Patrick Kanner
{{short description|French politician}}
{{Infobox Politician
| name = Patrick Kanner
| image = File:Patrick Kanner par Claude Truong-Ngoc septembre 2014.jpg
| caption =
| term_start = 1 October 2017
| term_end =
| office1 = President of the Socialist group
in the Senate
| term_start1 = 23 January 2018
| term_end1 =
| predecessor1 = Didier Guillaume
| office2 = Minister of the City, Youth and Sports
| primeminister2 = Manuel Valls
Bernard Cazeneuve
| predecessor2 = Najat Vallaud-Belkacem
| successor2 = Laura Flessel
| term_start2 = 26 August 2014
| term_end2 = 10 May 2017
| office3 = President of the General Council of Nord
| predecessor3 = Bernard Derosier
| successor3 = Didier Manier
| term_start3 = 31 March 2011
| term_end3 = 22 September 2014
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|04|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = Lille, France
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = French
| party = Socialist Party
| spouse =
| children =
| alma_mater = Lille 2 University of Health and Law
}}
Patrick Kanner ({{IPA|fr|patʁik ka.ne}}; born 29 April 1957) is a French politician serving as president of the Socialist group and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate since 2018. A member of the Socialist Party, he has represented the department of Nord since 2017.{{cite web|title=Patrick Kanner|url=http://www.gouvernement.fr/ministre/patrick-kanner|publisher=Government of France|accessdate=5 June 2016}}{{cite book|author1=D. Bell|author2=B. Criddle|title=Exceptional Socialists: The Case of the French Socialist Party|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nRa-BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT253|date=18 November 2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-137-31868-8|page=253}} Kanner previously served as President of the General Council of Nord from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of the City, Youth and Sports from 2014 to 2017.
Early life and education
Kanner is the son of Polish Jews who fled Nazism to France. He grew up in Lille and studied at Lille 2 University of Health and Law.
Political career
=Career in local politics=
Kanner was elected to the municipal council of Lille in 1989. He became Mayor Pierre Mauroy's youngest adjoint the same year, a position he kept when Martine Aubry assumed the mayorship in 2001. In 1998, he was also elected to the General Council of Nord.
=Career in government=
Elected to the presidency of the Nord General Council in 2011, Kanner became Minister of the City, Youth and Sports in the Second Valls government, succeeding Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. He remained in office in the Cazeneuve government.
=Senator for Nord=
In 2017, Kanner was elected to the Senate. Following the announced retirement of Didier Guillaume, he was elected president of the Socialist group in the Senate with 47 votes, against Laurence Rossignol with 25 votes, on 23 January 2018.{{cite news|author=Tristan Quinault-Maupoil|title=Patrick Kanner élu président du groupe PS au Sénat|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/2018/01/23/25001-20180123ARTFIG00145-patrick-kanner-elu-president-du-groupe-ps-au-senat.php|newspaper=Le Figaro|date=23 January 2018|language=French|accessdate=23 January 2018}}
Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2017 primaries, Kanner endorsed Manuel Valls as the party's candidate for the presidential election later that year.Grégoire Poussielgue and Pierre-Alain Furbury (15 December 2016), [https://www.lesechos.fr/2016/12/primaire-du-ps-valls-engrange-les-soutiens-232673 Primaire du PS : Valls engrange les soutiens] Les Échos.
In the Socialist Party's 2018 convention in Aubervilliers, Kanner publicly endorsed Stéphane Le Foll as candidate for the party's leadership.Pierre Lepelletier (7 March 2018), [https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/2018/03/07/25001-20180307ARTFIG00142-congres-du-ps-qui-soutient-qui.php Congrès du PS : qui soutient qui ?] Le Figaro.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Senators of France}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanner, Patrick}}
Category:French people of Polish-Jewish descent
Category:20th-century French Jews
Category:Politicians from Lille
Category:Socialist Party (France) politicians
Category:21st-century French politicians
Category:Lille University of Science and Technology alumni
Category:Senators of Nord (French department)