Frédéric Boccaletti
Member of the National Assembly
for Var's 7th constituency
Assumed office
22 June 2022
Preceded byÉmilie Guerel
Personal details
Born (1973-11-23) 23 November 1973
Martigues, France
Political partyNational Rally (1994–1998, 2008–present)
Other political
affiliations		National Republican Movement (1999–2008)
OccupationBookseller, businessman, politician

Frédéric Boccaletti (born November 23, 1973, in Martigues) is a French businessman, political activist and politician affiliated to the National Rally.

Since 2022, he has been a member of the National Assembly for Var's 7th constituency was chairman of the National Rally's group in the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Biography

Early life

Boccaletti was born in 1973. According to his personal biography, he dropped out of high school and began training as a chef.[1] He then became a bookseller at the Anthinéa bookstore in Toulon which he later named and took ownership of. Boccaletti stated the name pays homage to the book Anthinéa, from Athens to Florence by Charles Maurras which he republished.[2]

Political career

In 1994, Boccaletti became deputy secretary of the National Youth Front (now known as Génération Nation), the former youth wing of the French National Front.[3] However, he joined Bruno Mégret's splinter National Republican Movement party in 1999 and was elected as a municipal councilor for the party in 2001.[4]

In 2008, he returned to the National Front and was Jean-Marie Le Pen's campaign manager during the 2010 French regional elections.[5] He also served as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen's campaign chief during the 2015 French regional elections and succeeded her as the chairman of the FN in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region until he was made to step down in 2020.[6]

During the 2022 French legislative election he was elected as the National Rally's candidate for Var's 7th constituency defeating Émilie Guerel during the election.

Views and controversies

Boccaletti has been considered a more hardline and traditionalist far-right member of the National Rally with ideas close to former leader Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marion Le Pen.[5]

French newspapers Libération and Le Point indicated that Boccaletti's bookshop often stocked controversial works, including books with racist and Holocaust denying content.[2][7] He has also been noted and implicated for links to Holocaust revisionist writer Éric Delcroix and former leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin.[8]

Boccaletti selection as a candidate in the 2022 election also caused some controversy after it was found he had been charged and briefly jailed in 2000 with illegal possession of a weapon before being pardoned for health reasons. The revelation came after Marine Le Pen's announcement that the RN would not select candidates with criminal records.[9] His selection also caused a stir within the RN as he had been removed from his post as regional chairman due to repeated controversies.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Frédéric Boccaletti". frontnational.com. Archived from the original on 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  2. 1 2 Aziz Zemouri (8 June 2017). "Législatives - Front national : ambiance délétère chez les frontistes varois". lepoint.fr.
  3. ↑ "Toulon". lemonde.fr. 24 September 1998.
  4. ↑ Annie Vergnenegre (18 March 2015). "PORTRAIT. Frédéric Boccaletti le patron du FN du Var attend son heure". france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 La rédaction (8 February 2014). "Frédéric Boccaletti, entre négationnistes et armes à feu". La Règle du jeu.org. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Kim Hullot-Guiot; Tristan Berteloot; Rebecca Birna (2 June 2017). "Chez les candidats FN, les ratés de la dédiabolisation". oeilsurlefront.liberation.fr. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Saint-André, Elsa de La Roche. "Législatives: le RN a-t-il investi dans le Var un candidat condamné pour «violence avec arme»?". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  8. ↑ "In Six-Fours, the opposition denounces a "collusion" between the mayor UMP and the FN". Le Monde.fr. 2009-11-17. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  9. ↑ Charlotte de Beauvoir (11 August 2000). "Deux mégrétistes jugés pour violence". liberation.fr. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  10. ↑ Lucie Delaporte (5 September 2020). "Au bord de la faillite, le RN organise une rentrée «bunkérisée»". Mediapart. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
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