Nathalie Loiseau
{{short description|French politician, diplomat and academic administrator (born 1964)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Nathalie Loiseau
| image = 1718798747666 20240618 LOISEAU Nathalie FR 006.jpg
| office = Member of the European Parliament
| term_start = 2 July 2019
| term_end =
| constituency = France
| office2 = Minister for European Affairs
| term_start2 = 21 June 2017
| term_end2 = 27 March 2019
| primeminister2 = Édouard Philippe
| predecessor2 = Marielle de Sarnez
| successor2 = Amélie de Montchalin
| office3 = Director of the École nationale d'administration
| term_start3 = 3 October 2012
| term_end3 = 21 June 2017
| predecessor3 = Bernard Boucault
| successor3 = Patrick Gérard
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|06|01|df=yes}}
| birth_name = Nathalie Lydie Jeanne Ducoulombier
| birth_place = Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
| nationality = French
| party = HOR (2021–present)
| education = Lycée Carnot
| alma_mater = Sciences Po
Inalco
| children = 4
| caption = Official portrait, 2024
| otherparty = LREM (2017–2021)
| spouse = {{marriage|Bertrand Loiseau|1992}}
}}
Nathalie Lydie Jeanne Loiseau ({{IPA|fr|natali lwazo}}; born 1 June 1964) is a French politician, diplomat and academic administrator who has served as a Member of European Parliament since 2019. Previously she was director of the École nationale d'administration (ENA) from 2012 to 2017 and served as the French Minister for European Affairs from 21 June 2017 to 27 March 2019. She was the top candidate of the La République En Marche electoral list in the 2019 European elections.{{cite news|title=Remaniement : Loiseau, Mahjoubi et Griveaux quittent le gouvernement|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/le-president-de-la-republique-met-fin-aux-fonctions-loiseau-mahjoubi-et-griveaux-27-03-2019-8041167.php|newspaper=Le Parisien|date=27 March 2019|access-date=27 March 2019}}
Early life
Nathalie Loiseau was born on 1 June 1964 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.{{cite news|last1=Nivelle|first1=Pascale|title=Nathalie Loiseau. Femme d'Etat|url=http://www.liberation.fr/france/2012/11/25/nathalie-loiseau-femme-d-etat_862910|access-date=29 October 2016|work=Libération|date=25 November 2012}}{{cite news|last1=Peiron|first1=Denis|title=À la tête de l'ENA, Nathalie Loiseau bouscule les conformismes|url=http://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/France/A-la-tete-de-l-ENA-Nathalie-Loiseau-bouscule-les-conformismes-2015-03-13-1290802|access-date=29 October 2016|work=La Croix|date=13 March 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Kauffmann|first1=Sylvie|title=Nathalie Loiseau, directrice de l'ENA, choisit carrière et vie privée|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/festival/article/2015/09/08/nathalie-loiseau-choisit-carriere-et-vie-privee_4749384_4415198.html|access-date=29 October 2016|work=Le Monde|date=8 September 2015}} Her father was a corporate consultant in mergers and acquisitions.
Loiseau graduated from Sciences Po in 1983. In 1984, she appeared on a list of candidates for a students' union linked to the far-right Groupe Union Défense.{{cite news|author=Pierre Lepelletier|title=Étudiante, Nathalie Loiseau a figuré sur une liste d'un syndicat d'extrême droite|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/etudiante-nathalie-loiseau-a-figure-sur-une-liste-d-un-syndicat-d-extreme-droite-20190423|newspaper=Le Figaro|date=23 April 2019|access-date=23 April 2019}} She also studied Chinese language at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales.{{cite web|author=Actimage |url=https://www.ena.fr/L-ENA-se-presente/L-ENA-dans-l-actualite/Les-actualites-de-l-Ecole/Mme-Nathalie-LOISEAU-ministre-plenipotentiaire-est-nommee-directrice-de-l-Ecole-nationale-d-administration |title=Mme Nathalie LOISEAU, ministre plénipotentiaire, est nommée directrice de l'École nationale d'administration. |publisher=Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) |language=fr |date=5 October 2012 |access-date=23 June 2017}}
Career in diplomacy
File:Nathalie Loiseau-Halbe Zijlstra 2017 (2).jpg, 2017]]
Loiseau joined the French foreign service in 1986. She served as a diplomat in Indonesia from 1990 to 1992. She was an advisor to Foreign Minister Alain Juppé from 1993 to 1995. She later served diplomatic missions in Dakar, Senegal and Rabat, Morocco. She served as the Communications Director at the Embassy of France, Washington, D.C. from 2002 to 2007. She was the head of Human Resources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2011, and as its chief of staff from 2011 to 2012.
Loiseau was the director of the École nationale d'administration (ENA) between 2012 and 2017.
Political career
On 21 June 2017, Loiseau succeeded Marielle de Sarnez as the French Minister for European Affairs.{{cite news|last1=Paolini|first1=Esther|title=Nathalie Loiseau, de l'ENA aux Affaires européennes|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2017/06/21/01002-20170621ARTFIG00387-nathalie-loiseau-de-l-ena-aux-affaires-europeennes.php|access-date=22 June 2017|work=Le Figaro|date=21 June 2017}}
Loiseau has been a Member of the European Parliament since the 2019 European elections. She has since been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Security and Defence, the latter of which she chaired from 2019 to 2024. In 2020, she also joined the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union.[https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sed/doc/news/flash/24221/Full%20Members%20new%20committees_09-07-2020_en.pdf Members of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union] European Parliament, press release of July 9, 2020.
In addition to her committee assignments, Loiseau is part of the Parliament's delegations for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union; to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean; and for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.[https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197494/NATHALIE_LOISEAU/home Nathalie Loiseau] European Parliament. She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights[https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/files/organisation-and-rules/organisation/intergroups/list-of-members-childrens-rights.pdf Intergroup on Children’s Rights] European Parliament, the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights[https://lgbti-ep.eu/who-we-are/members/ Members] European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights. and the MEPs Against Cancer group.[https://www.europeancancerleagues.org/meps-against-cancer-about-meps-against-cancer-2/ MAC MEPs in the 2019-24 legislature] MEPs Against Cancer. Since 2021, she has been chairing the Parliament's delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Assembly, which provides parliamentary oversight over the implementation of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.Hans von der Burchard and Maïa de La Baume (October 5, 2021), [https://www.politico.eu/article/european-parliament-approves-eu-uk-brexit-assembly-cooperation-agreement/ European Parliament approves new joint EU-UK Brexit assembly] Politico Europe.Nisa Khan (9 December 2021), [https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/movers-and-shakers-10-december-2021 Movers & Shakers] Parliament Magazine.
Loiseau was re-elected as an MEP following the 2024 European Parliament election.{{cite web |title=Européennes 2024 : qui sont les 81 députés français élus au Parlement ? |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2024/06/10/europeennes-2024-qui-sont-les-81-deputes-francais-elus-au-parlement_6238406_4355770.html |website=Le Monde.fr |access-date=3 July 2024 |language=fr |date=10 June 2024}} She was selected by the European Union as the chief of mission of its observation team to monitor the 2025 Kosovan parliamentary election.{{Cite web |date=19 January 2025 |title=EU sends election observers to monitor Kosovo’s parliamentary polls on Feb. 9 |url=https://apnews.com/article/kosovo-election-eu-observers-e2b661dcfd536720b4cdd3616c7b70cf |access-date=19 January 2025 |website=AP News |language=en }}
Political positions
In a 2022 letter to European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, Loiseau – together with Pierre Karleskind and Stéphanie Yon-Courtin – urged the EU to take measures to end British water treatment facilities’ discharges of raw sewage into shared waters, part of what they argued was an unacceptable lowering of environmental standards since Brexit.Philip Blenkinsop (26 August 26 2022), [https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-lawmakers-urge-eu-crack-down-british-sea-pollution-2022-08-26/ The scum also rises - French lawmakers urge crackdown on UK sea sewage] Reuters.
Also in 2022, Loiseau and Bart Groothuis wrote a letter to local officials in Strasbourg, criticizing a deal between Chinese technology company Nuctech and Strasbourg Airport to provide airport scanning systems, arguing the firm would get access to data on its travelers, including EU lawmakers.Shannon Van Sant (13 October 2022), [https://www.politico.eu/article/strasbourg-airport-chinese-scanners-european-parliament/ MEPs cry foul as Strasbourg Airport buys Chinese scanners] Politico Europe.
Recognition
In March 2024, Loiseau was one of twenty MEPs to be given a "Rising Star" award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards{{cite news|url=https://www.mepawards.eu/rising-stars/|title=MEP Awards 2024 - The Rising Stars|date=21 March 2024|work=The Parliament Magazine|accessdate=26 March 2024}}
Personal life
Loiseau is married and has four children. She is a Roman Catholic, and a feminist.
In March 2019, Loiseau posted a joke to her private Facebook page about owning a cat which she had named 'Brexit', saying that "He wakes me up every morning meowing to death because he wants to go out, and then when I open the door he stays put, undecided, and then glares at me when I put him out."{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brexit-france-theresa-may-deal-nathalie-loiseau-cat-a8828026.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brexit-france-theresa-may-deal-nathalie-loiseau-cat-a8828026.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=France's EU minister names her cat 'Brexit' because 'he meows loudly to be let out but won't go through the door'|date=18 March 2019|website=The Independent}} The quote was reprinted by Le Journal du Dimanche,{{cite news |last1=JDD |first1=Le |title=Nathalie Loiseau sur l'annonce de sa candidature aux européennes : "Je n'ai rien calculé" |url=https://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/nathalie-loiseau-sur-lannonce-de-sa-candidature-aux-europeennes-je-nai-rien-calcule-3875303 |access-date=16 April 2019 |work=lejdd.fr |date=16 March 2019 |language=fr}} and in response to the widespread international media coverage Loiseau clarified that she does not own a cat, and her comments were intended as a joke.{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190319-no-sadly-french-minister-didnt-call-cat-brexit|title=No, sadly a French minister didn't call her cat 'Brexit'|date=19 March 2019|website=France 24|access-date=12 April 2019}}
Works
- {{cite book|last1=Loiseau|first1=Nathalie|title=Choisissez tout|date=2014|publisher=JC Lattès|location=Paris|isbn=9782709644846|oclc=892945168}}
- {{cite book|last1=Loiseau|first1=Nathalie|title=La démocratie en BD|date=2017|publisher=Casterman|location=Paris|isbn=9782203132337}}
References
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Category:21st-century French women politicians
Category:French non-fiction writers
Category:French Roman Catholics
Category:Renaissance (French political party) politicians
Category:MEPs for France 2019–2024
Category:Politicians from Neuilly-sur-Seine
Category:Women government ministers of France
Category:Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales alumni