You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (April 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the French article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Jean-Marc Ayrault]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Jean-Marc Ayrault}} to the talk page.
Born in Maulévrier in Maine-et-Loire,[1] Jean-Marc Ayrault is the son of Joseph Ayrault,[2] from Maulévrier, formerly an agricultural worker who was subsequently employed in a textile factory, and of Georgette Uzenot, a former seamstress who later became a full-time housewife.
His early schooling was at the St Joseph Catholic primary school in Maulévrier, after which, between 1961 and 1968, he attended the Lycée Colbert, in Cholet.[3] He subsequently studied German at the University of Nantes. In 1969/70 he spent a term at the University of Würzburg in Bavaria. He graduated with a degree in German in 1971 and in 1972 obtained his graduate teaching diploma. He stayed in the Nantes area for his probationary teaching year which was undertaken in Rezé. Between 1973 and his election to the National Assembly in 1986 he worked as a German language teacher in nearby Saint-Herblain.[4]
Political career
During his youth, Ayrault was a member of a movement of young Christians in rural areas. He joined the Socialist Party (PS) after the 1971 Epinay Congress during which François Mitterrand took the party leadership. Ayrault was affiliated to Jean Poperen's faction, one of the left-wing groups in the party. Elected in 1976 to the General Council of Loire-Atlantiquedépartement, he subsequently became Mayor of Saint-Herblain, located in the western suburbs of Nantes, in 1977. At 27, he was the youngest mayor of a French city of more than 30,000 inhabitants. He left the General Council in 1982.
He reached the PS national committee in 1979, then the executive of the party in 1981. He was first elected to the National Assembly in 1986, as representative of Loire Atlantique department, and he was consistently re-elected in subsequent elections. In 1989, he was chosen by the PS to conquer the mayoralty of Nantes, held by the Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, and he won. Re-elected in 1995, 2001 and 2008, he was also president of the Urban Community of Nantes Métropole since 2002. He was an important "local baron" of the Socialist Party.
After the surprising victory of the "Plural Left" in the 1997 legislative election, he was not appointed to the government but was instead designated as President of the Socialist parliamentary group in the National Assembly, a position he held for the next 15 years. Ayrault was a supporter of François Hollande during the Socialist Party's 2011 primary election to choose its presidential candidate. Hollande was ultimately elected President in the 2012 presidential election, and he appointed Ayrault as Prime Minister when he took office on 15 May 2012.
Ayrault's appointment to the country's head of government prompted discussion within Arabic language mass media as to how to pronounce his surname. When his name is pronounced properly in French, it sounds "very much like a moderately rude Lebanese [slang] term" for a phallus.[6]Al-Arabiya decided to pronounce the name properly and write its Arabic transliteration "in a way that makes clear it is not the offensive word"; CNN Arabic decided to pronounce Ayrault's surname by "voicing the last two letters in the written word."[6]
During his time in office, Ayrault and his ministers introduced a raft of progressive measures, including a reduction in the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some categories of workers, cuts in ministerial salaries of up to 30%,[7] a rise in the minimum wage, the introduction of a 36-month rent freeze on new contracts in some urban areas, an extension of social rebates on energy, increased educational support for low-income families,[8] the introduction of a system of subsidised employment for young people between 16 and 25,[9] and the extension of an entitlement to free health care to an additional 500,000 people.[10]
Ayrault resigned on 31 March 2014, the day after the "Socialists suffered heavy losses in nationwide municipal elections",[11] and formally handed over to his successor Manuel Valls at the prime ministerial residence, the Hotel Matignon, on 1 April 2014.[12]
Minister of Foreign Affairs
As part of a 2016 cabinet reshuffle, Hollande appointed Ayrault as foreign minister, replacing Laurent Fabius.[13]
Under Ayrault's leadership, the French foreign ministry summoned Vincent Mertens de Wilmars, Belgium's ambassador in Paris, in September 2016 after detaining two Belgian police officers on French territory for allegedly depositing migrants across the countries' border.[14]
In September 2016, Ayrault took part in the formal signing ceremony for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, a controversial $24-billion Franco-Chinese investment project.[15]
Personal life
When President Hollande published a list of bank deposits and property held by all 38 ministers for first time 2012,[16] Ayrault declared personal assets worth 1.5 million euros.[17]
Political resume
French Government
Prime Minister: 2012–2014.
Minister of Foreign Affairs: 2016–2017
National Assembly
President of the Socialist Group in the National Assembly of France: 1997–2012. Re-elected in 2002 and 2007.
Member of the National Assembly of France for Loire-Atlantique (3rd constituency): 1986–2012 (appointed Prime Minister in 2012). Elected in 1986, re-elected in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012.
General council
General councillor of Loire-Atlantique, elected in the canton of Saint-Herbain-Est: 1976–1982.
Community Council
Président of the Urban Community of Nantes Métropole: 1992–2012 (Resignation). Re-elected in 1995, 2001, and 2008.
Member of the Urban Community Council of Nantes Métropole: since 1992. Re-elected in 1995, 2001, and 2008.
^Italian Presidency website, Sig. Jean-Marc AyraultArchived 28 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (Primo Ministro) – Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana