François de Rugy

Political career

Member of the National Assembly

First elected to the National Assembly in the 2007 legislative election, he was reelected in 2012. In 2012, he was elected to the co-presidency of the newly founded Ecologist group, alongside Barbara Pompili. In 2015, he broke with Europe Ecology – The Greens to form a new party with Jean-Vincent Placé, the Ecologist Party, which supported the administration of President François Hollande. He was succeeded as group co-president by Cécile Duflot before regaining the office following the Pompili's appointment as Secretary of State for Biodiversity.

As a member of the National Assembly, he supported the 2015 Intelligence Act and 2016 Labour Act.

In 2016, De Rugy announced a campaign for the 2017 Socialist Party presidential primary in which he secured 3.8% of the vote in the first round, outstripping polls. Though he promised to support the primary winner, he reneged on that commitment in late February, instead backing Emmanuel Macron over Benoît Hamon. De Rugy was subsequently invested by En Marche! in the upcoming legislative election.

Presidency of the National Assembly

On 18 May 2016, François de Rugy succeeded Denis Baupin as a Vice President of the National Assembly. He has resigned as group co-president the previous day. On 27 June 2017, De Rugy was elected President of the National Assembly after being chosen as candidate by the La République En Marche group with 353 votes (out of 577 members).

Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition

On 4 September 2018, De Rugy was appointed Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. He replaced Nicolas Hulot who had announced his resignation on 28 August 2018 on France Inter. On 10 July 2019, online magazine Mediapart revealed that €63,000 of public money had been spent on refurbishment of De Rugy's official apartment in Paris (including €19,000 on a dressing room). The magazine also published photographs of lobster and champagne dinners. On 16 July 2019, De Rugy resigned as Ecology Minister.

Return to the National Assembly

On 17 August 2019, François de Rugy regained his seat in the National Assembly. In September 2020, he was a candidate to succeed Gilles Le Gendre as LREM group president in the National Assembly. He came in third behind Christophe Castaner and Aurore Bergé. In the final round, he endorsed Bergé.

In the 2021 regional election, De Rugy led the LREM list in Pays de la Loire (supported by the Democratic Movement and Radical Movement), which placed fifth, with 11.9% of the vote in the first round and 8.20% in the second round.

In addition to his committee assignments, De Rugy chaired the France-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group.

In February 2022, De Rugy announced that he would not stand in the 2022 elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Career after politics

In 2022, De Rugy founded NaoKern Conseil, a consulting firm. In 2023, he was appointed by Spanish investment bank Alantra to co-chair the firm's newly established Energy Transition Group, alongside Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta.

References

References

1. Government of the French Republic. "Décret du 4 septembre 2018 relatif à la composition du Gouvernement".
2. Government of the French Republic. "Décret du 16 juillet 2019 relatif à la composition du Gouvernement".
3. National Assembly of the French Republic. "M. François de Rugy".
4. "Liste définitive des députés élus à l'issue des deux tours". National Assembly of France.
5. "À l'Assemblée nationale". [[Europe Ecology – The Greens.
6. Wajdzik, Arnaud. (6 October 2021). "Le député et ancien ministre François de Rugy ne se représentera pas".
7. (14 December 2016). "In pictures: The candidates in France's left-wing presidential primary". France 24.
8. (22 February 2017). "Présidentielle : l'ex-candidat à la primaire de la gauche François de Rugy annonce sur franceinfo qu'il soutient Emmanuel Macron". franceinfo.
9. (11 May 2017). "Communiqué de presse – Liste des investis aux élections législatives". En Marche!.
10. (27 June 2017). "François de Rugy élu président de l'Assemblée nationale". Le Monde.fr.
11. "Remaniement : François de Rugy et Roxana Maracineanu entrent au gouvernement".
12. (12 July 2019). "Chastised French minister: I hate caviar and suffer a lobster...". Reuters.
13. (11 July 2019). "Lobster and champagne: French minister in hot water for living the lavish life on public funds". France 24.
14. (17 July 2019). "Top French minister resigns after reports of lavish lifestyle".
15. "Une finale Castaner-Bergé pour la tête du groupe LREM".
16. "Pro-Taiwan group in Europe launches Twitter account - Focus Taiwan".
17. (2021-10-18). "François de Rugy: «Nos débats autour de l'écologie sont faussés par la dictature des symboles»".
18. Morgane Bertrand (3 March 2023), [https://www.nouvelobs.com/politique/20230303.OBS70279/de-la-politique-a-la-banque-d-affaires-la-nouvelle-vie-de-francois-de-rugy-ancien-ministre-de-l-ecologie.html De la politique à la banque d’affaires, la nouvelle vie de François de Rugy, ancien ministre de l’Ecologie] ''[[L'Obs]]''.
19. Isla Binnie and Simon Jessop (14 February 2023), [https://www.reuters.com/article/alantra-transition-idINL1N34T1O3 Alantra hires de Rugy, Fernandez-Cuesta for new Energy Transition Group] ''[[Reuters]]''.