Bruno Mégret | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 1989–1999 | |
| Constituency | France |
| Member of theNational Assembly | |
| In office 1986–1988 | |
| Constituency | Isère |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-04-04)4 April 1949 (age 76) Paris, France |
| Party | MNR (1998–present) |
| Other political affiliations | FN (1988–1998) CAR (1982–1988) RPR (1976–1982) |
Bruno Mégret (French:[me.ɡʁɛ]; born 4 April 1949) is a French former nationalist politician. He was the leader of theMouvement National Républicainpolitical party, but retired in 2008 from all political action.
Born in Paris, Mégret studied at theÉcole Polytechnique and at theÉcole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, and is by profession a seniorcivil servant. He also holds aMaster's degree from theUniversity of California, Berkeley. A graduate of the armoured cavalry school ofSaumur, he is also a reserve armycaptain.[1]
Mégret was ranked 317th at the competition for entrance at École Polytechnique in 1969, and since at that time only 300 candidates were admitted every year, he could enter only because some students preferred to study at the slightly more prestigiousÉcole Normale Supérieure and turned down the École Polytechnique. However, at École Polytechnique, he proved to be a very dedicated student and was ranked 18th at the end of the studies. This enabled him to choose between theÉcole des Mines and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées to finish his engineering studies. After graduating from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, he spent the academic year 1974–1975 in Berkeley and obtained a Master of Science. He then returned to France to work for the Ministère de l'Équipement.
In 1975, Mégret metYvan Blot at the Commissariat Général du Plan, who invited him to join theClub de l'Horloge. At theClub de l'Horloge, he became friends withJean-Claude Bardet andJean-Yves Le Gallou, who, with Yvan Blo,t were also members of theGRECE. In 1977, Mégret started to work as an engineer on highway construction at the Direction Départementale de l'Équipement (DDE) of Essonne. During this period, he contributed to the publications of the Club de l'Horloge. In 1979, he became technical advisor to theminister of cooperationRobert Galley. He also joined theRassemblement pour la République (conservative political party) and was a conservative candidate for legislative elections in 1981 againstMichel Rocard inConflans-Sainte-Honorine.
In 1981, after the defeat of the conservatives in legislative elections, finding the RPR too moderate, and realizing that not being a graduate from theÉcole Nationale d'Administration likeJacques Toubon orJean-François Mancel orAlain Juppé was slowing down his political career in theRassemblement pour la République, he went on to create the Comités d'Action Républicaine (CAR). However, the appearance of theFront National at the European Parliament elections of 1984, shattered the hopes of the CAR, which did not even manage to have a list of candidates for these elections.
In 1985, Mégret joinedJean-Marie Le Pen'sNational Front (FN, a nationalist political party). In 1986, he was elected to theFrench National Assembly, representingIsère. A rival ofJean-Pierre Stirbois, then general secretary of the FN (who died in 1988), he organised Le Pen'selection campaign in 1987 and became the number two (délégué général) in the movement.
He was amember of the European Parliament for theFN from 1989 to 1999. In 1989, Mégret created theInstitut de formation nationale, theCentre d'études et d'argumentaires, the magazineIdentité, theconseil scientifique and the publishing houseEditions Nationales to elaborate the doctrine and diffuse the ideas of the Front National.[2] His friends of the Club de l'Horloge, Jean-Yves Le Gallou, Jean-Claude Bardet, Yvan Blot andJean-Jacques Mourreau of the CAR also secured key positions in the hierarchy of the Front National.
However, the relationship between Le Pen and Mégret turned sour during the following decade. Mégret and others inside the Front started criticising Le Pen's "extremist" positions, which, they argued, prevented the Front from obtaining political executive positions. Moreover, Mégret started to become very popular with the party members, winning large support against his rivalBruno Gollnisch, who had been made vice-president and general secretary of the Front National by Le Pen in 1995.
On 9 February 1997, Mégret's wife,Catherine Mégret [Fr], was elected mayor ofVitrolles.[3] Following the social unrest of November–December 1995, Mégret developed a strategy of creating new unions (FN-RATP, FN-TCL, FN-Poste, Mouvement pour une Education Nationale, FN-Police) and professional organisations tied to the Front National to increase the audience of the party.[4] This strategy contrasted sharply with the previous traditional anti-union stance of the Front National.
In 1998, Mégret split from theFront National and founded, withJean-Yves Le Gallou, theMouvement National Républicain.[5]
He received 2.33% of the vote in the first round of the2002 French presidential election. Mégret endorsed Jean-Marie Le Pen in the runoff against Jacques Chirac. He also supported Le Pen in the2007 presidential election.
After he was sentenced to 8 months of probation, an 8000 Euro fine and a one-year ban from standing in any election for defalcation of public funds, he resigned in 2008 from the political field. He used money from the townVitrolles to support his 2002 presidential run.[6]
In 2022 he voiced support for the candidacy ofÉric Zemmour in the2022 French presidential election, judging that Zemmour "embodies the right path for our ideas and for France". He criticised the leadership ofMarine Le Pen for what Mégret perceives to be the "de-demonisation and then standardisation" of theRassemblement National, judging her to have 'eroded' the party's firm stance on issues relating to security and identity.[7]
Electoral mandates
Member of theNational Assembly of France forIsère : 1986–1988
Member ofEuropean Parliament : 1989–1999
Regional councillor ofProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur : 1992–2001
Municipal councillor ofMarseille : 2002–2008
Political function
President of theNational Republican Movement : 1998–2008
