Philippe Douste-Blazy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Philippe Douste-Blazy (born on 1 January 1953 in Lourdes

Lourdes

Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...

, Hautes-Pyrénées) is a French centre-right

Centre-right

The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...

politician. He served as Minister for Health (1993–1995 and 2004–2005), Minister of Culture (1995–1997) and Foreign Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...

in the cabinet of Dominique de Villepin

Dominique de Villepin

Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....

(2005–2007).

Douste-Blazy is also a cardiologist and Christian Democrat politician from Lourdes

Lourdes

. Formerly from 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, he joined the Union for a Popular Movement

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...

. His principal former elected positions were mayor of Lourdes and mayor of Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

Early life

He studied medicine in Toulouse, where he had his first job in 1976. He then worked as a cardiologist in Lourdes and Toulouse, namely in Purpan's hospital from 1986. He then joined the French Society of Cardiology

Cardiology

Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...

. He became Professor of Medicine in Toulouse Sciences University in 1988.

Political career

Member of the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS), the Christian Democrat component of the Union for French Democracy

Union for French Democracy

(UDF), he entered politics in March 1989, being elected mayor of Lourdes

Lourdes

and then Member of the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

in June of the same year. He was then a member of the European People's Party

European People's Party

The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...

. This year was also the one of his election as national director of the association of research against elevations of cholesterol

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...

.

Elected deputy for Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...

département in March 1993, he integrated the cabinet of Edouard Balladur

Édouard Balladur

Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.-Biography:Balladur was born in İzmir, Turkey, to an Armenian Catholic family with five children and long-standing ties to France...

as Minister-Delegate (a junior minister) at the Ministry for Health. He stayed at this ministry until the 1995 presidential election

French presidential election, 1995

Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election in a...

. In March 1994, he was elected at Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...

's General Council. He became general secretary of the CDS in December and Government's spokesman one month later.

In May 1995, after the election of Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

as President of France, a candidature he was backing, he was nominated Minister of Culture

Minister of Culture (France)

The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...

. In June, he was also re-elected Mayor of Lourdes

Lourdes

then, five months later, elected general secretary of Democratic Force

Democratic Force (France)

Democratic Force was a French centrist political party founded in 1995 by the merger between the centrist components of the Union for French Democracy : the Christian-democratic Centre of Social Democrats and the Social Democratic Party.It disappeared in 1998, when the UDF confederation became a...

, the party which replaced the CDS .

In June 1997, the overwhelming defeat of the Presidential Majority during legislative election

French legislative election, 1997

French legislative election took place on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislative election one year before the deadline....

made him lose his position as Minister of Culture, but he remained deputy of Hautes-Pyrénées and became president of the UDF

Union for French Democracy

parliamentary group at the French National Assembly

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 ....

. During the election campaign he was badly hurt when a mentally unstable man stabbed him in the back as he was campaigning in Lourdes. It turned out that the Minister's assailant was an Albanian refugee who had already tried to attack Mr Douste-Blazy in 1992.

At the head of the centerist parliamentary group, he was often opposed to the UDF

Union for French Democracy

party leader François Bayrou

François Bayrou

François Bayrou is a French centrist politician, president of Union for French Democracy since 1998 and was a candidate in the 2002 and 2007 French presidential elections. In the first round, he received 18.6% of the vote, finishing in 3rd place and therefore was eliminated from the race....

. Indeed, while this one advocated the emancipation of the UDF

Union for French Democracy

towards its Gaullist allies, Douste-Blazy proposed the union of the right-wing parties behind President Chirac

Jacques Chirac

. Elected Mayor of Toulouse

Toulouse

in 2001, he supported Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

in the two rounds of the 2002 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 spite of the candidacy of François Bayrou

François Bayrou

. Consequently, he participated to the unification of some right-wing groups in the Union for a Popular Movement

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...

(UMP) and appeared as a possible Prime Minister. However, once re-elected, President Chirac

Jacques Chirac

choose Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin is a French conservative politician and senator for Vienne.Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. However, after Raffarin...

and Philippe Douste-Blazy refused tu resign from its mayoralty to be minister. The same year, he changed of constituency and was elected deputy for Haute-Garonne

Haute-Garonne

Haute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The...

département.

Finally, after the electoral crash of the 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...

in the 2004 regionnal election

French regional elections, 2004

Regional elections in were held in France on 21 and 28 March 2004. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 regions which, although they do not have legislative powers, manage sizeable budgets...

, he left its function in Toulouse

Toulouse

and returned at the Ministry of Health

Minister of Health (France)

Minister of Health and Solidarity is currently a cabinet position in the Government of France. The health portfolio oversees the healthcare public services and the health insurance part of the French Social Security...

. Indeed, his predecessor Jean-François Mattéi

Jean-François Mattéi

Jean-François Mattéi, born 9 March 1941 in Oran, Algeria, is a French philosopher.-External links:...

was discredited in due to his behaviour during the Summer 2003 heatwave crisis. He was the instigator of a new reform of medical insurances. Then, after the rejection of the European constitution in 29 May 2005's referendum, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held until the departure of Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

form the Presidency in May 2007. He did not run for a new parliamentary term in 2007.

He announced his support for the Israeli separation barrier on 25 October 2006.

On 19 February 2008, Philippe Douste-Blazy was appointed as by the United Nations Secretary-General

United Nations Secretary-General

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....

as Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development, with the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General, following his experience as chairman of the Executive Board of UNITAID

Unitaid

UNITAID is an international facility for the purchase of drugs against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. It was founded in September 2006 on the initiative of Brazil and France, and is to a great part financed by so called innovative development financing mechanisms, namely a solidarity levy on...

, the International Drug Purchase Facility hosted by the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

. He is also the chairman of the board of the Millennium Foundation

Millennium Foundation

The Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health is an independent, non-profit Swiss organization, established in November 2008 in order to create new ways to finance health systems in low- and middle-income countries...

for Innovate Finance for Health.

His main responsibilities as the Special Adviser include promoting UNITAID and other sources of innovative financing for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...

(MDGs), advising the United Nations Secretary-General

United Nations Secretary-General

on innovative financing solutions to the implementation of the Monterrey consensus, coordinating with the High-Level Group on the MDGs, and liaising with various UN and non-UN related institutions, such as the main Bretton Woods

Bretton Woods system

The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid 20th century...

institutions, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC), the United Nations Development Group and the Millennium Communication Campaign.

Douste-Blazy is also in charge of organizing the first World Conference of Non-Governmental Donors, with a special focus on the financing for development provided by citizens, local and regional authorities, foundations, non-governmental organizations, economic and social representatives, faith groups and the private sector. It is hoped that these innovative sources of funding could compensate the insufficient official development assistance in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

In june 2011, Philippe Douste-Blazy is confronted to allegations about his so-called "taste for young boys".

Political functions

Governmental functions

Minister of Health and government's spokesman : 1993–1995.

Minister of Culture and government's spokesman : 1995–1997.

Minister of Solidarity, Health and Family : 2004–2005.

Minister of Foreign Affairs : 2005–2007.

Electoral mandates

European Parliament

Member of European Parliament

European Parliament

: 1989–1993 (Became minister in 1993 and elected in parliamentary elections in march 1993).

National Assembly of France

President of the group of Union for French Democracy

Union for French Democracy

: 1998–2002.

Member of the National Assembly of France for Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...

: Elected in march 1993 but he became minister / 1997–2001 (Resignation). Elected in 1993, reelected in 1997.

Member of the National Assembly of France for Haute-Garonne

Haute-Garonne

: 2001–2004 (Became minister in 2004). Elected in 2001, reelected in 2002.

General Council

General councillor of Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...

: 1994–2001.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Toulouse

Toulouse

: 2001–2004.

Deputy-mayor of Toulouse

Toulouse

: 2004–2008.

Municipal councillor of Toulouse

Toulouse

: 2001–2008.

Mayor of Lourdes

Lourdes

: 1989–2000 (Resignation). Reelected in 1995.

Municipal councillor of Lourdes

Lourdes

: 1989–2001. Reelected in 1995.

Urban community Council

President of the Urban community of Greater Toulouse : 2001–2008.

Member of the Urban community of Greater Toulouse : 2001–2008.

Political functions

General secretary of the Union for a Popular Movement

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...

: 2002–2004.

External links

Official website of Philippe Douste-Blazy
Official Quora profile of Philippe Douste-Blazy
Official Twitter account of Philippe Douste-Blazy

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