Axelle Lemaire | |
|---|---|
 Axelle Lemaire in 2015 | |
| Minister for Digital Affairs | |
| In office 9 April 2014 – 27 February 2017 | |
| President | François Hollande |
| Prime Minister | Manuel Valls Bernard Cazeneuve |
| Preceded by | Fleur Pellerin |
| Succeeded by | Christophe Sirugue |
| Assembly Member forNorthern Europe | |
| In office 20 June 2012 – 9 May 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Christophe Premat |
| In office 27 March 2017 – 20 June 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Christophe Premat |
| Succeeded by | Alexandre Holroyd |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1974-10-18)18 October 1974 (age 51) |
| Nationality | French-Canadian |
| Party | Parti socialiste (PS) |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Paris |
| Alma mater | Institut d'études politiques de Paris Panthéon-Assas University King's College London |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Website | Official Website |
Axelle Lemaire (born 18 October 1974) is a French formerSocialist politician who served as aDeputy for theThird constituency for French overseas residents in theNational Assembly of theFrench Parliament, for which she was elected in 2012.[1]
In May 2014,Prime MinisterManuel Valls appointed her to theFrench Finance Ministry asminister responsible for Digital Affairs.
In February 2017, she resigned from her ministry to run unsuccessfully for a second deputy mandate.[2]
Lemaire was born inOttawa,Ontario, to a French mother and aQuebecois father. After being brought up inHull, Quebec, where she attendedCollège Saint-Joseph de Hull, Lemaire lived as a teenager inMontpellier.
She studiedModern Literature andPolitical Science at theSciences Po. She earned law degrees at thePanthéon-Assas University (DEA, 2000) and atKing's CollegeDickson Poon School of Law (LLM, 2003).[3] Lemaire subsequently taught legal studies at university level and worked in alaw firm, before working at theBritish House of Commons as a researcher for the formerLabourMP andMinisterDenis MacShane.[4]
Lemaire lived inLondon with her husband and two children from 2002 to 2014 before relocating to Paris.[5]
Lemaire served as Secretary of theFrench Socialist Party (PS) inLondon from 2008 until her election to theNational Assembly in 2012.[6] According toLe Point, she turned down a ministerial post inJean-Marc Ayrault's second government because as a mother of two young children, she had no desire to leave London.[7] She has served as Chair of the UK-France Parliamentary Friendship Group. She did, however, accept an appointment asMinister of State for Digital Affairs inValls' new government in April 2014.
In 2012 Lemaire was returned asDeputy for one of the eleven newly createdconstituencies, each elected by French overseas citizens to theFrench National Assembly. Theconstituency she represented as inaugural Deputy includes all registered French citizens living in the ten countries throughoutNorthern Europe—Iceland, Norway, Denmark (including theFaroe Islands andGreenland), Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland,Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. As of 2011, it recorded 140,731 French citizens on its electoral roll, with the vast majority (113,655) living inthe United Kingdom, which has the third-largest Frenchexpat population in the world. Consequently, her election campaign received considerable attention at the time from the British press.[8][9]
Having won 55% of the vote, during her term asDeputy she regularly appeared in the British media regarding French politics. In May 2014, upon assumingFrench governmental ministerial office, Lemaire resigned herparliamentary seat and was succeeded byChristophe Premat.[10]
Upon joining theMinistry for the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs in Paris, Lemaire had been a leading proponent ofnet neutrality legislation.[11]
She was involved in theFrench Tech movement, which unites French digital startups worldwide.
She resigned from the position in February 2017 to focus on theSocialist Party's candidate campaign for French presidential election. She then joined the campaign to retain her seat in the French Parliament but was severely defeated byAlexandre Holroyd ofLa République En Marche![12]
In February 2018, Lemaire took a job with the consulting firmRoland Berger.[13]
