- Arnaud Montebourg
Arnaud Montebourg (born
October 30 ,1962 , in Clamecy,Nièvre ) is a French politician, and a deputy of the fifth district of Saone et loire to theFrench National Assembly for the Socialist Party. He has also been elected president of the local assembly of Saone et Loire after local elections in 2008.He used to be one of the founding members of the political current known as the Nouveau Parti Socialist (New Socialist Party). He left this current to create a new movement within the socialist party called "Rénover, Maintenant" ("Renewal Now"), and continues to call for significant constitutional change in France, leading to the founding of a Sixth Republic. He is one of the leading critics of President
Jacques Chirac 's immunity from prosecution, especially concerning thecorruption scandals in the Paris region . Montebourg also supportedreporter Denis Robert for his role in revealing the illegal system of double-accounts maintained byClearstream , a clearing-house based inLuxembourg .He has been engaged in a campaign against the rules governing taxation of foreign nationals and banking secrecy of
Switzerland . [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/06/europe/EU-GEN-Switzerland-France-Tax-Spat.php]He was appointed as spokesman of the Presidential campaign of
Ségolène Royal following his support for her candidacy during theSocialist Party primary election of November 2006. OnJanuary 18 2007 , Royal suspended Montebourg from her campaign for one month after he appeared on aCanal+ talk show the previous night and stated "Ségolène Royal has only one fault, her partner." [http://www.lefigaro.fr/election-presidentielle-2007/20070118.WWW000000386_montebourg_presente_sa_demission_a_royal.html] He was referring to the contradictory statements made by Royal's partner,François Hollande who is also leader of theSocialist Party , with regards to tax policy. Montebourg had offered his resignation, which Royal refused to accept.External links
* [http://www.arnaudmontebourg.fr Official website]
* [http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/tribun/fiches_id/2224.asp Webpage from the National Assembly site]
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