Jean-Pierre Bel
Jean -Pierre Bel ( born December 30, 1951 in Lavaur, Tarn, France ) is a French politician of the Parti Socialiste (PS) and since October 2011 President of the French Senate.
Life
Jean -Pierre Bel's family was communist and influenced by the French Resistance. His father was an active member of the Parti Communiste Français, he and other members of the family had been actively engaged during the war in the Resistance. Bel later grew up in Toulouse, where his mother was an employee of the then state-owned postal company PTT. He studied law and was a lecturer at the University of Toulouse I.
The first political commitment Bel dealt with the support of Spanish resistance groups against Franco. He also became active in the Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist League. In 1978, Bel to his appointment at the University of Toulouse and his political commitment and moved into the home village of his first wife, Mijanès (department Ariège) in the Pyrenees. There he was head of the tourism office and responsible for the development of the ski resort.
From 1983 he was active politically and was re- elected mayor of Mijanès. On the day of his election, he joined the Parti Socialiste. From 1986, he also belonged to the Regional Council of Midi -Pyrénées Region and the General Council of the Ariege. In these roles, he came into contact with a native of the same region, Lionel Jospin, for which he organized in 1992 his campaign in the regional elections.
1995 Bel retired from office of the mayor of Mijanès. From 1994 to 2000 he was secretary of the Socialist Party at the national level, first for the subdivisions, later for the preparation of elections. In 2001, he again took a position as mayor, this time in the larger community Lavelanet (until 2008).
1998 Bel was elected for the department of Ariège in the Senate. In 2004 he was there, Chairman of the Socialist Group. 2004 and 2008 he was a candidate for the position of President of the Senate, but was defeated - in view of the majorities as expected - 2004 Christian Poncelet and 2008 Gérard Larcher each of the Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP ). After the left-wing groups had gained control of the Senate at the Senate election in 2011, Bel has been re-proposed by the Socialist Group President of the Senate. On October 1, 2011, he was elected with 179 votes in this office, with 134 votes for and 29 votes Gerard Larcher for the centrist senator Valérie Létard. He is the first Socialist ever in this office. As President of the Senate Bel is also representative of the President when the latter is prevented from carrying out his duties. It may appoint future also three members of the Constitutional Court.
Until his election as President of the Senate Bel counted as public largely unknown. However, within the Senate, he is considered well connected and considered as the political bearing on compensation. Within the Socialist Party, he is the group to François Hollande attributed. Bel is regarded as a committed European.
Jean -Pierre Bel is married in second marriage to a Cuban woman and has three children. He is a rugby fan and supporter of FC Barcelona.
Writings
- Le Senate à l' heure du changement, Édition Fondation Jean Jaurès, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-36244-022-9 ( Engl. about: The Senate in the hour of change )