Jean-François COPE

Bio

Jean-François Copé (born 5 May, 1964 in Boulogne-Billancourt) is the Mayor of the city of Meaux and a business lawyer at the Paris Bar. He is married and has four children. He is a graduate of Science Po and ENA. After graduation, he joined the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations until 1993. He started his political career at a very young age. From 1993 to 1995, he was head of the cabinet of Roger Romani, Minister Delegate for Relations with the Senate, responsible for repatriates, in the Balladur government. Deputy for Seine-et-Marne between 1995 and 1997 and then between 2002 and 2017, he became Government Spokesman (2002-2004), Minister Delegate for the Interior (2004), then Minister for the Budget (2004-2007) under the Presidency of Jacques Chirac. From 2007 to 2010, he became the President of the UMP Group in the National Assembly and then President of the UMP from 2011 to 2014. During the same period, committed to a strong and prosperous Europe, he led the French delegation within the European People's Party (EPP). A strong advocate of economic liberalism, he has always supported policies focused on business growth, lower taxes and public spending. As an associate professor, he has also taught economics at Science Po and public finance at the University of Paris VIII since 2015. In 1995, he was elected mayor of Meaux, a town of 60,000 inhabitants in the Paris metropolitan area. He was re-elected in 2001, 2008, 2014 and in 2020 in the last municipal elections with 76.35% of the votes. He is also President of the Communauté d'Agglomération du Pays de Meaux since its creation in 2003. He has two priorities: urban renewal and security. A committed writer, he has published numerous political and economic essays as well as several books. Among the latter, a work called "La Bataille de Marne" (2013) reconstructs a historical confrontation that changed the course of history. He also led the project to create the Musée de la Grande Guerre in Meaux, the most important museum on the First World War in Europe. He then published "Sursaut Français" in 2016, in which he presents his vision of France. Jean-François Copé also has a particular interest in Artificial Intelligence. In 2019, he co-authored the book "L'AI va-t-elle aussi tuer la démocratie?" with Laurent Alexandre.