Philippe Douste-Blazy

Philippe Douste-Blazy (b. January 1, 1953) is a cardiologist and a French Christian Democrat politician from Lourdes. Formerly from the UDF party, he has joined UMP. He currently is Minister of Foreign Affairs in Dominique de Villepin's government. His principal former elected positions were mayor of Lourdes and mayor of Toulouse.

Related Topics:
January 1 - 1953 - Cardiologist - French - Christian Democrat - Lourdes - UDF - UMP - Minister of Foreign Affairs - Dominique de Villepin - Mayor - Toulouse

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He studied medicine in Toulouse, where he had his first job in 1976. He then worked as a cardiologist in Lourdes and Toulouse, namely in Purpan's hospital from 1986. He then joined the French Society of Cardiology. He become Professor of Medicine in Toulouse Sciences University in 1988.

Related Topics:
Cardiologist - Cardiology - Toulouse Sciences University

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He entered politics in march 1989, being elected mayor of Lourdes and then Member of the European Parliament in June of the same year. He was then a member of the European's People Party. This year was also the one of his election as national director of the association of research against elevations of cholesterol.

Related Topics:
European Parliament - European's People Party - Cholesterol

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At the end of 1993, he was designated Junior Minister for Health, after being elected Deputy in April. He stayed at this ministry until the 1995 presidential election. In march 1994, he was elected at Hautes-Pyrénées's General Council. He became general secretary of the French former political party CDS in December.

Related Topics:
1995 presidential election - Hautes-Pyrénées - CDS

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In January 1995, after the election of Jacques Chirac as President of the French Republic, a candidature he was backing, he was designed Junior Minister of Health and Government's spokesman. Five months later, he became Minister of Culture. In June, he was also elected Mayor of Lourdes. By the end of November, he was elected general secretary of Force Démocrate.

Related Topics:
Jacques Chirac - Force Démocrate

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In June 1997, the overwhelming defeat of Conservatives during general elections made him lose his position as Minister of Culture, but he remained deputy of Hautes-Pyrénées and became president of the UDF parliamentary group at the French National Assembly.

Related Topics:
UDF - French National Assembly

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In March 2001, he won the seat of deputy in Haute-Garonne's first district. At the same time, he won the municipal elections in Toulouse, and became Mayor of the city, succeeding to Dominique Baudis who was backing him. At the end of 2001, he supported the candidature of Jacques Chirac for the 2002 presidential elections and worked to create the future UMP. He was reelected in Haute-Garonne's first district on June 16, 2002, and became general secretary of UMP the same month.

Related Topics:
Haute-Garonne - Dominique Baudis - 2002 presidential elections - UMP

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In March 2004, he was chosen by Jean Pierre Raffarin to become Minister of Health and Social Welfare. He consequently had to resign from his seat of Mayor of Toulouse. He was succeeded there by Jean-Luc Moudenc.

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On June 6, 2005, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Dominique de Villepin. Commentators expressed doubts at the competency of Douste-Blazy for this position. Le Canard Enchaîné reported that Douste-Blazy had committed two gaffes in September 2005: he disclosed to journalists the fact that he was going to have a meeting with the president of Iran, whereas this meeting was supposed to be secret; and, during a visit to a holocaust museum in Israel, he expressed surprise that no British Jews were shown to have been sent to Nazi death camps during the Second World War (the Channel Islands were the only British dependency occupied by the Nazis, thus only the Jewish population of those islands was deported). The latter prompted renewed accusations of antisemitism against France.

Related Topics:
Minister of Foreign Affairs - Dominique de Villepin - Le Canard Enchaîné - Gaffe - Iran - Israel - Nazi - Second World War - Channel Islands - Antisemitism

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