Éric Besson

Biography

Born in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 2 April 1958, Éric Besson lost his father—a French Air Force officer—in a flight accident three months before his birth. His mother has Lebanese origins. After finishing high school in Casablanca, he moved to France, attending Montpellier Business School and later Sciences Po in Paris, though he failed to gain entry to the École nationale d'administration. His early career included a stint at Renault, then serving as editor-in-chief of the business magazine Challenges, and later working for the Vivendi foundation.

Political career

Besson belonged to the Socialist Party from 1993 to 2007. He has been mayor of Donzère since 1995 and was the député for the Drôme from 1997 to 2007. During his parliamentary years, he served on the National Commission for Defense and the Armed Forces (1997–1998), the Financial and Economic Planning Commission (1998–2002), and commissions investigating commercial courts and Superphénix reactors (both 1998). After his 2002 re-election, he sat on the supervisory boards of the Social Debt Amortizement Fund and the Agency for Industrial Innovation.

He became PS National Secretary for the Economy, Employment and Business in 2003, and for the Economy and Taxation in 2005. In the 2007 presidential race, he initially worked for Ségolène Royal's campaign but resigned as PS finance secretary on 14 February 2007, frustrated by what he saw as a 'badly organised' campaign. He quit the Socialist Party on 21 February and backed Nicolas Sarkozy, drawing harsh criticism. In May 2007 he was appointed State Secretary for Prospectives and Evaluation of Public Policies.

That year he launched The Progressives, affiliated with the Union for a Popular Movement. Re-elected mayor of Donzère in March 2008 with 69.92% of the vote, he became Secretary of State for the Digital Economy on 18 March 2008. In that role, he analysed ten challenges facing France until 2025 and released the '2012 Digital France' plan in October 2008, aiming to expand broadband access, boost digital content, and reduce the digital divide.