Brigitte Kuster

Summary

Brigitte Kuster (née Thomas, born 12 April 1959) is a French politician who served as Member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Paris from 2017 to 2022.[1] A member of The Republicans (LR), her constituency covers parts of the 16th and 17th arrondissements. Kuster previously served as Mayor of the 17th arrondissement from 2008 to 2017.

Brigitte Kuster
Member of the National Assembly
for Paris's 4th constituency
In office
21 June 2017 – 21 June 2022
Preceded byBernard Debré
Succeeded byAstrid Panosyan
Mayor of the 17th arrondissement of Paris
In office
29 March 2008 – 11 July 2017
Preceded byFrançoise de Panafieu
Succeeded byGeoffroy Boulard
Personal details
Born
Brigitte Thomas

(1959-04-12) 12 April 1959 (age 64)
Saint-Cloud, France
Political partyRPR (until 2002)
UMP (2002–2015)
The Republicans (since 2015)
SpouseGérard Kuster

Political career edit

A journalist by occupation, she started her career at Europe 1 before becoming a public servant at the Ministry of the Environment. She was elected to the Council of Paris in the 2001 municipal election and became Mayor of the 17th arrondissement seven years later. In January 2016, Kuster was appointed party spokesperson under the leadership of Nicolas Sarkozy, alongside Guillaume Peltier, Valérie Debord and Guillaume Larrivé. She retained the position until December 2017.[2]

In Parliament, where she succeeded Bernard Debré after the 2017 legislative election, Kuster served on the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education. In addition to her committee assignments, she is part of the French-Cambodian Parliamentary Friendship Group, the French-Haitian Parliamentary Friendship Group and the French-Tunisian Parliamentary Friendship Group.[3]

In a ranking published by Le Parisien in early 2021, Kuster was ranked as most active lawmaker, having attended more parliamentary sessions than any other member of the National Assembly between 2017 and 2020.[4]

She lost her seat in the second round in the 2022 French legislative election.[5]

Political positions edit

In the 2016 The Republicans presidential primary, Kuster endorsed Nicolas Sarkozy as the party's candidate for the office of President of France.[6] In the Republicans' 2017 leadership election, she endorsed Laurent Wauquiez.[7] Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, she publicly declared her support for Michel Barnier as the Republicans’ candidate.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ "Brigitte Kuster on National Assembly website" (in French). National Assembly (France). Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  2. ^ Les Républicains: Nicolas Sarkozy nomme quatre nouveaux porte-parole Le Point, 6 January 2016.
  3. ^ Brigitte Kuster National Assembly.
  4. ^ Florent Hélaine (January 20, 2021), «La loyauté est nécessaire» : comment votent les députés de Paris Le Parisien.
  5. ^ à 01h41, Par Pauline Darvey et Marion Kremp Le 20 juin 2022 (2022-06-19). "Législatives à Paris : les derniers Républicains balayés par la majorité présidentielle". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-06-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Ludovic Vigogne (20 April 2016), Bataillons: Primaire à droite: la liste des premiers soutiens parlementaires L'Opinion.
  7. ^ Ludovic Vigogne (11 October 2017), La liste des 136 parrains de Laurent Wauquiez L'Opinion.
  8. ^ Emmanuel Galiero (1 October 2021), Présidentielle 2022 : Michel Barnier engrange le soutien de 51 parlementaires de droite Le Figaro.