Philippe de Villiers | |
|---|---|
 De Villiers in 2009 | |
| President of theMovement for France | |
| In office 20 November 1994 – 28 June 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 20 July 2004 – 30 June 2014 | |
| Constituency | West France |
| In office 20 July 1999 – 16 December 1999 | |
| Constituency | France |
| In office 19 July 1994 – 15 June 1997 | |
| Constituency | France |
| President of the General Council ofVendée | |
| In office 3 October 1988 – 31 October 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Michel Crucis |
| Succeeded by | Bruno Retailleau |
| Member of theNational Assembly forVendée | |
| In office 12 June 1997 – 19 July 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Bruno Retailleau |
| Succeeded by | Véronique Besse |
| Constituency | 4th |
| In office 23 June 1988 – 24 October 1994 | |
| Preceded by | Proportional representation |
| Succeeded by | Bruno Retailleau |
| Constituency | 4th |
| In office 2 June 1987 – 14 May 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Vincent Ansquer |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Constituency | At-large |
| Secretary of State forCulture | |
| In office 20 March 1986 – 25 June 1987 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacques Chirac |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon (1949-03-25)25 March 1949 (age 76) |
| Party | Reconquête(2021–present)[1] |
| Other political affiliations | Republican Party(1985–1994) Movement for France(1994–2018) |
| Spouse | Dominique du Buor de Villeneuve |
| Children | 7 |
| Relatives | Pierre de Villiers (brother) |
| Alma mater | University of Nantes Sciences Po École nationale d'administration |
Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon (born 25 March 1949), known asPhilippe de Villiers (French:[filipdəvilje]), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.[2] He is the founder of thePuy du Fou theme park inVendée, which is centred around thehistory of France. AppointedSecretary of State forCulture in 1986 by PresidentFrançois Mitterrand, de Villiers entered theNational Assembly the following year and theEuropean Parliament in 1994.
After leaving theRepublican Party (PR) to found theMovement for France (MPF), he was its nominee in the1995 and2007 presidential elections.[3] He received 4.74% of the vote the first time, placing seventh; he won 2.23% of the vote twelve years later, putting him in sixth place. De Villiers has been internationally notable for his criticism ofmass immigration andIslam in France, as well as his ardent support of the French way of life.
His brother, GeneralPierre de Villiers, served asChief of the Defence Staff from 2014 to 2017.
De Villiers was born inBoulogne in thedepartment ofVendée, Western France,[2] the second of five children and eldest son of Jacques Le Jolis de Villiers deSaintignon (born inNancy, 14 November 1913) and his wife Edwige d'Arexy (born inNantes, 1 July 1925). His paternal grandfather, Louis Le Jolis de Villiers, born atBrucheville on 17 October 1874, waskilled in action inWorld War I atSaint-Paul-en-Forêt on 10 September 1914. On 24 October 1904, he had married Jeanne de Saintignon (27 July 1880 – 25 August 1959), by whom he had five children, the youngest of whom was Philippe's father, Jacques.
De Villiers received amaster's degree inLaw in 1971, graduated from theParis Institute of Political Studies in 1973 and from theÉcole nationale d'administration in 1978.[2] After his studies, De Villiers became a successfulentrepreneur.[4] He created thePuy du Fou, one of the most visitedtheme parks in France, as a living showcase forits history.[4] The theme park includes a replica medieval city with the 'Gallo-Roman Stadium', acolosseum designed by De Villiers to stoke patriotic feeling by recreating Gallic rebellions againstImperial Rome.[4] The Puy du Fou park received awards from the Themed Entertainment Association in 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2019.[5]
He is aFrencharistocrat and a descendant ofdiplomat andhistorianLouis Philippe, comte de Ségur andMinister andRegentPhilippe II, Duke of Orléans.[6] As of 2007 he is aMember of the European Parliament (Independence/Democracy Group). He is 1.85 meters tall.[7]
He is married to Dominique du Buor de Villeneuve, born inValenciennes on 4 October 1950 and has seven children.
From 1976 to 1978, De Villiers served as a senior civil servant in the Chirac administration.[8] In 1981, he resigned his post assubprefect because he did not want to serve the government of theSocialistPresidentFrançois Mitterrand[9].[citation needed] In 1986 and 1987, he briefly served as Secretary of State for Culture (Secrétaire d'État auprès du Ministre de la Culture) in the second government ofJacques Chirac, under MinisterFrançois Léotard. His appointment was initially viewed badly byLibération and several other press agencies, which referred to his "ambiguous personality". However, Villiers supported Leotard's mixed, non-ideological policy towards French culture.[10]
In 1987, he was elected into local office as a member inValéry Giscard d'Estaing'sRepublican Party.[8] He became a rising star within theUnion for French Democracy.[11] During the public debate over theMaastricht Treaty, which established theEuropean Union, in 1992, he achieved lasting prominence in the media as an anti-Treaty activist.[12] This set him apart from most prominent members of the mainstream political right.[11] The French peoplenarrowly ratified the Treaty in September 1992.[12]
De Villiers led an anti-European integration list in 1994 receiving about 12 percent of the votes, placing it in third place behind the Gaullists and the Socialists.[8] Villiers centered the campaign on opposition to theEuropean Union along with a call to eliminate corruption in government.[11] In November 1994, Villers left the Republican Party to formMovement for France. He ran forPresident of France in 1995 and received about 5 percent of the vote.[8]
Once a member of theUnion for French Democracy, he then led theMovement for France, which enjoyed some success in elections for theEuropean Parliament. The party's share of the vote declined in the2004 European Parliament election. Nevertheless, Villiers and two other members of his party were elected.
De Villiers ran for the French presidency in 2007, and based his campaign on his opposition to what he sees as the rampantIslamisation of France. In May 2006, polls showed that he had garnered the support of about 4% of the electorate, almost twice as high as he actually polled in the first round of the presidential election. An "Ifop-Paris-Match" poll conducted on 12 October 2006 gave him his highest ever popularity rating, with 37% saying they "have an excellent or good opinion" of Villiers, and 28% saying they could vote for him in 2007.[citation needed] This was not borne out in the results of the first round of voting, with him receiving less than 3% of the popular vote.
Following the first round of the 2007 presidential election, he called on voters to vote forUnion for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidateNicolas Sarkozy to counter theSocialist Party's candidateSégolène Royal and the left.
Villiers andKonstantin Malofeev are planning to build twoRussian history related theme parks: one inMoscow and one inYalta (Crimea); this is in spite of Malofeev being added to theEuropean Unionlist of people and organizations sanctioned during the Russo-Ukrainian War (Malofeev is suspected of funding the pro-Russian rebels in Donbas during theRusso-Ukrainian War).[13] In August 2014 Villiers travelled to Crimea to meetRussian presidentVladimir Putin; while there, he defended the2014 Russian annexation of Crimea by saying the Crimean park will "promote the history of Crimea as part of the long history of Russia".[13] He also stated there "I would gladly swap Hollande and Sarkozy for Putin".[13]
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Literature
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De Villiers is known for hiscriticism of Islamin France. He has stated, "I am the only politician who tells the French the truth about the Islamisation of France" and, "I do not think Islam is compatible with the French Republic". He advocates ending all construction ofmosques, banning allIslamist organisations suspected of links toterrorism, and expelling extremist individuals from France.[14][15][16][17]
De Villiers publishedLes mosquées de Roissy: nouvelles révélations sur l'islamisation en France (The Mosques of Roissy: New Revelations about Islamization in France) in 2006. In it he alleged, using internal documents fromwhistleblowers, that theMuslim Brotherhood had infiltrated security personnel atCharles de Gaulle Airport near Paris. The book led to revocation of seventy-two employees' security clearances and closure of six makeshift Muslim prayer rooms.[18][19]
Der Spiegel,The Wall Street Journal,The Boston Globe, andThe San Francisco Chronicle have labelled De Villiers as "far right" because of his views of Islam and of Muslim immigrants.[15][16][17][19]
Villiers is anationalist, atraditionalist, and a leadingeurosceptic.[4][20] He has self-described as a "rooted conservative". During his tenure underFrançois Léotard, he said that he shared Léotard'sAmerican-based "libertarian liberalism".[8][10] In 1995,The Economist referred to him as "an ephemeral Catholic monarchist".[21]
He advocates cutting taxes, expelling all illegal immigrants, andpreventing Turkey from joining the EU.[16] He is a vocal critic of theEuropean Union's relationship with France, accusing it of "destroying their jobs, their security and their identity" and saying that "the Europe of Brussels is an anti-democratic dictatorship".[4] He was a leader of the side advocating a 'No' vote in the2005 French referendum of theEuropean Constitution.[20] The 'No' side won the vote, which the activists believed constituted a major victory for Euroscepticism in France.[20] Villiers then launched a campaign to restore thefranc, remarking that "Everybody notes today that the adoption of the euro was a technical success but its economic, political and human toll is incontestable."[20]
Villiers opposes immigration into France in general, but he has advocated that "individual cases be treated with the greatest humanity." He also opposes expelling current immigrants residing in France or subjecting them to discrimination in housing, employment, or other spheres. Despite their differences on these and other issues, theNational Front'sJean Marie Le Pen has remarked that Villiers' ideas were "lifted" from him and that their "votes should be added together".[8]
Villiers coined the phrase "Polish Plumber" in a June 2005 political speech about theBolkestein directive, referring to the perceived threat of cheap East European labour to French wages.[22] The mythical figure became a central point of debate in France, and it later prompted an international controversy.[22] He has also referred to the "Latvian mason" and the "Estonian gardener."[22]
American author Harvey Gerald Simmons has compared the "Villiers phenomenon" toRoss Perot's support in the1992 American Presidential election. He stated that De Villiers has apopulist,anti-establishment image that puts him on the edges of themainstream political right of France rather than in thefar right.[8]
De Villiers gathers his support from practising Roman Catholics, artisans, retired people, farmers and small business owners.[8]
Governmental function
Secretary of State for Communication: 1986–1987.
Electoral mandates
European Parliament
Member ofEuropean Parliament: 1994-1997 (Resignation, reelected in the parliamentary elections in 1997) / July–December 1999 (Resignation) / 2004-2018. Elected in 1994, reelected in 1999, 2004, 2009.
National Assembly of France
Member of theNational Assembly of France forVendée: 1987-1994 (Became member ofEuropean Parliament in 1994) / 1997-2004 (Became member of European Parliament in 2004). Elected in 1987, reelected in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002.
General Council
President of the General Council ofVendée: 1988-2010 (Resignation). Reelected in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2008.
General councillor ofVendée: 1987-2010 (Resignation). Reelected in 1988, 1994, 2001, 2008.
Political function
President of theMovement for France: 1994-1999 / 2000-2018 (party dissolved).
| Election | First round | Second round | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Position | Result | Votes | % | Position | Result | |
| 1995 | 1,443,186 | 4.74% | (#7) | Lost | ||||
| 2007 | 818,407 | 2.23 | (#6) | Lost | ||||
Media related toPhilippe de Villiers at Wikimedia Commons
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