Hervé Morin
Hervé Morin in 2010
President of Normandy
Assumed office
4 January 2016
Preceded byLaurent Beauvais
(as President of the Regional Council of Lower Normandy)
and
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol
(as President of the Regional Council of Upper Normandy)
Member of the National Assembly
for Eure's 3rd constituency
In office
2012–2016
Preceded byMarc Vampa
Succeeded byMarie Tamarelle-Verhaeghe
Leader of New Centre / The Centrists
Assumed office
29 May 2007
Preceded byFirst in office
Minister of Defence
In office
18 May 2007 – 14 November 2010
PresidentNicolas Sarkozy
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byMichèle Alliot-Marie
Succeeded byAlain Juppé (Defence and Veterans Affairs)
Personal details
Born (1961-08-17) 17 August 1961
Pont-Audemer, France
Political partyNew Centre / The Centrists (2007–present)
Other political
affiliations		UDF (Before 2007)
Alma materUniversity of Caen
Panthéon-Assas University
Sciences Po

Hervé Morin (born 17 August 1961) is a French politician of the Centrists who has been serving as the first President of the Regional Council of Normandy since January 2016. Under President Nicolas Sarkozy, he was the Minister of Defence.

Political career

Member of the National Assembly

Morin was first elected as a representative to the French National Assembly on 16 June 2002, in the 3rd constituency of Eure, Normandy. He served as chairman of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) group in the National Assembly. After the UDF's candidate for the 2007 presidential election, François Bayrou, did not make it to the 2nd round, he hinted that he attempted to create an alliance with the Socialist Party and decided to found a new political party: the Democratic Movement (or MoDem). Consequently, Morin, who is of the center-right and an ally of the presidential election's winner, Nicolas Sarkozy, made it an organisation within the presidential majority in the National Assembly. It is now called New Centre and he is the leader.

After the creation of the UMP, Morin took the presidency of the UDF group at the National Assembly, from 2002 to 2007. When Morin joined the government as minister of Defence in July 2007, Marc Vampa New Centre replaced him as representative.

Minister of Defence

Following the Battle of N'Djamena in 2008, Morin flew to Chad in a show of support for President Idriss Deby, who had just survived an assault on the capital by rebels seeking to topple him.[1] Over the course of 2009, he oversaw efforts to halve the number of troops deployed in Ivory Coast to 900.[2]

In 2009, Morin rejected requests by U.S. President Barack Obama for reinforcements to Afghanistan, arguing the France had already deployed enough troops.[3] He instead called on NATO partners to set specific timelines for achieving progress in Afghanistan in areas including security and governance.[4]

After France had long refused to officially recognise a link between its testing of nuclear bombs in the Pacific Ocean and health complaints reported by both military and civilian staff involved in the tests, Morin announced in 2009 that the government would compensate victims of past nuclear tests and has earmarked an initial 10 million euros to do so.[5]

When Pierre Siramy, a former deputy director of intelligence service DGSE Pierre Siramy published his memoirs in 2010, Morin filed a complaint against him, accusing him of violating secrecy rules and divulging the identities of operatives.[6]

Later career

On 27 November 2011, Morin officially announced his intention to run for the 2012 French presidential election.[7] At the time of the announcement, he had the support of about 20 deputies, senators and European parliamentarians, and polls saw him winning only between 1-2 percent of the vote.[8] During his campaign he claimed to have been present at the allied invasion of Normandy (1944), although he was not born until 1961.[9] On 16 February 2012, he withdrew his candidacy and gave support to Nicolas Sarkozy.[10]

In 2013, Jean-Louis Borloo of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) included Morin in his shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Pierre Moscovici.[11]

In the Republicans' 2016 primaries, Morin endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the center-right parties joint candidate for the 2017 French presidential election;[12] after Le Maire was eliminated in the first round, Morin supported François Fillon.[13] Shortly after, he left the UDI.[14]

Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, Morin publicly declared his support for Valérie Pécresse as the Republicans’ candidate.[15]

Overview

Governmental functions

Minister of Defence : 2007–2010

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

Member of the National Assembly of France for Eure (3rd constituency) : 1998–2007 (Became minister in 2007) / 2010–2016. Elected in 1998, reelected in 2002, 2007, 2012. Resignation in 2016.

General Council

General councillor of Eure : 1992–2004 / 2011-2014 (Resignation). Reelected in 1998 and 2011.

Regional Council

Regional councillor and President of Normandy, elected in Eure constituency : Since 2016.

Regional councillor of Haute-Normandie, elected in Eure constituency : 2004–2010.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Epaignes : 1995–2016. Reelected in 2001, 2008, 2014. Resignation in 2016.

Municipal councillor of Epaignes : Since 1989. Reelected in 1995, 2001, 2008, 2014.

Community of communes Council

President of the Communauté de communes of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014.

Member of the Communauté de communes of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014.

Other activities

  • Bpifrance, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2016)

References

  1. ↑ Pascal Fletcher (6 February 2008), French defence minister flies to Chadian capital Reuters.
  2. ↑ France to cut troop levels in Ivory Coast International Herald Tribune, 28 January 2009.
  3. ↑ Sophie Hardach and Francois Murphy (21 January 2009), France unwilling to send more troops to Afghanistan Reuters.
  4. ↑ David Morgan and Andrew Gray (3 March 2009), France's Morin favors NATO Afghan withdrawal date Reuters.
  5. ↑ Estelle Shirbon (24 March 2009), France to compensate victims of nuclear testing Reuters.
  6. ↑ Maïa de la Baume (9 June 2010), France: Former Intelligence Official Accused of Violating Secrecy Rules New York Times.
  7. ↑ "Hervé Morin made official his candidacy for the presidential election". Le Monde (in French). 27 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  8. ↑ Daniel Flynn (27 November 2011), French centrist Morin says to run in 2012 election Reuters.
  9. ↑ Samuel, Henry (25 January 2012). "'Time travelling' French presidential candidate ridiculed for Normandy claims". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012.
  10. ↑ Lefigaro.fr
  11. ↑ L'UDI de Borloo se dote d'un contre-gouvernement L'Express, 15 June 2013.
  12. ↑ Martine Chevalet (4 October 2016), Primaire à droite : Hervé Morin choisit Bruno Le Maire Le Parisien.
  13. ↑ Caroline Vigoureux (22 November 2016), Hervé Morin: «J’ai décidé de soutenir François Fillon» L'Opinion.
  14. ↑ Christophe Forcari (30 November 2016), Hervé Morin largue l'UDI Libération.
  15. ↑ Présidentielle: Hervé Morin apporte son soutien à Valérie Pécresse Le Point, 2 September 2021.
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