Paul Coste-Floret

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Paul Coste-Floret

| order = Member of the Conseil constitutionnel

| nationality = French

|image = Paul Coste-Floret.jpg

|caption =

| term_start = 3 March 1971

| term_end = 27 August 1979

| predecessor = René Cassin

| successor = Robert Lecourt

| deputy =

| order2 = Ministre d'État

| term_start2 = 8 January 1953

| term_end2 = 21 May 1953

| president2 =

| predecessor2 =

| successor2 =

| order3 = Député for Hérault

| term_start3 = 9 December 1945

| term_end3 = 2 April 1967

| successor3 = {{interlanguage link|Gilbert Sénès|fr}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|04|09|df=y}}

| birth_place = Montpellier, France

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|08|27|1911|04|09|df=y}}

| death_place = Montpellier, France

| spouse =

| party = Mouvement Républicain Populaire

| otherparty = Centre Démocrate

| signature =

}}

Paul Coste-Floret (9 April 1911 – 27 August 1979) was a French politician. He was born and died in Montpellier, France.

Career

Coste-Floret was originally an academic, becoming Doctor of Law in 1935 and teaching law at the University of Algiers.{{cite web |title=Paul Coste-Floret (1911–1979) |url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/11830931/paul_coste-floret |website=Bibliothèque nationale de France |access-date=20 June 2021}}{{cite book|author=Foundation for Foreign Affairs, Washington, D.C.|title=Foundation Pamphlet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=otgtAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=20 June 2021|year=1946}}{{cite book|author=Frederick Cooper|title=Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945–1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XW-YDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|accessdate=20 June 2021|date=31 May 2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-17145-6|page=84}}{{cite web |title=Paul COSTE-FLORET |url=https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/membres/paul-coste-floret |website=Le Conseil constitutionnel |access-date=20 June 2021}}

During the Second World War, Coste-Floret was active in the French Resistance.{{cite book|author=Harry Roderick Kedward|title=Resistance in Vichy France: A Study of Ideas and Motivation in the Southern Zone, 1940-1942|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DiJnAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=20 June 2021|year=1978|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-822529-4|page=30}} He also advised André Philip and François de Menthon, ministers in the Free French provisional government. After the war Coste-Floret was an assistant prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.

He was elected as a député to the Assemblée Nationale in 1946 as a member of the Mouvement Républicain Populaire, for the department of Hérault, and served until 1958.{{cite web |title=Paul Coste-Floret |url=https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/%28num_dept%29/1993 |website=Assemblée nationale |access-date=20 June 2021}}

Coste-Floret supported the political return of General de Gaulle and was a member of the Constitutional Consultative Committee which prepared the Constitution of 1958. He was re-elected député of the MRP in 1958, and served with the centrist group until 1967. He was nominated by the president of the Senate, Alain Poher, to the Conseil constitutionnel from 23 February 1971, and served on this until his death.

Political views

As minister of the French Overseas Territories, Coste-Floret worked on the Halong Bay Agreements (Accords de la baie d’Along) in 1949. He modified the law of Cochinchina, which became part of Vietnam. He proposed increased family benefits. As a député he defended the wine producers of Midi. In principle he supported the statute of Algeria in 1957, but still said that he would vote against it.{{cite book|author=Michael Koß|title=Parliaments in Time: The Evolution of Legislative Democracy in Western Europe, 1866-2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9t1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176|accessdate=20 June 2021|date=29 January 2019|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-876691-9|page=176}} He recommended greater autonomy for French Black Africa.

From 1967 to 1971 he was vice-president of Centre Démocrate.

Personal life

He was the twin brother of the politician {{interlanguage link|Alfred Coste-Floret|fr}}.

Government roles

Ministre de la Guerre in the government of Paul Ramadier (22 January – 22 October 1947)
Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer in the government of Henri Queuille (1) (24 November 1947 – 29 October 1949
Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer in the government of André Marie (26 July – 5 September 1948)
Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer in the government of Robert Schuman (2) (5 September – 11 September 1948)
Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer in the government of Henri Queuille (1) (11 September 1948 – 28 October 1949)
Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer in the government of Henri Queuille (2) (2 July – 12 July 1950)
Ministre de l'Information in the government of Edgar Faure (1) (20 January – 8 March 1952)
Ministre d'État in the government of René Mayer (8 January – 28 June 1953)
Ministre de la Santé publique et de la Population in the government of Joseph Laniel (28 June 1953 – 19 June 1954){{cite book|author=Craig Parsons|title=A Certain Idea of Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6NhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|accessdate=20 June 2021|date=5 July 2018|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-3208-9|page=88}}