Boris Vallaud (born 25 July 1975) is a French politician who has represented the department of Landes in the French National Assembly since the 2017 elections.[1] A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he became president of the Socialist group in the National Assembly in 2022.[2]

Boris Vallaud
President of the Socialist group
in the National Assembly
Assumed office
23 June 2022
Preceded byValérie Rabault
Member of the National Assembly
for Landes's 3rd constituency
Assumed office
21 June 2017
Preceded byMonique Lubin
Assistant General Secretary of the President
In office
17 November 2014 – 30 December 2016
PresidentFrançois Hollande
Preceded byNicolas Revel
Succeeded byThomas Cazenave
Personal details
Born (1975-07-25) 25 July 1975 (age 48)
Beirut, Lebanon
NationalityFrench
Political partySocialist Party
Spouse
(m. 2005)
Children2
Alma materSciences Po
ÉNA

Early life and education edit

Vallaud studied at Lycée Louis-Barthou in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and then graduated from École nationale d'administration (ENA) in 2004, alongside Emmanuel Macron.[3]

Political career edit

Government edit

From 2013 until 2014, Vallaud served as chief of staff to Ministry of the Economy and Finance Arnaud Montebourg. He subsequently worked on the staff of President François Hollande from 2014 until 2016.[4][5] During that time, his wife Najat Vallaud-Belkacem was also in government, serving as France's first and only female Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Research between 2014 and 2017.[6]

National Assembly edit

In 2017, Vallaud was elected as Member of the National Assembly for the Landes's 3rd constituency, a territory had been held by socialist Henri Emmanuelli until his death. He was the only left candidate sworn into office in a traditionally left-leaning department.[7] Vallaud joined the Socialist group and served as member of the Social Affairs Committee[8] between 2017 and 2023.

In 2022, Vallaud was easily re-elected[9] and ever since serves as member of the Cultural and Education Affairs Committee.[10] He was elected President of the Socialist group[2] following Valérie Rabault's election as one of the six vice-presidents of the National Assembly.[11] Under his leadership, the Socialist group became part of the NUPES intergroup alongside Les Écologistes, the French Communist Party and La France Insoumise.[12]

Following Jean-Luc Mélenchon's position on the 2023 Israel–Hamas war,[13] many socialists and communists in parliament began to distance themselves from the NUPES coalition. In October 2023, Vallaud announced the Socialist group would take a temporary break from the NUPES coalition to reassess the nature of their partnership, but said he remained hopeful about NUPES's future.[14]

In addition to his committee assignments, he is one of the vice-presidents of the French-Lebanese Parliamentary Friendship Group,[15] having himself been born in Beirut.[10]

Political positions edit

Vallaud was one of only five Socialist MPs who did not vote in favor of confirming Prime Minister Édouard Philippe's government in 2017. He was later considered as one of the sharpest critics of the Philippe government.[16]

Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2018 convention in Aubervilliers, Vallaud publicly endorsed Olivier Faure as candidate for the party's leadership.[17]

In response to a 2019 law authorizing the sale of the government's controlling stake in Groupe ADP, Vallaud led a cross-party initiative which called for a referendum to overturn the legislation, citing concerns over the loss of government revenue and influence.[18][19]

Personal life edit

In 2000, Vallaud met his wife, Najat Belkacem, at Sciences Po Paris where they were both studying.[20] The pair married on the 27th of August 2005 in Hontanx, and Belkacem officially hyphenated her husband's family name in front of hers. In 2008, the couple welcomed twins, a boy and a girl : Louis-Adel and Nour-Chloé.[21] As a symbol of the couple's mixed origins, the twins' names each contain one French and one North-African name.[22]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Landes - 3e circonscription : Résultats des législatives".
  2. ^ a b "France's new legislature marks return of Parliament as home to decision-making". Le Monde.fr. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  3. ^ Boris Vallaud nommé secrétaire général adjoint de l'Élysée RTL, 17 November 2014.
  4. ^ Boris Vallaud nommé secrétaire général adjoint de l'Élysée RTL, 17 November 2014.
  5. ^ Nathalie Schuck (24 April 2018), Boris Vallaud, l’étoile montante du PS que Hollande appelle «Jaurès» Le Parisien.
  6. ^ Alami, Aida (20 February 2015). "A French Education Minister Who Knows Immigrants' Struggles". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  7. ^ Zariski, Raphael (May 1956). "Problems and Prospects of Democratic Socialism in France and Italy". The Journal of Politics. 18 (2): 254–280. doi:10.2307/2126984. JSTOR 2126984. S2CID 154669968 – via JSTOR.
  8. ^ Vallaud French National Assembly.
  9. ^ "Résultats Élections Législatives 2022 troisième circonscription des landes". Élections Législatives 2022 (in French). Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  10. ^ a b "M. Boris Vallaud - Landes (3e circonscription)". Assemblée nationale (in French). Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Valérie RABAULT". Les Rencontres Économiques. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Nupes refuses to take responsibility for possible parliamentary obstruction". Le Monde.fr. 26 June 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  13. ^ Basso, Davide (9 October 2023). "French left in turmoil after Mélenchon's party reacts to Hamas attacks". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  14. ^ Basso, Davide (11 October 2023). "French Socialists time-out from left-wing alliance over Hamas stance". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  15. ^ "Groupe d'amitié France-Liban - 16ème législature - Assemblée nationale". www2.assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  16. ^ Les 10 députés qui vont peser dans le quinquennat Le Journal du Dimanche, 1 August 2017.
  17. ^ Pierre Lepelletier (7 March 2018), Congrès du PS : qui soutient qui ? Le Figaro.
  18. ^ Manon Rescan (9 April 2019), Des parlementaires lancent une procédure de référendum contre la privatisation des aéroports de Paris Le Monde.
  19. ^ Inti Landauro (16 May 2019), French constitutional court clears ADP privatization Reuters.
  20. ^ "Qui est Boris Vallaud, le mari de Najat Vallaud-Belkacem ?". www.planet.fr (in French). 21 July 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  21. ^ Média, Prisma (27 June 2022). "Le saviez-vous ? Najat Vallaud-Belkacem et Boris Vallaud sont parents de jumeaux de 13 ans - Gala". Gala.fr (in French). Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  22. ^ "Najat Vallaud-Belkacem : sa fille rêve de devenir la nouvelle Louane". Closer (in French). 3 March 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2023.