Damien Abad

Damien Abad (French pronunciation: [damjɛ̃ abad]; born 5 April 1980) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2022.[1][2]

Damien Abad
Member of the National Assembly
for Ain's 5th constituency
Assumed office
20 June 2012
Minister of Solidarity
In office
20 May 2022 – 4 July 2022
PresidentEmmanuel Macron
Prime MinisterÉlisabeth Borne
Preceded byOlivier Véran (solidarity)
Brigitte Bourguignon (personal independence)
Sophie Cluzel (disabled)
Succeeded byJean-Christophe Combe
Leader of The Republicans in the National Assembly
In office
6 November 2019 – 19 May 2022
Preceded byChristian Jacob
Succeeded byÉric Ciotti
Member of the Departmental council of Ain
for Canton of Pont-d'Ain
Assumed office
2 April 2015
President of the Departmental council of Ain
In office
2 April 2015 – 10 July 2017
Preceded byRachel Mazuir
Succeeded byJean Deguerry
Member of the European Parliament for South-East France
In office
14 July 2009 – 17 June 2012
Personal details
Born (1980-04-05) 5 April 1980
Nîmes, France
Political partyRenaissance
The Republicans
Alma materIEP de Bordeaux
Sciences Po

Abad previously served as Member of the National Assembly for Ain's 5th constituency from 2012 to 2022, where he was the president of The Republicans group from 2019 to 2022.

As part of the Union for French Democracy, New Centre and then the Union for a Popular Movement, which was later renamed The Republicans, Abad also served as municipal councilor of Vauvert from 2008 to 2010, Member of the European Parliament for South-East France from 2009 to 2012, regional councilor of Rhône-Alpes from 2010 to 2015 and president of the departmental council of Ain from 2015 to 2017.

Education and family

Abad's parents live in Aubord in the department of Gard.[3] His father works as a purchasing manager in a large company and comes from a family that had fled Francoist Spain, while his mother is a social worker and gymnastics teacher.[4][5]

In secondary school, Abad attended the Vallée Verte college and the Lycée Alphonse-Daudet before beginning his university education at Sciences Po Bordeaux. He graduated from Sciences Po in Paris in 2004 and then became a lecturer for the school.

Abad has arthrogryposis, a rare disease and physical disability. Many media outlets consider him the only or even the first member of the National Assembly to be disabled.[6][7][8]

Political career

Beginnings in the UDF and New Centre, 2006–2009

In 2006, Abad was put in charge of budgetary and fiscal studies in the Union for French Democracy (UDF) group and then the New Centre group in the National Assembly.[9] He was a candidate for Yvelines' 5th constituency in the 2007 French legislative elections, where he won 3.17% of the vote.[10] In 2008, Abad founded the Young Centrists movement, which was affiliated with the New Centre, and was virtually unanimously elected its first president in May.[11] He left this position to become joint General Secretary of New Centre in 2010.

In 2008, Abad was elected to the municipal council of Vauvert on the list of mayor Gérard Gayaud. He then resigned after winning a seat on the regional council of Rhône-Alpes, where he sat on the Employment, Economy, Social and Solidarity Economy, and Social Innovation Committee as well as the Sports and Youth Committee.[12][13]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2012

In the 2009 European elections, Abad was elected Member of the European Parliament on the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) list in the South-East France constituency, with the UMP having formed an alliance with New Centre for the elections. At the age of 29, Abad became the youngest French MEP, the youngest French parliamentarian in office and one of the youngest elected members of the European Parliament.[14] During his time in parliament, he frequently spoke about economic issues, especially in terms of industrial policy, social services and consumer protection. He also founded the youth intergroup and served on the Committee on Budgets (2009–2012) and on the Committee on International Trade (2012). In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the parliament's delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council.[15][16] Abad's MEP office was located in Bourg-en-Bresse.

On 2 April 2015, Abad was elected as the President of the Departmental council of Ain.[17] Due to the limitation of the plurality of the mandates, he resigned from his position on 10 July 2017.[18]

Member of the National Assembly, 2012–present

In the 2012 French legislative elections, Abad ran to represent Ain's 5th constituency as a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. He was elected with 28.79% of the vote in the first round and 56% in the second round against Socialist candidate Josiane Exposito.[19][20] During that year's election of the President of the National Assembly, Abad was chosen as secretary of the session as one of the six youngest members.

Abad was reelected to the National Assembly in the 2017 French legislative elections.[21] He subsequently stood as a candidate for the presidency of The Republicans group in the Assembly against Christian Jacob, who won with 62 votes against Abad's 32.[22] Abad was then appointed as the group's first vice-president, serving from 2017 to 2019.[23]

Abad currently serves on the National Defence and Armed Forces Committee, the European Affairs Committee and the Working Group on the Legislative Procedure, Parliamentary Organization and the Rights of the Opposition.[24][25] He is also vice-president of the France-China Friendship Group.[26]

In addition to his work in parliament, Abad has served as member of the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2014 until 2017 and since 2017. In this capacity, he is a member of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.[27]

In The Republicans' 2016 presidential primaries, Abad endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the party's candidate for President of France.[28] In the party's 2017 leadership election, he endorsed Laurent Wauquiez.[29]

Following Christian Jacob's election as president of The Republicans, Abad again ran for the leadership of the party's parliamentary group in November 2019. He won by 64 votes over Olivier Marleix, who received 37 votes.[30] The news website Contexte commented that the result represented an end to the "old divisions between "Sarkozystes," "Fillonistes" and "Juppéistes,"" with Abad being able to present "a profile that reassures members of the National Assembly of the old generation without cutting off those who were newly elected in 2017, who form half of the party's parliamentary group."[31] It also noted Abad's "positioning as an independent man" who "owes nothing to Christian Jacob," while Marleix had suffered from a report in Le Canard enchaîné portraying him as the previous leader's handpicked candidate.[32]

At The Republicans' national convention in December 2021, Abad was part of the 11-member committee which oversaw the party's selection of its candidate for the 2022 presidential elections.[33] He himself endorsed Xavier Bertrand for Republican nominee.[34]

Political positions

In July 2019, Abad voted against the French ratification of the European Union's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.[35]

In a joint letter initiated by Norbert Röttgen and Anthony Gonzalez ahead of the 47th G7 summit in 2021, Abad joined some 70 legislators from Europe and the US in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on China and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology including artificial intelligence and 5G.[36]

Controversy

According to an investigation published by Mediapart on May 21, 2022, Abad has been implicated by two women, unrelated to each other, for acts of rape which they believe occurred in 2010 and 2011. A report was sent on May 16 to those responsible for the two parties Les Républicains and Renaissance by the Observatory of sexist and sexual violence in politics. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne assured that she discovered the existence of the report in Mediapart.[37] On May 20, Christophe Castaner denied having received the report. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the existence of two complaints filed by the same complainant and dismissed in 2012 and 2017.

In a letter also published by Mediapart, Abad rejected the accusations and "strongly affirms that the sexual relations that [he has] been able to have have always been based on the principle of mutual consent". He affirmed that his handicap makes impossible a certain number of the acts which are reproached to him, the presumed victims affirming for their part that he uses his handicap to make them feel guilty.[38]

In June 2022, the Paris prosecution office opened an investigation into Abad, on suspicion of attempted rape.[39]

References
  1. Clea Caulcutt (20 May 2022), France's UK ambassador promoted to foreign minister in Macron reshuffle Politico Europe.
  2. Ingrid Melander and Benoit Van Overstraeten (4 July 2022), 'Hang in there', Macron tells ministers in minority government Reuters.
  3. "ASSEMBLÉE Damien Abad, un Gardois pour présider les députés Les Républicains". Objectif Gard (in French). 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  4. "Damien Abad: l'enfant handicapé devenu homme politique". www.vivrefm.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  5. à 07h00, Par Le 3 décembre 2012 (2012-12-03). "Handicapé mais député comme les autres". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  6. "Damien Abad: "L'important pour un député, c'est de ne pas se couper du terrain"". www.lexpress.fr (in French). 2012-06-20. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  7. Forêt, Élodie (2020-02-11). ""Le handicap doit entrer dans le droit commun": portrait de Damien Abad, premier (et seul) député handicapé". www.franceinter.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  8. à 07h00, Par Le 3 décembre 2012 (2012-12-03). "Handicapé mais député comme les autres". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  9. Abad, Damien. "Portrait". Damien Abad. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. "Résultats des élections législatives 2007".
  11. "Damien Abad, ex-centriste devenu UMP, prend la tête de l'Ain". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  12. "Régionales: l'UMP a découvert son leader, Damien Abad". Le Progrès. 23 January 2010. Archived from the original on 26 January 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. Rhône-Alpes, Région Auvergne. "Tribunes des groupes politiques". www.auvergnerhonealpes.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  14. La Depeche. "Damien Abad en passe de devenir le benjamin des euro-députés" (in French). La Depeche. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  15. Damien Aband European Parliament.
  16. "Les " intergroupes ", face cachée du travail parlementaire". www.europarl.europa.eu (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  17. "Damien Abad élu président du conseil départemental" (in French). Ain. Le Progress. April 2, 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2017. Translation: "Unsurprisingly, Damien Abad (UMP), leader of the right and center, and only candidate in the running, was elected president of the county council of Ain by 42 votes for and 4 white ballots."
  18. Sandra Méallier. "Ain: Jean Deguerry remplace Damien Abad à la présidence du Département". France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (in French). france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  19. "Résultats des élections législatives 2012". l'express (in French). Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  20. "AIN (5)". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  21. Isabelle Gonzalez (18 June 2017). "Damien Abad (LR) réélu haut la main dans la 5e circonscription de l'Ain" (in French). france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  22. "Christian Jacob réélu président du groupe Les Républicains de l'Assemblée Nationale". Europe 1 (in French). 21 June 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  23. "Le groupe LR de l'Assemblée joue la carte du renouvellement - Contexte". www.contexte.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  24. "PROCÉDURE LÉGISLATIVE ET ORGANISATION PARLEMENTAIRE ET DROITS DE L'OPPOSITION". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  25. "Composition de la commission de la défense nationale et des forces armées". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  26. "Composition du groupe d'amitié France-Chine". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  27. Damien Abad Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
  28. Ludovic Vigogne (April 20, 2016), Bataillons: Primaire à droite: la liste des premiers soutiens parlementaires L'Opinion.
  29. Ludovic Vigogne (October 11, 2017), La liste des 136 parrains de Laurent Wauquiez L'Opinion.
  30. Ludovic Vigogne (Novembre 6, 2019), Couronnement: A l'Assemblée, Damien Abad devient le nouveau patron des députés LR L'Opinion.
  31. "Christian Jacob réélu président du groupe Les Républicains de l'Assemblée Nationale". Europe 1 (in French). 21 June 2017. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  32. "Le groupe LR de l'Assemblée joue la carte du renouvellement - Contexte". www.contexte.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  33. Ludovic Vigogne (12 October 2021), Congrès LR: après le oui de Bertrand, les choses sérieuses commencent L'Opinion.
  34. Dinah Cohen (14 October 2021), Congrès LR : Damien Abad apporte son soutien à Xavier Bertrand Le Figaro.
  35. Maxime Vaudano (24 July 2019), CETA : qui a voté quoi parmi les députés Le Monde.
  36. Stuart Lau (January 25, 2021), G7 lawmakers tell leaders to 'stand up' to China Politico Europe.
  37. Sybille de La Hamaide and Elizabeth Pineau (22 May 2022), Newly appointed French minister denies rape accusations Reuters.
  38. Sybille de La Hamaide and Elizabeth Pineau (22 May 2022), Newly appointed French minister denies rape accusations Reuters.
  39. Tassilo Hummel and Elizabeth Pineau (29 June 2022), French prosecutors investigate government minister after rape accusations Reuters.
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