Benjamin Griveaux

Benjamin-Blaise Griveaux (French pronunciation: ​[bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ blɛz ɡʁivo]; born 29 December 1977) is a French politician who served as Government Spokesman from 2017 to 2019 under Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. A member of La République En Marche! (LREM), he was elected to the National Assembly in 2017 in the 5th constituency of Paris, which encompasses the 3rd and 10th arrondissements.[1][2]

Benjamin Griveaux
Government Spokesman
In office
24 November 2017 – 27 March 2019
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byChristophe Castaner
Succeeded bySibeth Ndiaye
Secretary of State to the Minister of the Economy and Finance
In office
21 June 2017 – 24 November 2017
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byPosition reestablished
Succeeded byDelphine Gény-Stephann
Member of the National Assembly
for Paris's 5th constituency
Assumed office
28 April 2019
Preceded byÉlise Fajgeles
In office
21 June 2017 – 21 July 2017
Preceded bySeybah Dagoma
Succeeded byÉlise Fajgeles
Personal details
Born
Benjamin-Blaise Griveaux

(1977-12-29) 29 December 1977
Saint-Rémy, France
Political partySocialist Party (2003–2017)
La République En Marche! (2016–present)
Spouse(s)Julia Minkowski
Children3
Alma materSciences Po
HEC Paris

A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), Griveaux has frequently been described as one of President Emmanuel Macron's closest political allies. He was LREM's candidate for Mayor of Paris in the 2020 municipal election before he withdrew due to a sex scandal and was replaced by Health Minister Agnès Buzyn.

Early life

Griveaux was born in Saint-Rémy. His father is a notary and his mother is a barrister.[3] He studied at Sciences Po, where he was vice-president of the student union and founded a student magazine called L’Autodafé. He graduated in 1999 and continued his studies at HEC Paris, earning a master's degree in 2001. He failed to gain admission to the École nationale d'administration.[4][5]

Career

Between 2003 and 2008 he began working for A Gauche en Europe, a think-tank founded by Dominique Strauss-Khan and directed by Michel Rocard. He worked as an adviser to Strauss-Khan and supported his unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Socialist Party in 2006.[6] He founded Mediane Conseil, a recruitment consultancy, the same year.

In 2008, he stood as a Socialist in both the municipal and departmental elections in Chalon-sur-Saône, which took place simultaneously that year. He succeeded in winning a seat as both a municipal councilor for Chalon-sur-Saône and a departmental councilor for Saône-et-Loire.[7] He later became vice-president of the Departmental Council, which was then led by Arnaud Montebourg. In 2012 he worked on François Hollande’s campaign for the presidency and after Hollande’s election served as an adviser to Health Minister Marisol Touraine.[8][9] In 2014 he renounced his mandates in order to take up a post with the commercial real estate company Unibail, prompting criticism from a local official.[3]

At Unibail he worked as director of communications and public relations. He left the company in October 2016 to work full-time for En Marche![4]

Involvement in En Marche!

He met Emmanuel Macron in December 2015 through their mutual contact with Ismaël Emelien. He was present in the meetings that founded En Marche! and was appointed a spokesperson for the movement.[5] Griveaux has frequently been described in media as one of Macron’s closest political allies.[5][10][8][11]

In the 2017 legislative elections he stood for La République en Marche! in the fifth constituency of Paris, where his opponent was Seybah Dagoma, a Socialist assembly member since 2012. Griveaux won the seat on 18 June with 56.27% of the vote.[12]

On 21 June 2017 he was appointed to the second Philippe government as a secretary of state at the Finance and Economy Ministry, a newly created role. The Huffington Post reported the extent of Griveaux’s remit is unclear, and that he will serve as deputy or assistant (Fr: adjoint) to Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.[13][14]Libération referred to Griveaux as ‘the president’s eyes and ears’ in the upper echelons of the powerful Finance Ministry.[3]

In March 2019, Griveaux resigned from the office of spokesman in order to run in the Paris mayor's election.[15]

In February 2020 he abandoned his bid to become mayor of Paris after it was alleged that he had "exchanged intimate mobile phone messages with a young woman and sent her a personal video", which was later posted online by Petr Pavlensky.[16][17] Pavlensky said that Griveaux was "only the first politician that he would target: he had only just begun".[17]

Political controversy

In January 2019, Griveaux had to escape his office after protesters broke into the compound and smashed up vehicles during the broader Yellow vests movement.[18]

Personal life

Griveaux is married to Julia Minkowski, a lawyer. They have three children.[19]

References
  1. "Législatives 2017 : Benjamin Griveaux (LREM) élu dans la 5e circonscription de Paris - Le Parisien". Leparisien.fr. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  2. "Législatives: Benjamin Griveaux (LREM) élu". Lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  3. "Benjamin Griveaux, Bercy Macron ! - Libération". Liberation.fr. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  4. "Benjamin Griveaux : Tout savoir sur Benjamin Griveaux, Futur président du mouvement En marche !". Lsa-conso.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  5. "Emile Magazine — Portrait - Benjamin Griveaux, en marche au côté d'Emmanuel Macron". Emilemagazine.fr. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  6. "Grand témoin | " Strauss-Kahn est l'homme qui rassurera les Français "". Lejsl.com. 11 June 1970. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  7. par Florence Morel (19 June 2017). "Probable président de LRM, candidat potentiel à la mairie de Paris… Mais qui est Benjamin Griveaux ?". Les Inrocks. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  8. "Benjamin Griveaux, le nouveau colocataire de Bruno Le Maire à Bercy". Lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  9. "Qui sont les trente proches d'Emmanuel Macron qui comptent au sein d'En marche ! ?". Lemonde.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  10. "Les nouvelles têtes du gouvernement Philippe II - Libération". Liberation.fr. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  11. 6 Medias (4 November 2015). "Benjamin Griveaux va prendre la direction de La République en Marche | L'Opinion" (in French). Lopinion.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  12. Par Rédaction Europe1.fr avec AFP. "Second tour des législatives : Benjamin Griveaux élu député de la cinquième circonscription de Paris". Europe1.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  13. Alexandre Boudet Journaliste politique au HuffPost (22 June 2017). "Quel rôle jouera Benjamin Griveaux auprès de Bruno Le Maire? Bercy répond au HuffPost". Huffingtonpost.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  14. Alexandre Boudet Journaliste politique au HuffPost (22 June 2017). "Gouvernement Philippe: que vont faire les sept ministres qui n'ont pas d'attributions?". Huffingtonpost.fr. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  15. "Le Chalonnais Benjamin Griveaux démissionne du gouvernement". France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
  16. "Benjamin Griveaux retire sa candidature à la mairie de Paris après la diffusion d'une vidéo intime". Nouve L'Obs. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  17. "Griveaux Paris race: Sex video prompts Macron ally to step down". BBC.com. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  18. Sudip Kar-Gupta (July 29, 2019), Farmers protesting at trade deal vandalize office of Macron party lawmaker Reuters.
  19. "Benjamin Griveaux devient père pour la troisième fois" (in French). parismatch.com. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.

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