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Nicole FontainePresident of the European Parliament
Country:
 France |
Content:
Biography of Nicole Fontaine
Nicole Fontaine was a French politician and member of the Union for a Popular Movement party. She was born on January 16, 1942, in the commune of Grenville-Imoville in the Seine-Maritime department during the German occupation. Her parents were Jean Garnier, an otolaryngologist, and Genevieve Lambert.
Fontaine attended the Jeanne d'Arc College in Ormo and the public high school in Le Havre. She then pursued her studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Rouen and the University of Paris, where she graduated in 1962. She completed her studies at the Institute of Political Studies in 1964 and obtained a law doctorate in 1969.
Throughout her career, Fontaine held various positions, starting as a teacher from 1963 to 1964. From 1965, she worked as a legal consultant for the General Secretariat of Catholic Education, eventually becoming the Deputy Secretary-General in 1972 and a delegate from 1981 to 1984.
Fontaine was a member of the Departmental Bar Association of O-de-Sen. She served as a member of the Higher Council of National Education from 1975 to 1981, an advisory body to the French Ministry of National Education. From 1980 to 1984, she was a member of the Economic and Social Council.
In 1984, Fontaine began her career as a Member of the European Parliament. She held various positions within the Parliament, including Deputy Chair from 1989 to 1994, First Deputy Chair from 1994 to 1999, and Chair from 1999 to 2002. She became the second female President of the European Parliament after Simone Veil. Fontaine was re-elected as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009.
In addition to her parliamentary career, Fontaine served as the Minister of Industry in the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Industry of France from 2002 to 2004. During her tenure, she focused on the modernization of the energy sector and the fight against counterfeit products. Fontaine revived the activities of the National Committee of France to combat counterfeit products, which was established in 1995.
Outside of politics, Fontaine was involved in lobbying efforts to give the French language official status in the judiciary institutions of the European Union. She was married twice, first to Jean-Rene Fontaine in 1964, with whom she had a daughter named Christine. In 1995, she married Paul Aubret.
