Christine Boutin
Encyclopedia
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
representing Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
, from 1986 until 2007, when she was appointed Minister of Housing and Urban Development by President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
. She was a candidate in the 2002 French presidential election
French presidential election, 2002
The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of Le Pen's unexpected appearance in...
, in which she scored 1.19% on the first round of balloting.
Boutin is the leader of the Christian Democratic Party (Parti Chrétien-démocrate), a social conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
Christian-democratic
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
party, which is associated with the greater UMP
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
union party, led by Nicolas Sarkozy.
Biography
Boutin was born in LevrouxLevroux
Levroux is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
, Indre. She entered politics in 1977 as a city counciller for Auffargis
Auffargis
Auffargis is a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France....
, in 1980 she was elected mayor. Boutin was elected to the National Assembly in 1986.
In 1993, Boutin founded the anti-abortion NGO Alliance pour les droits de la vie (ADV) (English: Alliance for Human Life), considered the largest pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
organization in France. The same year, she became a consultant for the Pontifical Council for the Family
Pontifical Council for the Family
The Pontifical Council for the Family is part of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio Familia a Deo Instituta, replacing the Committee for the Family that Pope Paul VI had established in 1973...
headed by Cardinal Lopez-Trujillo.
In 1998, Boutin became somewhat famous because of a five hour speech in opposition to the PACS domestic partnership
Domestic partnership
A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
plan, arguing that its adoption by the government would encourage homosexuality. She held a Bible during the speech, an image which would later become associated with her.
In 2002, Boutin who had been a member of the UDF
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
party, joined the UMP when it was founded. In a UMP rally that same year, where Boutin spoke, ACT UP Paris protested with a banner calling Boutin homophobic.
In 2006, Boutin supported the "global license" flat-fee authorization for sharing of copyrighted files over the Internet in a heated parliamentary debate on the DADVSI
DADVSI
DADVSI is the abbreviation of the French Loi sur le Droit d’Auteur et les Droits Voisins dans la Société de l’Information...
law. She also has been an advocate for a guaranteed minimum income
Guaranteed minimum income
Guaranteed minimum income is a system of social welfare provision that guarantees that all citizens or families have an income sufficient to live on, provided they meet certain conditions. Eligibility is typically determined by citizenship, a means test and either availability for the labour...
, as well as expanded housing rights
Social situation in the French suburbs
Outside of Paris are large blocks of government-built public housing, known as banlieues. The banlieues house hundreds of thousands of individuals of North African descent...
(Droit au logement). She has considered the situation of prisons in France to be a scandal and has argued for a drastic reduction of inmates as well as improving their life-conditions.
In December 2006, Boutin announced that she would not be a candidate for the 2007 French Presidential election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
and pledged her support for the Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
.
On 18 May 2007, after Sarkozy's victory in the presidential election, Boutin was named Minister of Housing and the City in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...
. She has taken as advisors the pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
activist Christine de Chefdebien, controversial for a 1992 anti-abortion occupation of a hospital, and the priest Jean-Marie Petitclerc.
Boutin has a liberal view on condom use in Africa to prevent AIDS, saying that contraceptives were necessary, appearing to contradict an earlier view by Pope Benedict XVI. She has however been critical of contraception outside of the AIDS context in Africa.
9/11
In a November 2006 interview, published in 2007, Boutin stated that George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
might have been behind the 11 September 2001 attacks. When asked if she believed that the Bush administration was behind the 9/11 attacks, Boutin replied:
"I think that it's possible... I think it is possible. I think it more especially as I know that the sites that speak of this problem are the sites that have the greatest numbers of visits.... And so, I tell myself, I who am extremely sensitive ... to the new techniques of information and communication, that this expression of the mass of the people cannot be without any truth. I'm not telling you that I adhere to that position, but let's say that, nevertheless, I'm questioning myself a bit on this question."
Political functions
Governmental functionMinister of Housing and Urban : 2007–2009.
Electoral mandates
National Assembly of France
Member of the National Assembly of France for Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
: 1986–2007 (Became minister in 2007). Elected in 1986, reelected in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007.
General Council
President of the General Council of Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
(interim) : May–July 2009.
Vice-president of the General Council of Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
: 1994–2009 (Resignation). Reelected in 2001, 2008.
General councillor of Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
: 1982–2009 (Resignation). Reelected in 1988, 1994, 2001, 2008.
Municipal Council
Mayor of Auffargis
Auffargis
Auffargis is a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France....
: 1980–1983.
Municipal councillor of Auffargis
Auffargis
Auffargis is a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France....
: 1977–1983
Deputy-mayor of Rambouillet
Rambouillet
Rambouillet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is located in the suburbs of Paris southwest from the center...
: 1983–2001. Reelected in 1989, 1995.
Municipal councillor of Rambouillet
Rambouillet
Rambouillet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is located in the suburbs of Paris southwest from the center...
: 1983–2001. Reelected in 1989, 1995.