Éric Woerth

Éric Woerth (born 29 January 1956) is a French politician of The Republicans (LR).

Éric Woerth
Member of the National Assembly
for Oise's 4th constituency
Assumed office
17 June 2012
Preceded byChristian Patria
Mayor of Chantilly
In office
1995–2017
Preceded byPhilippe Courboin
Succeeded byIsabelle Wojtowiez
Minister of Budget
In office
2007–2010
PresidentNicolas Sarkozy
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byJean-François Copé
Succeeded byFrançois Baroin
Personal details
Born (1956-01-29) 29 January 1956
Creil, France
NationalityFrench
Political partyThe Republicans
Spouse(s)Florence Henry
Children2
Alma materPanthéon-Assas University, Sciences Po, HEC Paris

Early life and education

Woerth was born in Creil, Oise. He studied at Panthéon-Assas University, HEC School of Management and Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.

Political career

Career in local politics

Municipal Council

Mayor of Chantilly, Oise : 1995-2004 (Resignation) / And since 2005. Reelected in 2001, 2005, 2008.

Deputy-mayor of Chantilly, Oise : 2004–2005.

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

Community of communes Council

President of the Communauté de communes of the aire cantilenne : Since 1995. Reelected in 2001, 2008.

Member of the Communauté de communes of the aire cantilienne : Since 1995. Reelected in 2001, 2008.

Vice-president of the Regional Council of Picardy : 1992–1998.

Regional councillor of Picardy : 1986-2002 (Resignation). Reelected in 1992, 1998.

Member of the National Assembly, 2002–2004

Woerth was elected député for Oise in 2002. In parliament, he served on the Finance Committee from 2002 until 2004.[1]

In addition to his parliamentary work, Woerth was the treasurer of the UMP until he resigned in July 2010.[2]

Career in government

Woerth was state secretary for state reform in the government[3] of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin from 2004 to 2005.

Woerth founded the "club de la boussole", a group of UMP députés, and is a member of the Réformateurs, a liberal trend within the UMP.

Woerth was the Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts and the Civil Service from 2007 until 2010, in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon.[4] In this capacity, he oversaw French authorities obtaining Swiss bank account data amid a push to catch tax cheats.[5]

Woerth later served as Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Civil Service from March until November 2010.[6]

Member of the National Assembly, 2010–present

In parliament, Woerth served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2010 until 2012 before moving to the Finance Committee in 2012.[7] In addition to his committee assignments, he has been a member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly since 2019.[8]

In the Republicans' 2016 presidential primaries, Woerth endorsed François Fillon as the party's candidate for the office of President of France.[9] In the Republicans' 2017 leadership election, he endorsed Laurent Wauquiez.[10]

In July 2019, Woerth was one of the few LR members who abstained from a vote on the French ratification of the European Union's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.[11]

Together with Benjamin Dirx, Woerth published a non-legally binding report in 2019 which garnered international attention for its recommendations on preventing short-sellers and activists from unfairly destabilising French corporates. These included widening the disclosures of short positions to derivatives instruments, pushing for more transparency around the borrowing and lending of stock, and investigating whether market functions are jeopardised once short selling reaches a certain volume of shares.[12][13]

Controversy

On 5 July 2010, following its investigations on the Liliane Bettencourt and Éric Woerth political controversy, the online newspaper Mediapart revealed a report where Claire Thibout, an ex-accountant working for Liliane Bettencourt, accused Nicolas Sarkozy and Woerth of receiving illegal campaign donations in 2007, in cash.[14][15] The Canard enchaîné and Marianne weeklies later revealed that Woerth authorized the sale of the Compiegne racetrack to a group with close connections to the UMP, for a very low price and through an improper procedure.[16] He was placed under formal investigation by the Cour de Justice de la République for that sale. All charges against him were dismissed in 2015.[17]

References
  1. Éric Woerth French National Assembly.
  2. Eric Woerth va, "bien sûr", quitter son poste de trésorier de l’UMP (Eric Worth will "of course" resign his post as treasurer of UMP)
  3. Henley, Jon (13 May 2004). "Commission impossible". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  4. Communiqué de la Présidence de la République concernant la composition du gouvernement de M. François FILLON, Premier ministre. , Élysée Palace, 18 May 2007.
  5. David Jolly (30 August 2009), France Pursues Tax Cheats Using Swiss Banks International Herald Tribune.
  6. http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/frances-woerth-named-labor-minister-budget-minister/
  7. Éric Woerth French National Assembly.
  8. Éric Woerth French National Assembly.
  9. Éric Woerth : "François Fillon sera un très grand président de la République" L'Opinion, 25 November 2016.
  10. Ludovic Vigogne (11 October 2017), La liste des 136 parrains de Laurent Wauquiez L'Opinion.
  11. Maxime Vaudano (24 July 2019), CETA : qui a voté quoi parmi les députés Le Monde.
  12. David Keohane and Harriet Agnew (2 October 2019), France seeks crackdown on short sellers and activist investors Financial Times.
  13. Laurence Boisseau (3 December 2019), L'activiste Muddy Waters défend les vertus de la vente à découvert Les Échos.
  14. L'ex-comptable des Bettencourt accuse: des enveloppes d'argent à Woerth et à Sarkozy, original report, in French
  15. Financial Times
  16. " Compiègne : Woerth reste en selle ", Le Journal du dimanche, 14 juillet 2010.
  17. fr:Affaire Woerth-Bettencourt#Décision de renvois en correctionnelle et relaxe
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