Mathieu Klein (born 20 January 1976) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Nancy since 2020.

Mathieu Klein
Mathieu Klein in 2019
Mayor of Nancy
Assumed office
5 July 2020
Preceded byLaurent Hénart
Municipal Councillor of Nancy
Assumed office
16 March 2008
President of the Departmental Council of Meurthe-et-Moselle
In office
22 April 2014 – 13 July 2020
Preceded byMichel Dinet
Succeeded byValérie Beausert-Leick
Departmental Councillor of Meurthe-et-Moselle
Assumed office
28 March 2004
Constituency
  • Canton de Nancy-Nord (2006–2009)
  • Canton de Nancy-2 (2009–2016)
Personal details
Born (1976-01-20) 20 January 1976 (age 48)
Phalsbourg, France
Political partySocialist Party (1992–present)

A member of the Socialist Party since 1992, he is also President of the Departmental Council of Meurthe-et-Moselle. After the 2020 French municipal elections, he became the first socialist Mayor of Nancy since the end of the second World War.

Early life and education

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Mathieu Klein was born into a family of teachers in Phalsbourg, Moselle.[1] Alongside his two brothers, he was brought up in Holving, before pursuing his secondary education at Sarreguemines. He moved to Nancy, France in 1993 to study history and sociology.[2][3] He then continued his university studies in Paris.

Political career

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Mathieu Klein is a member of the Socialist Party since 1992, and has his support in favour of a positive result in the French referendum on the Maastricht Treaty.[4] He then became a student member of the National Union of Students of France in Nancy, and then in Paris, he became a member of its national bureau in charge of health matters.[5]

In 1994, in Nancy, he founded an LGBT association, dedicated to the promotion of equality and fighting against homophobia.

Mathieu Klein pursued his political career within the Socialist Party, ascending to become the Departmental President of the Young Socialist Movement, Secretary of the Nancy branch of the Socialist Party, and then, in 2008, assuming the role of First Secretary of the Meurthe-et-Moselle branch of the party, alongside being a member of its national bureau.[6][7]

In 2000, he worked under Michel Dinet who was the then President of the Departmental Council of the Meurthe-et-Moselle and also the socialist, who would go on to become his political mentor.[8][9] In the 2004 French departmental elections, Klein was elected as the Departmental Councillor of the Meurthe-et-Moselle in the Nancy North constituency, winning against Senator Philippe Nachbar, a member of the UMP, in the Second round with 60.7% of the vote. In the 2011 elections, Klein was re-elected with 61.66% of the vote in the Second round.

Following the 2002 French presidential election, he joined the New Socialist Party. In 2009, he joined the team of Martine Aubry, the then First Secretary of the Socialist Party,[10] accompanying her candidacy in the 2011 French Socialist Party presidential primary.

In 2005, Klein contested a by-election in Meurthe-et-Moselle's 1st constituency, but was defeated by 399 votes by the incumbent Laurent Hénart.[11][12] In the 2007 French legislative election, Klein stood as a candidate again and lost, obtaining 49.2% of the vote in the Second round.[13][14] In the 2014 French municipal elections in Nancy, Klein's list was defeated by Laurent Hénart.[15][16][17][18]

Following the accidental death of his mentor Michel Dinet, he replaced him as President of the Departmental Assembly of Meurthe-et-Moselle in 2014, leaving his position as Departmental Vice-President for education and civic innovation on the Departmental Council.[19][20][21][22] In the 2015 French departmental elections, Klein was elected in the Nancy 2 canton, receiving 56.7% of the vote, and returned as President of the Departmental Council.[23][24]

In 2016, Klein announced his support for Manuel Valls and became one of his spokespersons during the 2017 French Socialist Party presidential primary campaign.[25]

Following the proposal of French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in 2018, Mathieu Klein was made responsible for a project on the professional integration of beneficiaries of the French welfare benefit Revenu de solidarité active with Claire Pitollat.[26] In October 2018, Klein refused a ministerial position in Second Philippe government.[27]

In the 2020 French municipal elections in Nancy, Klein headed the Nancy en grand list of the Socialist Party, which took its First place in the First round on 15 March 2020, with 37.9% of the vote.[28] Following this result, Klein merged his list with that of Europe Ecology – The Greens. In the Second round, held on 28 June 2020, Klein prevailed with 54.5% of the vote. He was confirmed as Mayor on 15 July 2020 by 43 votes in the municipal council of Nancy, becoming the first left-wing person to exercise this mandate since the end of the Second World War. He is seconded by twenty adjoints au maire.[29]

Personal life

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Mathieu Klein is a gay man[30] and is engaged in associations which are engaged in the fight against homophobia. He is married to a general practitioner and the couple have three children.[31]

Honours

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  Knight, National Order of Merit (2017)[32]

References

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  1. ^ "Le président - Département de Meurthe-et-Moselle" (in French). www.meurthe-et-moselle.fr. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  2. ^ "Mathieu Klein" (in French). MIRABELLE TV. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  3. ^ "Mathieu Klein : il est prêt" (in French). lasemaine.fr. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  4. ^ "Delafosse, Hanotin, Klein : les " trois M ", ou la nouvelle génération du Parti socialiste" (in French). lemonde.fr. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  5. ^ "Départementales 2015 - Meurthe-et-Moselle : Mathieu Klein, l'espoir socialiste" (in French). lepoint.fr. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
  6. ^ "PORTRAIT Municipales 2020 : Mathieu Klein entre dans l'histoire, il fait basculer Nancy à gauche" (in French). france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  7. ^ "Mille jours pour rassembler la gauche, par Gwenegan Bui, Mathieu Klein et Marylise Lebranchu". Le Monde.fr (in French). lemonde.fr. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  8. ^ "Mathieu Klein : il est prêt" (in French). lasemaine.fr. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  9. ^ "Portrait : Mathieu Klein" (in French). lesechos.fr. 15 September 2004. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
  10. ^ "Départementales 2015 - Meurthe-et-Moselle : Mathieu Klein, l'espoir socialiste" (in French). lepoint.fr. 9 February 2015.
  11. ^ "Législative partielle : second tour pour M. Hénart (UMP)". Le Monde.fr (in French). lemonde.fr. 5 September 2005. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  12. ^ "Législative partielle : l'UMP s'en sort plutôt bien". Le Monde.fr (in French). lemonde.fr. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  13. ^ "A Nancy, Klein l'amant idéal contre Hénart le gendre idéal" (in French). lemonde.fr. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  14. ^ "1ere circonscription de meurthe-et-moselle" (in French). lemonde.fr. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  15. ^ "Hénart - Klein : premières salves" (in French). lepoint.fr. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  16. ^ "Sondage Municipales 2014 : Klein, l'homme qui pourrait faire basculer Nancy à gauche" (in French). lci.fr. 16 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  17. ^ "Mathieu Klein s'installe rue Stanislas" (in French). lesemaine.fr. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  18. ^ "Résultats municipales 2014 à Nancy : Laurent Hénart (UDI) l'emporte face à Mathieu Klein (PS)" (in French). rtl.fr. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  19. ^ "54: Mathieu Klein nouveau président du CG" (in French). lefigaro.fr. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  20. ^ "Mathieu Klein élu président" (in French). estrepublicain.fr. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  21. ^ "Mathieu Klein élu président du conseil général de Meurthe-et-Moselle" (in French). lorraine.france3.fr. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  22. ^ "Mathieu Klein succède à Michel Dinet à la tête du département Meurthe-et-Moselle" (in French). www.bfmtv.com. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  23. ^ "Résultats des cantons de Nancy (élection départementale 2015)" (in French). nancy.fr. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  24. ^ "Mathieu Klein succède à Michel Dinet à la tête du département Meurthe-et-Moselle" (in French). www.bfmtv.com. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  25. ^ "Primaire à gauche : Valls présente son QG et son état-major de campagne" (in French). lesechos.fr. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  26. ^ "Edouard Philippe missionne une députée et un président de conseil départemental pour repenser le RSA" (in French). caissedesdepotsdesterritoires.fr. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  27. ^ "Mathieu Klein refuse un poste de ministre" (in French). www.bfmtv.com. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  28. ^ "Élections municipales et communautaires 2020, résultats par communes, Nancy" (in French). Ministère de l’Intérieur. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  29. ^ "Mathieu Klein a été élu maire de Nancy ce dimanche matin" (in French). estrepublicain.fr. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  30. ^ "Nancy: le maire répond aux associations, Mathieu Klein devient président du Conseil général" (in French). yagg.com. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  31. ^ "Mathieu Klein : me connaitre" (in French). mathieuklein.fr. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  32. ^ "Décret du 2 mai 2017" (in French). legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
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