Florence Parly

Florence Parly (born 8 May 1963) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister of the Armed Forces since 2017, under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of the Socialist Party, she previously was State Secretary for the Budget from 2000 to 2002 under President Jacques Chirac.

Florence Parly
Minister of the Armed Forces
Assumed office
21 June 2017
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Jean Castex
Preceded bySylvie Goulard
State Secretary for the Budget
In office
3 January 2000 – 6 May 2002
Prime MinisterLionel Jospin
Preceded byChristian Sautter
Succeeded byAlain Lambert
Personal details
Born (1963-05-08) 8 May 1963
Boulogne-Billancourt, France
NationalityFrench
Political partySocialist Party (1995–2005)
Alma materSciences Po
École nationale d'administration

Career

An alumna of the École nationale d'administration, Parly was appointed Secretary of State for the Budget on 3 January 2000 in the government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. In office until 6 May 2002, she seconded Christian Sautter, then Laurent Fabius at the Ministry of Finance.[1][2]

After briefly serving as a member of the Burgundy Regional Council from 2004 to 2006, Parly worked at Air France as deputy general director from 2006 until 2014, where she was in charge of passenger activity at Orly Airport and stopovers in France.[3]

In 2014, Parly moved on to become director-general of SNCF Voyageurs until 2017.[4][5] She also served on the boards of French companies Altran, Ingenico and Zodiac Aerospace.[6]

Minister of the Armies
Florence Parly and Indian Navy Vice Admiral Girish Luthra in 2017

Parly was named Minister of the Armies on 21 June 2017 after Sylvie Goulard was forced to resign due to an ongoing investigation of her party.[7] Following the nomination, she resigned from all her board positions; her husband Martin Vial withdrew from his position on the board of Thales Group.[8]

Internal investigations

Shortly after taking office, Parly ordered an investigation into allegations brought forward by the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné that the acting head of the French Air Force borrowed a Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet on weekends to fly from his base in Bordeaux to his home in Provence.[9]

In 2020, Parly placed a French lieutenant colonel, based in Italy and stationed with NATO, under investigation over a suspected breach of security after having passed sensitive documents to the Russian secret services.[10]

International crises

Regarding the Iran Nuclear Deal, Parly told BFM TV in 2019 that "nothing would be worse than Iran leaving this deal. We absolutely want to keep this agreement alive".[11] Following the US-led Baghdad airstrike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Quds leader Qasem Soleimani, Parly rejected pressure to withdraw French troops from Iraq, even stating on her Twitter account that France had already reinforced security for its 160 soldiers stationed in Iraq.[12] She further reiterated that it was the French government's priority to fight against ISIS militants, who were re-merging in the area.[12] Parly also warned Iran not to escalate tensions.[12]

Under Parly's leadership, France joined military exercises with Italy, Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean amid a worsening dispute between Turkey and Greece over energy resources in the region in 2020.[13] During that conflict, Parly underlined that France would stand by Greece and Cyprus.[14] On her initiative, NATO investigated French accusations that the Turkish Naval Forces failed to respond to an allied call to inspect a vessel in the Mediterranean, an incident suspected to involve Turkish arms smuggling to Libya.[15]

References
  1. Kim Willsher (21 June 2017), Macron appoints new faces to senior roles after four ministers resign The Guardian.
  2. "France's Macron Brings Corporate Background to Cabinet Shake-up France's Macron Brings Corporate Background to Cabinet Shake-up" Voice of America, 21 June 2017.
  3. Florence Parly quitte Air France pour d'autres activités Le Point, August 28, 2014.
  4. Valérie Collet (November 19, 2014), Florence Parly, la discrète Le Figaro.
  5. Romain Herreros (17 February 2013). "Qui est Florence Parly, la nouvelle ministre des Armées?" [Who is Florence Parly, the new Minister of the Armies?]. Huffingtonpost.fr. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  6. Matthieu Protard and Mathieu Rosemain (26 June 2017), "Head of French state holding agency asks to be replaced at Thales board" Reuters.
  7. "Macron adds new faces to Cabinet after losing 4 ministers". National Post. Associated Press. 21 June 2017 [19 June 2017].
  8. Matthieu Protard and Mathieu Rosemain (26 June 2017), "Head of French state holding agency asks to be replaced at Thales board" Reuters.
  9. Rory Mulholland (28 June 2017), "French air force commander under investigation for allegedly using fighter jet to fly to Provence home" Daily Telegraph.
  10. Maya Nikolaeva and Gwenaelle Barzic (30 August 2020), French military officer investigated over suspected security breach Reuters.
  11. David Rising (8 May 2019), "Europeans struggle to preserve Iran nuclear accord" Associated Press.
  12. "Governement Source: France not Planning to Cut Troop Numbers in Iraq for Now" Reuters, 7 January 2020.
  13. Tangi Salaun (26 August 2020), France joins military exercises in east Mediterranean Reuters.
  14. George Georgiopoulos (23 February 2020), France stands by Greece over tensions in Aegean Sea: French defense minister Reuters.
  15. Robin Emmott and John Irish (18 June 2020), NATO to investigate Mediterranean incident between French, Turkish warships Reuters.
Political offices
Preceded by
Christian Sautter		 State Secretary for the Budget
2000–2002		 Succeeded by
Alain Lambert
Preceded by
Sylvie Goulard		 Minister of the Armies
2017–present		 Incumbent
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