Éric Besson
Eric Besson at a medal ceremony
Minister of Immigration, Integration, National identity and Solidary
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 2009
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Preceded by	Brice Hortefeux
State Secretary for "Prospectives and Evaluation of Public Policies"
In office May 2007 – January 2009
Born	2 April 1958 Marrakech
Nationality	French
Political party	Socialist Party from 1993 to 2007
Other political affiliations	UMP from 2007
Spouse(s)	Sylvie Brunel
Children	3

Éric Besson (born 2 April 1958 in Marrakech) is a French politician, presently Minister of Immigration, Integration, National identity and Solidary development in the government of François Fillon.

[edit] Biography

Born in Morocco, Besson's mother is from Lebanon and his father was a flight instructor in the French Air Force, killed in flight three months after Éric's birth. At 17, he came back to France and studied in the École supérieure de commerce of Montpellier, then in the Institut d'études politiques de Paris.

Besson joined the French car company, Renault, then worked for Challenges, a business monthly, before joining the Vivendi foundation.

He was a member of the Socialist Party from 1993 to 2007. He has been mayor of Donzère since 1995 and was the député for the Drôme between 1997 to 2007 (he did not stand for re-election in 2007).

He began the 2007 French presidential election as a member of Ségolène Royal's campaign team, but defected in a blaze of publicity, proclaiming that he felt the Socialist campaign's economic policy to be deeply flawed. He then joined Nicolas Sarkozy's first government.

In May 2007 he become State Secretary for "Prospectives and Evaluation of Public Policies" and in January 2009, he became Minister for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Cooperative Development in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. In 2007 he launched a new political party "Les Progressistes" which has joined the Union for a Popular Movement, Nicolas Sarkozy's party.

As successor to Brice Hortefeux in charge of immigration and national identity he has announced the objective (March 2009) of ensuring 26,000 compulsory repatriations per annum. He has said (April 2009) that legislation enacted penalizing assistance to illegal immigrants (with up to 5 years imprisonment) was not intended to discourage the general public but only traffickers. Eric Besson has endeavoured to overturn the role of Cimade in offering assistance to illegal immigrants held in the expanded network of detention centres in France by opening bids for offer of these services by other agencies. (in Le Monde, June 2009).

In September 2009 Eric Besson effected the clearing of an area known as the Jungle near Calais, where cabins and shacks housed mainly illegal immigrants desiring to settle in Great Britain and primarily of Afghan or Kurdish stock. Contrary to impressions given at the time 3 Afghans have now been repatriated to Afghanistan on a joint flight with a higher number of British Afghan refugees (October 2009).

Besson was married to Sylvie Brunel, a geographer and writer, former president of Action Against Hunger and they have three children. Their eldest child, Alexandra (born 1989), is a novelist under the pen name Ariane Fornia, and published her first book, "Dieu est une femme" ("God is a woman") in 2005.

[edit] Political career

Governmental functions

Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Development Solidarity : Since 2009.

Secretary of State in charge of exploration, appraisal of public policies and development of the digital economy : 2007-2009.

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

Member of the National Assembly of France for Drôme : 1997-2007 (Became minister in 2007). Elected in 1997, reelected in 2002, 2007.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Donzère : Since 1995. Reelected in 2001, 2008.

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

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• (French) Éric Besson's web site
• (French) Biography

v • d • e Second Fillon Cabinet François Fillon | Jean-Louis Borloo | Michèle Alliot-Marie | Bernard Kouchner | Hervé Morin | Brice Hortefeux | Xavier Darcos | Christine Lagarde | Éric Wœrth | Éric Besson | Luc Chatel | Bruno Le Maire | Valérie Pécresse | Frédéric Mitterrand | Roselyne Bachelot | Michel Mercier

This article about a Socialist Party politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e