Robien, Gilles de

Born April 10, 1941 in the department of the Somme in northern France ( Picardy ). In 1965 he graduated from college in Versailles and entered the service of an insurance agent in Amiens - the administrative center of the department. In 1986, he was elected to the French National Assembly (lower house of parliament). Then he entered the Finance Commission and the Commission of Inquiry for reasons, consequences and flood prevention ^[2] .

In 1989, de Robien became mayor of Amiens. In 1990, he joined the Executive Committee and the Governing Council of the Republican Party of France . In 1991 he was included in the political bureau of the centrist party " Union for French Democracy " (UDF). From 1995 to 1997, he headed the deputy group of this party in the National Assembly. On November 29, 1998, he was again included in the political bureau and was elected to the post of vice president of the Union for French Democracy party ^[2] .

On June 11, 1996, the French government adopted the “Robin Law,” aimed at reducing unemployment . This document provided significant tax incentives for enterprises that agree to reduce the length of the working day and thereby employ new employees (or avoid staff reductions) ^{[2] [3]} .

In May 2002, de Robien was appointed Minister of Infrastructure, Transport, Housing, Tourism and Maritime Affairs in the Government of Jean-Pierre Raffaren . On June 3, 2005, Dominic de Villepin , who took over as Prime Minister of the country, made him Minister of Education of France ^[4] .

In March 2006, during student demonstrations held under the slogan of eliminating the discriminatory bill on the first labor contract for youth , Gilles de Robien sharply criticized the protesters. He called them "brawlers", representing a "tiny minority" of students who decided to embark on the "path of violence" ^[5] . On March 11, 2006, police special forces stormed the Sorbonne building, which was seized by demonstrators, as a result of which 13 people were injured. Robien endorsed the violent action against students, noting that, "when such odious actions take place, the intervention is quite normal." He also stated that the students “damaged the national heritage, which has accumulated over the centuries” ^[6] . Nevertheless, on March 23, 2006, after consultations with de Robien, de Villepin's government first tried to enter into negotiations with trade union and student organizations. No significant agreements were reached during this meeting ^[7] .

In May 2007, after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected the new president of France, the de Villepin government resigned. The new government, which was headed by Francois Fillon , de Robien did not enter ^[8] .

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