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

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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

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  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.