Frédéric Boccaletti

Boccaletti was born in 1973. According to his personal biography, he dropped out of high school and began training as a chef.{{cite web|title=Frédéric Boccaletti|url=http://www.frontnational.com/membres/frederic-boccaletti/|website=frontnational.com|publication-date=|access-date=2022-06-25|archive-date=2017-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629114613/http://www.frontnational.com/membres/frederic-boccaletti/|url-status=dead}} He then became a bookseller at the Anthinéa bookstore in Toulon which he later named and took ownership of. Boccaletti stated the name pays homage to the book Anthinéa, from Athens to Florence by Charles Maurras which he republished.{{cite web|title=Législatives - Front national : ambiance délétère chez les frontistes varois|url=http://www.lepoint.fr/legislatives/legislatives-front-national-ambiance-deletere-chez-les-frontistes-varois-08-06-2017-2133698_3408.php|author=Aziz Zemouri|website=lepoint.fr|date=8 June 2017}}

In 1994, Boccaletti became deputy secretary of the National Youth Front (now known as Génération Nation), the former youth wing of the French National Front.{{cite web|title=Toulon|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1998/09/24/toulon_3663070_1819218.html|website=lemonde.fr|date=24 September 1998}} However, he joined Bruno Mégret's splinter National Republican Movement party in 1999 and was elected as a municipal councilor for the party in 2001.{{cite web|title=PORTRAIT. Frédéric Boccaletti le patron du FN du Var attend son heure|url=https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/var/portrait-frederic-boccaletti-le-patron-du-fn-du-var-attend-son-heure-673763.html|author=Annie Vergnenegre|website=france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr|date=18 March 2015|access-date=13 July 2017}}

In 2008, he returned to the National Front and was Jean-Marie Le Pen's campaign manager during the 2010 French regional elections.{{cite web|title=Frédéric Boccaletti, entre négationnistes et armes à feu|url=http://laregledujeu.org/2014/02/08/15474/frederic-boccaletti-entre-negationnistes-et-armes-a-feu/|author=La rédaction|website=La Règle du jeu.org|date=8 February 2014|access-date=12 July 2017}} He also served as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen's campaign chief during the 2015 French regional elections and succeeded her as the chairman of the FN in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region until he was made to step down in 2020.{{cite web|title=Chez les candidats FN, les ratés de la dédiabolisation|url=https://oeilsurlefront.liberation.fr/les-idees/2017/06/02/chez-les-candidats-fn-les-rates-de-la-dediabolisation_1573042|author=Kim Hullot-Guiot|author2=Tristan Berteloot|author3=Rebecca Birna|website=oeilsurlefront.liberation.fr|date=2 June 2017|access-date=13 July 2017|archive-date=17 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617150509/https://oeilsurlefront.liberation.fr/les-idees/2017/06/02/chez-les-candidats-fn-les-rates-de-la-dediabolisation_1573042|url-status=dead}}

During the 2022 French legislative election he was elected as the National Rally's candidate for Var's 7th constituency defeating Émilie Guerel during the election.

Boccaletti has been considered a more hardline and traditionalist far-right member of the National Rally with ideas close to former leader Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marion Le Pen.

French newspapers Libération and Le Point indicated that Boccaletti's bookshop often stocked controversial works, including books with racist and Holocaust denying content.{{cite web|title=Législatives: le RN a-t-il investi dans le Var un candidat condamné pour «violence avec arme»?|url=https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/legislatives-le-rn-a-t-il-investi-dans-le-var-un-candidat-condamne-pour-violence-avec-arme-20220604_DI2DHVE5XJBGFPI6DX343QWMOI/|last=Saint-André|first=Elsa de La Roche|website=Libération|language=fr|access-date=2022-06-20|publication-date=}} He has also been noted and implicated for links to Holocaust revisionist writer Éric Delcroix and former leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin.{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2009/11/17/a-six-fours-l-opposition-denonce-une-collusion-entre-le-maire-ump-et-le-fn_1268253_823448.html|title=In Six-Fours, the opposition denounces a "collusion" between the mayor UMP and the FN|newspaper=Le Monde.fr |date= 2009-11-17|access-date=2022-06-20}}

Boccaletti selection as a candidate in the 2022 election also caused some controversy after it was found he had been charged and briefly jailed in 2000 with illegal possession of a weapon before being pardoned for health reasons. The revelation came after Marine Le Pen's announcement that the RN would not select candidates with criminal records.{{cite web|title=Deux mégrétistes jugés pour violence.|url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2000/08/11/deux-megretistes-juges-pour-violence_333977|author=Charlotte de Beauvoir|website=liberation.fr|date=11 August 2000|access-date=12 July 2017}} His selection also caused a stir within the RN as he had been removed from his post as regional chairman due to repeated controversies.{{cite web|title=Au bord de la faillite, le RN organise une rentrée «bunkérisée»|url=https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/050920/au-bord-de-la-faillite-le-rn-organise-une-rentree-bunkerisee|author=Lucie Delaporte|website=Mediapart|date=5 September 2020|access-date=7 September 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Living people

Category:1971 births

Category:Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic

Category:Members of Parliament for Var

Category:National Rally politicians

Category:Political controversies in France

Category:New Right (Europe)

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