Nathalie Kosciusko Morizet

Early life

Kosciusko-Morizet was born on 14 May 1973. Her family raised her Catholic, but remains Jewish by ancestry. She comes from a political family, the Kosciusko-Morizets. Her grandfather, Jacques Kosciusko (1913–1994) was an academic, a member of the French Resistance during the war, a Gaullist politician and former French ambassador in the US whose father-in-law, André Morizet, was a socialist senator and mayor of Boulogne-Billancourt. Her father François Kosciusko-Morizet (1940–2015) was the mayor of Sèvres. She is also the sister of Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet (b. 1977), one of the founders of Priceminister.com, the third ranked e-commerce site in France. According to genealogists, she is also related to Lucrezia Borgia from her mother's side, the Treuille family.

She graduated from the École Polytechnique and the Collège des Ingénieurs.

Local elections

As a twenty-nine-year-old, she was elected a member of the French National Assembly in 2002, representing the department of Essonne, to the south of Paris, serving out the term for Pierre-André Wiltzer who was appointed deputy minister. She was reelected in 2007 and 2012.

She was elected mayor of Longjumeau (Essonne) in March 2008.

Member of cabinets

In 2007, she became a state secretary in the French government responsible for the environment. Then in 2009 she became state secretary with responsibility for Forward Planning, Assessment of Public Policies and Development of the Digital Economy, before being appointed Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing in November 2010.

In 2012, she left her position as minister to become spokesperson for Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential reelection campaign.

Municipal candidacy for Paris

In February 2013, she announced she would be a candidate for the Mayor of Paris in the 2014 local elections. She faced among others Rachida Dati in the UMP primary election. The polls had Kosciusko-Morizet as a favourite to win the primary. She was endorsed by François Fillon.

On June 3, 2013 she won UMP's primaries for the office of Mayor of Paris with 58.16% of the vote.

In the Mayoral elections held on March 23 and March 30, 2014, Kosciusko-Morizet's UMP lists were defeated by the lists led by Socialist Deputy Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who was elected Mayor of Paris on April 4, 2015. The Socialist, Green and Communist parties created a coalition with 91 councillors, while the UMP and UDI-Modem parties were relegated to the opposition with 71 councillors.

Candidacy for The Republicans primary

After Nicolas Sarkozy's return in politics in 2014, she has been appointed vice-president of the UMP (since 2015 The Republicans) to represent the moderate fringe of the party, while her rival Laurent Wauquiez represented the hardline part. After the 2015 regional elections, during which Wauquiez successfully ran in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, she has been ousted by Sarkozy after criticizing his strategy and was replaced by Wauquiez.

Then, she announced her candidacy for the primary. Despite some difficulties, she got the sufficient number of supports to run. She finished fourth with only 2.6% of the vote, far behind Nicolas Sarkozy (20.1%). She endorsed Alain Juppé for the second round.

2017 defeat

In the French legislative election of 2017, she stood in Paris's 2nd constituency, previously held by former prime minister François Fillon. During the campaign, she was hospitalised for a night after falling on the pavement and hitting her head when a protester threw a batch of election leaflets in her face. She was defeated in the second round of the election by La République En Marche! candidate Gilles Le Gendre.

Political positions

Although close to Jacques Chirac throughout his presidency, she is a strong advocate of green issues, and can be described as a part of the "blue ecologists" group. In an interview to the Daily Telegraph in March 2013, she said she held "a lot of admiration" for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Personal life

She is married to Jean-Pierre Philippe and has two sons, born in 2005 and 2009. In March 2016, she announced that she and JP Philippe have divorced from a common agreement.

Political held offices

Governmental functions

Secretary of State for Ecology : 2007–2009.

Secretary of State and Prospective Development of the Digital Economy : 2009–2010.

Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing: November 2010 – February 2012 (She resigned from government to become spokeswoman of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign).

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

Member of the National Assembly of France for Essonne (4th constituency) : 2002–2007 (Became secretary of State in 2007). Elected in 2002, reelected in 2007.

Regional Council

Regional councillor of Ile-de-France : 2004–2010 (She resigned in November 2010). Reelected in 2010.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Longjumeau : Since 2008.

Municipal councillor of Longjumeau : Since 2008.

Agglomeration Community Council

Vice-president of the Europ'Essonne Agglomeration Community Council : Since 2008.

Member of the Europ'Essonne Agglomeration Community Council : Since 2008.