François Bayrou
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François Bayrou (b. 25 May 1951) is a French politician. The president of the centrist Union for French Democracy (UDF) since 1998, Bayrou served as Minister of National Education in the conservative governments of Édouard Balladur and Alain Juppé from 1993 to 1997.
François Bayrou refused to merge the UDF and the RPR into the UMP. As a consequence, much of the UDF left for the UMP; the remaining stayed with Bayrou inside UDF. UDF, however, stayed in coalition with UMP to form governments under Prime Ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin. However, the UDF role in government has shrunk, with the only remaining UDF minister being Gilles de Robien, an opponent of Bayrou's.
François Bayrou has been increasingly critical of the orientation taken by the UMP government, which he deems to be out of touch with the French citizenry. He denounces a de facto two-party system, where the Socialist Party and the RPR, then UMP, alternate and, if in the majority, solidly vote for the laws proposed by the executive, and advocates a system where other voices can be heard. [link]
This position, though apparently popular with the militant base of UDF, is not necessarily well received by other UDF politicians. For instance, the only remaining UDF minister, Gilles de Robien, favors closer alignment with UMP. [link] [link]
On May 16, 1005, François Bayrou voted the motion of censure brought in by the Socialist deputies for the resignation of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's government, following the Clearstream affair. [link] (This motion had no chance to be accepted, given that UMP has an absolute majority in the Assembly.) Following this event, France's television authority then classified Bayrou in the opposition for timing purposes; however, after Bayrou protested, he was classified as neither majority nor opposition.
François Bayrou will be a candidate in the 2007 French presidential election. He has been a junior partner in the coalitions , although he did not serve in their cabinets.
François Bayrou has taken a personal stand on a variety of issues, pertaining to safeguarding the credibility of the political process, personal freedom as well as more technical issues such as free software (see DADVSI).
François Bayrou's hobby is raising horses. He also has written a book on King Henry IV of France.
Bibliography
(Bayrou himself is the author unless others are shown.)
- , subject(s): Enseignement -- Réforme -- France -- 1970-, Éducation et État -- France -- 1970-.
- , preface by François Bayrou.
- , le Grand livre du mois 1996, subject(s): Politique et éducation -- France -- 1990-, France -- Conditions sociales -- 1981-.
- , series: J'ai lu 4183.
- , preface by François Bayrou.
- , subject(s): Henri IV (roi de France ; 1553-1610 ) -- Ouvrages pour la jeunesse.
- , le Grand livre du mois 1999.
- , series: Le livre de poche 14779.
External links
- () [François Bayrou Blog]
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