Alain Richard
Alain Richard is a French politician serving as Senator for Val-d'Oise since 2011. A member of the National Assembly for Val-d'Oise from 1978 to 1993, he was elected to the Senate in 1995 before his appointment as Minister of Defence in 1997, an office he retained until 2002.Career
An alumnus of Sciences Po and the École nationale d'administration, he was first elected as Mayor of Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône in 1977. In 1981, he was selected to be one of the first Young Leaders of the French-American Foundation. A member of the Socialist Party, he was elected to the National Assembly in the 1978 election.
Elected to the Senate in 1995 election, he was appointed Minister of Defence two years later by President Jacques Chirac. Seen as an ally of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, he left the office when Jean-Pierre Raffarin became Prime Minister in 2002. Richard went back to his initial position as Mayor of Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, before regaining a seat in the Senate in the 2011 election. He was reelected in 2017 as a member of La République En Marche!.
