Francois Fillon

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François Charles Armand Fillon (born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy.

He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union for a Popular Movement), the country's largest centre-right political party, for the 2017 presidential election. Fillon became Jean-Pierre Raffarin's Minister of Labour in 2002 and undertook controversial reforms of the 35-hour working week law and of the French retirement system.

In 2004, as Minister of National Education he proposed the much debated Fillon law on Education. In 2005, Fillon was elected Senator for the Sarthe department.

His role as a political advisor in Nicolas Sarkozy's successful race for President led to his becoming Prime Minister in 2007.

Fillon resigned upon Sarkozy's defeat by François Hollande in the 2012 presidential elections. Running on a platform described as conservative, Fillon entered the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

He placed first in the first round on 20 November, defeating Alain Juppé in the primary run-off a week later.

Following his victory in the primary, opinion polls showed Fillon as one of the frontrunners for the 2017 presidential election along with Marine Le Pen (FN) and Emmanuel Macron (EM).

In March 2017, François Fillon became one of the first candidates of the most important French party to "be formally charged in a widening embezzlement investigation" due to allegations "that he had paid his wife and children hundreds of thousands of euros from the public payroll for little or no work" during the presidential race, in a case that became known as "Penelopegate".

Nevertheless, he decided not to withdraw from the race and continues to declare his innocence, denying that he embezzled any money.

On 23 April 2017, he was eliminated at the first round of the presidential election, and subsequently acknowledged that he did not have the legitimacy to lead the party through the legislative elections in June.

Early life

Fillon was born on 4 March 1954 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. His father, Michel, is a civil law notary, while his mother, Anne Soulet Fillon, is a history professor of Basque descent. His youngest brother, Dominique, is a pianist and jazz musician.

Fillon received a baccalauréat in 1972. He then studied at the University of Maine in Le Mans where he received a master's degree in public law in 1976. He subsequently received a master of Advanced Studies (diplôme d'études approfondies) in public law from Paris Descartes University.

Personal life

Fillon lives with his wife, Penelope, and five children, Marie, Charles, Antoine, Édouard and Arnaud, in the 12th-century Manoir de Beaucé, set in 20 acres (8 ha) of woodland on the banks of the River Sarthe 4 km east of the monastery village of Solesmes, near Sablé-sur-Sarthe, and about halfway between Le Mans and Angers. They had lived in various other properties, always in the Sarthe, throughout their marriage, before buying Beaucé in 1993.

Fillon has a reputation as an Anglophile. His wife Penelope Kathryn Fillon, née Clarke, was born in Llanover in Wales, the daughter of a solicitor. They met while she was teaching English during her gap year in Le Mans, and they were married in the bride's family church in June 1980.

François Fillon has spoken at a wide variety of universities in Britain, notably King's College London and the London School of Economics. On 1 September 2017, Fillon became a partner at asset manager Tikehau Capital.

Fillon's younger brother, Pierre, an ophthalmic specialist (and now President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest), later married Penelope Fillon's younger sister, Jane.

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Political career

Fillon was voted Prime Minister of France on the day after Nicolas Sarkozy became President, charging him with the task of assembling a new cabinet, which was announced on May 18th. Fillon made the first break since 1992 with the so-called "Balladur jurisprudence," according to which an indicted government official should resign before the case is closed. Fillon resigned on November 13, 2010, opening the way for a cabinet reshuffle. Fillon was reappointed as Prime Minister one day later by Sarkozy, allowing Fillon to officially name a new cabinet.

Fillon resigned on May 10th, following Nicolas Sarkozy's defeat to François Hollande in the 2012 presidential election. Following Hollande's as President on May 15, 2012, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Mayor of Nantes, was named to replace Fillon as Prime Minister.

After Francois Hollande's victory in the French presidential elections in 2012, Fillon declared his candidacy to become the President of the UMP party aiming for consensus within the diverging views at the UMP. Both candidates (Fillon and Jean-François Copé) declared victory on the day of the election and accused the other of cheating. With votes recounted twice and Copé finally being declared champion, a big political crisis emerged within the party.

If new elections were called, Fillon threatened to withdraw from the UMP. He established the Rassemblement-UMP party, a new parliamentary faction.

Copé decided to schedule elections in 2013, putting an end to the crisis in December 2012.

Fillon ran in the Republican presidential primary on November 20th, 2016 — and appeared to be a tense third as late as a week before the election. Fillon emerged as the clear frontrunner in early counting, with Alain Juppé in second place. Sarkozy resigned after supplying his assistance to Fillon, and Fillon and Juppé entered the contest on November 27. Juppé apologised to Fillon, promising to support for him as the Republican nominee in the 2017 presidential election.

Fillon was seen as the front-runner for the Presidency against Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon, Emmanuel Macron, and Marine Le Pen as of November 2016. However, revelations of a string of political fiascos at the end of January shattered his presidential campaign, with polls revealing him behind both Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, and out of the runoff. Fillon's visits on the ground attracted protesters who destabilized his campaign. Fillon's name, as a credible and trusted candidate, sparked indignation in Germany.

On the first round of the French presidential election on April 23, 2017, he received 20% of the votes, placing third in third place and thereby failing to advance to the runoff.

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Awards and honours

•  France:
  • Grand Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honour (2012)
  • Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite (21 November 2007 – Automatic six months after taking office)
  • Commander of the Ordre des Palmes académiques (2004)