François de Rugy

François de Rugy
De Rugy in 2017
Minister of State, Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition
In office
4 September 2018 – 16 July 2019
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byNicolas Hulot
Succeeded byÉlisabeth Borne
President of the National Assembly
In office
27 June 2017 – 4 September 2018
Preceded byClaude Bartolone
Succeeded byRichard Ferrand
Member of the National Assembly
for Loire-Atlantique's 1st constituency
In office
17 August 2019 – 21 June 2022
Preceded byMounir Belhamiti
Succeeded byMounir Belhamiti
In office
20 June 2007 – 5 October 2018
Preceded byJean-Pierre Le Ridant
Succeeded byMounir Belhamiti
Personal details
Born (1973-12-06) 6 December 1973 (age 51)
Nantes, France
Political partyRenaissance (2017–present)
Other political
affiliations		GE (1991–1994)
LV (1997–2010)
EELV (2010–2015)
PE (2015–present)
Spouse
Séverine Servat
​
(m. 2017)​
Children2
Alma materSciences Po

François Henri Goullet de Rugy (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ɑ̃ʁi ɡulɛ də ʁyʒi]; born 6 December 1973) is a French politician who served as President of the National Assembly from 2017 to 2018 and Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition from 2018 to 2019.[1][2][3]

From 2007, De Rugy represented the Loire-Atlantique department, with an interruption between 2018 and 2019, originally as a member of the Democratic and Republican Left group, which includes his former political party Europe Ecology – The Greens.[4][5] In 2015, he joined the Ecologist Party and later the La République En Marche group in Parliament. In 2017, he defeated Jean-Charles Taugourdeau and Laure de la Raudière for the presidency of the National Assembly.

He was appointed Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition after the resignation of Nicolas Hulot. De Rugy resigned from his ministership less than a year following his appointment after allegations of excessive spending of public funds for private use. He regained his seat in Parliament.

De Rugy did not seek re-election at the 2022 parliamentary election.[6]

Political career

Member of the National Assembly

First elected to the National Assembly in the 2007 legislative election, he was reelected in 2012. In 2012, he was elected to the co-presidency of the newly founded Ecologist group, alongside Barbara Pompili. In 2015, he broke with Europe Ecology – The Greens to form a new party with Jean-Vincent Placé, the Ecologist Party, which supported the administration of President François Hollande. He was succeeded as group co-president by Cécile Duflot before regaining the office following the Pompili's appointment as Secretary of State for Biodiversity.

As a member of the National Assembly, he supported the 2015 Intelligence Act and 2016 Labour Act.

In 2016, De Rugy announced a campaign for the 2017 Socialist Party presidential primary in which he secured 3.8% of the vote in the first round, outstripping polls.[7] Though he promised to support the primary winner, he reneged on that commitment in late February, instead backing Emmanuel Macron over Benoît Hamon.[8] De Rugy was subsequently invested by En Marche! in the upcoming legislative election.[9]

Presidency of the National Assembly

François de Rugy as Vice President of the National Assembly with Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Republic of China, in 2016

On 18 May 2016, François de Rugy succeeded Denis Baupin as a Vice President of the National Assembly. He has resigned as group co-president the previous day. On 27 June 2017, De Rugy was elected President of the National Assembly after being chosen as candidate by the La République En Marche group with 353 votes (out of 577 members).[10]

Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition

On 4 September 2018, De Rugy was appointed Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. He replaced Nicolas Hulot who had announced his resignation on 28 August 2018 on France Inter.[11] On 10 July 2019, online magazine Mediapart revealed that €63,000 of public money had been spent on refurbishment of De Rugy's official apartment in Paris (including €19,000 on a dressing room). The magazine also published photographs of lobster and champagne dinners.[12][13] On 16 July 2019, De Rugy resigned as Ecology Minister.[14]

Return to the National Assembly

On 17 August 2019, François de Rugy regained his seat in the National Assembly. In September 2020, he was a candidate to succeed Gilles Le Gendre as LREM group president in the National Assembly. He came in third behind Christophe Castaner and Aurore Bergé. In the final round, he endorsed Bergé.[15]

In the 2021 regional election, De Rugy led the LREM list in Pays de la Loire (supported by the Democratic Movement and Radical Movement), which placed fifth, with 11.9% of the vote in the first round and 8.20% in the second round.

In addition to his committee assignments, De Rugy chaired the France-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group.[16]

In February 2022, De Rugy announced that he would not stand in the 2022 elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[17]

Career after politics

In 2022, De Rugy founded NaoKern Conseil, a consulting firm.[18] In 2023, he was appointed by Spanish investment bank Alantra to co-chair the firm's newly established Energy Transition Group, alongside Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta.[19]

References

  1. ^ Government of the French Republic. "Décret du 4 septembre 2018 relatif à la composition du Gouvernement". legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  2. ^ Government of the French Republic. "Décret du 16 juillet 2019 relatif à la composition du Gouvernement". legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  3. ^ National Assembly of the French Republic. "M. François de Rugy". assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Liste définitive des députés élus à l'issue des deux tours" (in French). National Assembly of France. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  5. ^ "À l'Assemblée nationale" (in French). Europe Écologie Les Verts. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  6. ^ Wajdzik, Arnaud (6 October 2021). "Le député et ancien ministre François de Rugy ne se représentera pas". Ouest France. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  7. ^ "In pictures: The candidates in France's left-wing presidential primary". France 24. 14 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Présidentielle : l'ex-candidat à la primaire de la gauche François de Rugy annonce sur franceinfo qu'il soutient Emmanuel Macron". franceinfo. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Communiqué de presse – Liste des investis aux élections législatives". En Marche!. 11 May 2017. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  10. ^ "François de Rugy élu président de l'Assemblée nationale". Le Monde.fr. 27 June 2017 – via Le Monde.
  11. ^ "Remaniement : François de Rugy et Roxana Maracineanu entrent au gouvernement". cnews.fr.
  12. ^ "Chastised French minister: I hate caviar and suffer a lobster..." Reuters. 12 July 2019. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Lobster and champagne: French minister in hot water for living the lavish life on public funds". France 24. 11 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Top French minister resigns after reports of lavish lifestyle". Los Angeles Times. 17 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Une finale Castaner-Bergé pour la tête du groupe LREM". Libération (in French). Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  16. ^ "Pro-Taiwan group in Europe launches Twitter account - Focus Taiwan". focustaiwan.tw (in Chinese). Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  17. ^ "François de Rugy: «Nos débats autour de l'écologie sont faussés par la dictature des symboles»". LEFIGARO (in French). 18 October 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  18. ^ Morgane Bertrand (3 March 2023), De la politique à la banque d’affaires, la nouvelle vie de François de Rugy, ancien ministre de l’Ecologie L'Obs.
  19. ^ Isla Binnie and Simon Jessop (14 February 2023), Alantra hires de Rugy, Fernandez-Cuesta for new Energy Transition Group Reuters.