. "Copé a porté plainte contre Le Point". Le Figaro. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
11. UMP leader quits amid €10m scandal

External links

• Webpage at the National Assembly