François Autain (16 June 1935 – 21 December 2019)[1] was a French politician. Over his career, he was a member of the Communist, Republican, and Citizen Group and a member of the Left Party, prior to which he was a member of the Citizen and Republican Movement but also the PS and the PSU.

François Autain
François Autain,1981
Member of the Senate of France
In office
25 September 1983 – 25 September 2011
Prime MinisterPierre Mauroy
Parliamentary groupCommunist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group
ConstituencyLoire-Atlantique department
Deputy in the National Assembly
In office
3 April 1978 – 24 July 1981
ConstituencyLoire-Atlantique's 3rd constituency
Secretary of State for Social Security
In office
21 May 1981 – 22 June 1981
PresidentFrançois Mitterrand
Preceded byJacques Barrot
Succeeded byoffice eliminated
Secretary of State for Immigration
In office
23 June 1981 – 22 March 1983
PresidentFrançois Mitterrand
Prime MinisterPierre Mauroy
Preceded bynew office
Succeeded byGeorgina Dufoix
Secretary of State for Defense
In office
23 March 1983 – 25 September 1983
PresidentFrançois Mitterrand
Prime MinisterPierre Mauroy
Preceded bynew office
Succeeded byJean Gatel
Personal details
Born(1935-06-16)16 June 1935
Luché-sur-Brioux (Deux-Sèvres)
Died21 December 2019(2019-12-21) (aged 84)
NationalityFrance
Political partyUnified Socialist Party (1971-1975)
PS (1975-2001)
Citizen and Republican Movement (2001-2008)
Left Party (from 2008)

He was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Loire-Atlantique department from 1983 to 2011 and a deputy in the National Assembly from 1978 to 1981. From 1981 to 1983, he served as a secretary of state in the governments of Pierre Mauroy in the Ministry of Solidarity and Heath and the Ministry of Defense.

Biography edit

François Autain was born on 16 June 1935 in the commune of Luché-sur-Brioux in the Deux-Sèvres department. He studied medicine in Nantes and became active in the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France during the Algerian War.[2] He became a general practitioner in Bouguenais, a commune near Nantes. In 1968, he joined the Unified Socialist Party.

In 1971, he was elected as mayor of Bouguenais, a position that he held until 1993. He joined the Socialist Party in 1975 and won election to the National Assembly in the 1978 French legislative election. As a physician, he focused on health issues in the Assembly.[2] After the victory of François Mitterrand in the 1981 French presidential election, Autain joined the government as a Secretary of State, or junior minister. He served in government until 1983, when he was elected as a Senator.

Autain served in the Senate until 2011, having been re-elected in 1992 and 2001. He was a secretary of the senate as well as a quaestor, a role that gave him access to government funds that he could distribute to mayors of communes. The party removed him from its official list in 2001; however, he was able to win re-election in the 2001 French Senate Election as a member of the Citizen and Republican Movement.[3][4] He later left the Citizen and Republican Movement and joined the Left Party formed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

He did not stand as a candidate for re-election in 2011.

References edit

  1. ^ Éléonore Duplay (2019-12-19). "François Autain, ancien maire de Bouguenais, est mort à 84 ans". France 3 Pays de la Loire. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  2. ^ a b "Secrétaires d'État auprès d'un ministre Sécurité sociale M. François Autain". Le Monde (in French). 1981-05-25.
  3. ^ "François Autain et le Sénat, une longue histoire" (in French). Ouest France. 2017-09-25.
  4. ^ "Au confort moderne. Le fabuleux destin de François Autain" (in French). La Lettre à Lulu. October 2001.