Olivier Becht
Olivier Becht (born 28 April 1976) is a French politician of the Agir party who has been serving as Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne since 2022. From the 2017 elections to 2022, he was a member of the National Assembly of France, representing the Haut-Rhin department.[1] He was previously the mayor of the Rixheim commune.[2]
Olivier Becht | |
---|---|
Minister Delegate to Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad | |
Assumed office 4 July 2022 | |
President | Emmanuel Macron |
Prime Minister | Élisabeth Borne |
Preceded by | Franck Riester |
Member of the National Assembly for Haut-Rhin's 5th constituency | |
In office 20 June 2017 – 4 August 2022 | |
Preceded by | Arlette Grosskost |
Succeeded by | Charlotte Goetschy-Bolognese |
Mayor of Rixheim | |
In office 15 March 2008 – 23 March 2014 | |
Preceded by | Bernard Hanser |
Succeeded by | Ludovic Haye |
Personal details | |
Born | Strasbourg, France | 28 April 1976
Political party | Agir |
Domestic partner | Livia Stoica |
Alma mater | Sciences Po Strasbourg École nationale d'administration |
Political career
In parliament, Becht served as member of the Defence Committee.[3] In this capacity, he co-authored (with Stéphane Trompille) a parliamentary report on space defence in 2019, calling on the Ministry of the Armies to upgrade its capabilities given the proliferation of competitors and potential enemies.[4] He was also a member of the French parliamentary friendship groups with Germany, Japan and Romania.
In addition to his committee assignments, Becht was a member of the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2017 to 2022. In this capacity, he served on the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights; the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media; and the Sub-Committee on Media and Information Society.[5] In 2020, he was the Assembly's rapporteur on the regulation of neurotechnology, including brain–computer interfaces.[6]
Political positions
In late 2019, Becht was one of 17 members of the committee who co-signed a letter to Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in which they warned that the 365 million euro ($406 million) sale of aerospace firm Groupe Latécoère to U.S. fund Searchlight Capital raised “questions about the preservation of know-how and France’s defence industry base” and urged government intervention.[7][8]
References
- "Législatives: qui est Olivier Becht, le nouveau député DVD de la 5e circonscription du Haut-Rhin ?" (in French). France Bleu. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- "Vos élus - Mairie de Rixheim". 4 July 2017. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- Olivier Becht French National Assembly.
- Victor Mallet (July 25, 2019), France plans lasers to blind enemy satellites Financial Times.
- Olivier Becht Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
- Fostering ethical and legal frameworks for the research and development of neurotechnology Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, press release of October 22, 2020.
- Michel Cabirol (November 23, 2019), Ventes de Photonis et Latécoère : 17 députés souhaitent une approche souveraine La Tribune.
- Laurence Frost (January 9, 2020), Concerns over U.S. Latecoere purchase overblown: Dassault CEO Reuters.