Damien Abad

Damien Abad (born 5 April 1980) is a French politician of the Republicans (LR) who has been member of the French National Assembly since 2012, representing Ain.[1] From 2009 until 2012, he was a member of the European Parliament, representing South-East France.[2]

Damien Abad
Leader of The Republicans in the National Assembly
Assumed office
6 November 2019
Preceded byChristian Jacob
Member of the National Assembly
for Ain's 5th constituency
Assumed office
20 June 2012
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
NationalityFrench
Political partyThe Republicans
EducationIEP de Bordeaux
IEP de Paris

Early life and education

Abad's father was a buyer for Perrier, from a family that had fled Franco's Spain, his mother was a social worker, both were rather left-wing, still when François Mitterrand was elected president in 1981. He likes to say in interviews that one of his grandfathers was a miner in Saint-Étienne.[3][4]

A former student of Lycée Alphonse-Daudet in Nîmes, he was a major at Sciences Po Bordeaux (2002) and graduated from Sciences Po Paris (2004). He failed twice at the grand oral for ÉNA.[5]

Abad has the congenital neuromuscular disorder known as arthrogryposis.

Political career

Early beginnings

He became in charge of studies on budgetary and fiscal issues at the UDF group in March 2006 and then at the New Center group at the National Assembly. From 2008 to 2009, he is also a Docent in Public Finance at Sciences Po Paris President of the Young Centrists until his election, Abad worked for the New Centre group in the National Assembly on fiscal and budget issues.

In 2007, Abad was candidate in Yvelines' 5th constituency, where he won 3.17% of the vote,[6] and in 2008 he was elected to the Municipal Council of Vauvert.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2012

In June 2009, for the 2009 European elections, Abad was elected Member of the European Parliament on the list of the presidential majority in the South-East France constituency. At the age of 29, he became the youngest French MEP and the youngest French parliamentarian in office. He was one of the youngest elected members of the European Parliament.[7] During his time in parliament, he 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.[8]

On 2 April 2015, Abad was elected as the President of the Departmental council of Ain.[9] Due to the limitation of the plurality of the mandates, he resigned from his position of President of the Departmental council of Ain on 10 July 2017.[10]

Member of the National Assembly, 2012–present

In 2012, Abad ran to represent Ain's 5th constituency as a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. He was elected with 13,231 votes (56% of the votes) in the second round against the socialist candidate, Josiane Exposito.[11]

Abad was reelected on 18 June 2017.[12] He subsequently was a candidate for the presidency of the parliamentary group LR against Christian Jacob, the latter is finally reelected.[13] From 2017 until 2019, he served as one of Jacob's eleven deputy chairpersons.

During a 15th legislature of the French Fifth Republic, Abad serves on the National Defence and Armed Forces Committee.[14] He is a member of European Affairs Committee, and member of Working Group on the Legislative Procedure and the Parliamentary Organization and the Rights of the Opposition.[15] He is Vice-president of the France-China Friendship Group.[16]

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.[17]

In the Republicans’ 2016 presidential primaries, Abad endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the party’s candidate for the office of President of France.[18] In the Republicans’ 2017 leadership election, he endorsed Laurent Wauquiez.[19]

Following Christian Jacob's election as LR chairman, Abad ran for the leadership of the party's parliamentary group again in November 2019; he won by 64 votes over Olivier Marleix (37 votes).[20]

Political positions

In July 2019, Abad voted against the French ratification of the European Union’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.[21]

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.[22]

References
  1. "M. Damien Abad". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  2. "M. Damien Abad". European Parliament (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  3. "Handicapé mais député comme les autres", Le Parisien, 3 December 2012
  4. Pierre Plottu, "Damien Abad: un centriste à l'UMP", France Soir, 27 October 2014
  5. Laure Equy. "Damien Abad, cadet de la droite" (in French). liberation.fr. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  7. La Depeche. "Damien Abad en passe de devenir le benjamin des euro-députés" (in French). La Depeche. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  8. Damien Aband European Parliament.
  9. "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."
  10. Sandra Méallier. "Ain : Jean Deguerry remplace Damien Abad à la présidence du Département" (in French). france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  11. "Résultats des élections législatives 2012". l'express (in French). Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  12. Isabelle Gonzalez. "Damien Abad (LR) réélu haut la main dans la 5e circonscription de l'Ain" (in French). france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  13. "Christian Jacob réélu président du groupe Les Républicains de l'Assemblée Nationale". Europe 1 (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  14. "Composition de la commission de la défense nationale et des forces armées". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  15. "PROCÉDURE LÉGISLATIVE ET ORGANISATION PARLEMENTAIRE ET DROITS DE L'OPPOSITION". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  16. "Composition du groupe d'amitié France-Chine". National Assembly (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  17. Damien Abad Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
  18. Ludovic Vigogne (April 20, 2016), Bataillons: Primaire à droite: la liste des premiers soutiens parlementaires L'Opinion.
  19. Ludovic Vigogne (October 11, 2017), La liste des 136 parrains de Laurent Wauquiez L'Opinion.
  20. Ludovic Vigogne (Novembre 6, 2019), Couronnement: A l’Assemblée, Damien Abad devient le nouveau patron des députés LR L'Opinion.
  21. Maxime Vaudano (24 July 2019), CETA : qui a voté quoi parmi les députés Le Monde.
  22. Stuart Lau (January 25, 2021), G7 lawmakers tell leaders to ‘stand up’ to China Politico Europe.
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