Franck Riester

Franck Riester (born 3 January 1974) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness in the government of Prime Minister Jean Castex since 2020.[1] A former member of The Republicans, he founded and currently leads the centre-right Agir party.

Franck Riester
Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness
Assumed office
6 July 2020
Prime MinisterJean Castex
Preceded byPosition established
President of Agir
Assumed office
16 September 2018
Preceded byPosition established
Minister of Culture
In office
16 October 2018 – 3 July 2020
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byFrançoise Nyssen
Succeeded byRoselyne Bachelot
President of the UDI and Independents group in the National Assembly
In office
27 June 2017 – 16 November 2018
Serving with Stéphane Demilly (2017) and Jean-Christophe Lagarde (2017–2018)
Preceded byPhilippe Vigier
Succeeded byJean-Christophe Lagarde
Member of the National Assembly
for Seine-et-Marne's 5th constituency
In office
20 June 2007 – 16 November 2018
Preceded byGuy Drut
Succeeded byPatricia Lemoine
Mayor of Coulommiers
In office
15 March 2008 – 10 July 2017
Preceded byGuy Drut
Succeeded byGinette Motot
Personal details
Born (1974-01-03) 3 January 1974
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Political partyRally for the Republic (until 2002)
Union for a Popular Movement (2002–2015)
The Republicans (until 2017)
Agir (since 2017)
Alma materISG Business School
ESSEC Business School

Riester was a member of the National Assembly for the fifth constituency of Seine-et-Marne from 2007 to 2018 and Minister of Culture in the Second Philippe government from 2018 until his appointment as Minister delegate attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.[2][3]

Early career

After a stint at accounting firm Arthur Andersen, Riester managed his family's Peugeot car dealership.[4]

Political career

Member of the National Assembly

Riester was a member of the National Assembly from 2007 until 2018. During his time in parliament, he served on the Committee on the Committee on Economic Affairs (2007-2009), the Committee on European Affairs (2009-2011) and the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education (2009-2018).[5] In his first term from 2007 until 2012, he was the UMP parliamentary group's youngest member. He was also the parliament's rapporteur on the 2009 HADOPI law.[6]

In the 2009 European elections, Riester was the national campaign manager for Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party.[7] During Sarkozy’s unsuccessful campaign for the 2012 presidential elections, he served as the party’s head of communications,[8] along with Geoffroy Didier, Valérie Debord, Guillaume Peltier and Salima Saa.

In the Republicans’ 2016 presidential primaries, Riester endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the party's candidate for the office of President of France.[9] When the primaries' winner François Fillon became embroiled in a political affair during his campaign, Riester publicly called on him to step down.[10]

From June 2017, Riester co-chaired UDI and Independents group in the National Assembly, alongside Stéphane Demilly.[11] He was subsequently excluded from the Republicans on October 31, 2017, alongside Gérald Darmanin, Sébastien Lecornu and Thierry Solère.[12] In November 2017, he co-founded a new party, Agir.[13]

Riester was a candidate for mayor of Coulommiers in the 2020 French municipal elections which he won in the first round with more than 50 percent of the vote, but entrusted the role of mayor to Laurence Picard.[14][15]

Minister of Culture

Riester is appointed Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on 16 October 2018.[16] During his time in office, he announced in September 2019 a public broadcasting reform project aimed at creating "France Médias", bringing together France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde (Radio France Internationale and France 24) and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA).[17] He also merged the Superior Council of the Audiovisual (CSA) and the Supreme Authority for the Distribution and Protection of Intellectual Property on the Internet (HADOPI).[18]

Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness

On July 6, 2020, after the appointment of Jean Castex as Prime Minister, Riester is appointed Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.[1]

Political positions

In January 2013, Riester was one of the two UMP deputies, along with Benoist Apparu, to publicly declare his support and vote for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in France which had been proposed by the government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.[19]

When director Roman Polanski won best directing for his film An Officer and a Spy at the annual César Awards in 2020, his cast and production team boycotted the ceremony after Riester said the success of a director accused of sexual violence would send the wrong signal in the era of the Me Too movement.[20]

Personal life

Riester came out as gay in 2011, the first French MP to do so.[21][22][23][24]

In March 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic Riester tested positive for COVID-19.[25]

References
  1. res (3 January 1974). "Biography". France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
  2. "Gouvernement Castex en direct : Darmanin nommé ministre de l'intérieur, Dupond-Moretti garde des sceaux et Bachelot à la culture". Le Monde.fr (in French). 6 July 2020.
  3. "LISTE DÉFINITIVE DES DÉPUTÉS ÉLUS À L'ISSUE DES DEUX TOURS" (in French). National Assembly of France. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  4. Franck Riester fait ses classes au Palais Bourbon Le Figaro, July 25, 2007.
  5. Franck Riester National Assembly.
  6. Damien Leloup (September 16, 2009), Hadopi "respecte les droits de la défense", affirme Riester Le Monde.
  7. Patrick Roger (May 5, 2009), Franck Riester, benjamin aux dents longues Reuters.
  8. Catherine Bremer (February 26, 2012), Low in polls, Sarkozy stakes all on campaign verve Reuters.
  9. Ludovic Vigogne (April 20, 2016), Bataillons: Primaire à droite: la liste des premiers soutiens parlementaires L'Opinion.
  10. «Nous, élus de droite et du centre, demandons solennellement à François Fillon de se retirer» L'Opinion.
  11. Riester (LR) et Demilly (UDI) élus co-présidents du groupe "constructifs" à l'Assemblée Le Point, June 27, 2017.
  12. LCI Editing (31 October 2017). "Five pro-Macron members, including Edouard Philippe, excluded by Les Républicains" (in French). LCI. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  13. Emmanuel Galiero (March 31, 2018), Europe : les Constructifs vantent l'axe Juppé-Macron Le Figaro.
  14. Louis Nadau (March 15, 2020), Ministres et candidats : comment se sont-ils débrouillés au premier tour des municipales? Marianne.
  15. Michel Rose and John Irish (March 16, 2020), Socialist Paris Mayor beats Macron's candidate in election 1st round Reuters.
  16. "Communiqué de presse - remaniement et composition du nouveau gouvernement". French Republic (in French). Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  17. Caroline Sallé and Enguérand Renault (September 24, 2019), Franck Riester: «France Médias rassemblera les entités de l’audiovisuel public» Le Figaro.
  18. François Quairel (September 25, 2019), Le CSA et l'Hadopi regroupés au sein de l'Arcom La lettre Pro de la Radio.
  19. Alexandre Lemarié (February 1, 2013), Portrait de Franck Riester, cet UMP favorable au "mariage pour tous" Le Monde.
  20. Elizabeth Pineau and Richard Lough (February 28, 2020), Polanski wins best director at Cesars, prompting walkout protest Reuters.
  21. Marc Endeweld, 'Le député-maire UMP Franck Riester fait son coming-out', in Têtu, 6 December 2011 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. Jila Varoquier, 'Coulommiers : le député-maire Franck Riester (UMP) fait son coming out', in Le Parisien, 6 December 2011
  23. 'Accrochages au conseil municipal, le maire UMP fait son coming out' on TF1, 6 December 2011 Archived 7 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  24. Harriet Agnew (October 16, 2018), France’s new faces: who to watch in Macron’s revamped cabinet Financial Times.
  25. "#Coronavirus : Franck Riester, le ministre de la Culture, testé positif mais "en forme" (cabinet)". Twitter. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
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