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Roland Dumas (b. 23 August 1922 in Limoges, Haute-Vienne) is a lawyer and French Socialist politician who served notably as Foreign Minister under President François Mitterrand from 1984 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1993. He was also President of the Constitutional Council from 1995 to 1999.
Son of Georges Dumas, a civil servant in Limoges's region and Socialist resistant to the German Occupation during the Second World War, shot at by the Gestapo, he conveyed weapons for the Resistance. He was arrested after the boycott of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra by French students. After the war, he completed his law and political science studies in the Ecole libre des sciences politiques and the London School of Economics.
Journalist and lawyer, he defended Jean Mons, a general suspected of passing secrets of national security to the Communists. In this, he became close to François Mitterrand, president of the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR) party, himself suspected in the same scandal.
In 1956, he was elected deputy for Haute-Vienne département, under the UDSR banner, but he lost his seat in the 1958 legislative election, which followed the return of General De Gaulle to power. He came back into the French National Assembly between 1967 and 1968 as representative of Corrèze département. Member of the renewed Socialist Party (PS) led by François Mitterrand, he became deputy for Gironde département in 1973, then for Dordogne département on the occasion of the "pink wave" of 1981.
When President François Mitterrand appointed Laurent Fabius as Prime Minister in July 1984, he joined the cabinet as Minister of European Affairs. Five months later, he replaced Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson. He remained in this function until the Socialist defeat in the March 1986 legislative election. Nevertheless, he returned to the Quai d'Orsay after the re-election of François Mitterrand in May 1988, until the PS defeat in the March 1993 legislative elections. Indeed, he was the French Foreign Minister during the collapse of the Soviet Block, the Gulf War, and the negotiations of the Maastricht Treaty.
Not re-elected to the French National Assembly in 1993, he was nominated President of the Constitutional Council in 1995. This was one of the last decisions of President Mitterrand. Under his presidency, the body argued in favour of complete judicial immunity for the French President--a controversial decision given both Jacques Chirac and Dumas's numerous scandals[citation needed]. Accused in the Elf affair, he resigned in January 1999.
In May 2007, Dumas received a 12-month jail sentence (supended) for funds he mis-appropriated acting as executor of the will of the widow of Alberto Giacometti.
M. Dumas is a member of the Emergency Committee for Iraq.
Political career
Governmental functions
President of the Constitutional Council of France : 1995-2000
Governmental functions
Minister of External Relations : 1984-1986
Government spokesman : June-December 1984
Minister for European Affairs : 1983-1986
Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1988-1993
Electoral mandates
Member of the National Assembly of France for Haute-Vienne : 1956-1958
Member of the National Assembly of France for Corrèze : 1967-1968
Member of the National Assembly of France for Dordogne : 1981-1983 (Became minister in 1983) / 1986-1988 (Became minister in 1988) / He loses the election in 1993
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by — |
Minister of European Affairs 1983–1984 |
Succeeded by — |
| Preceded by Claude Cheysson |
Minister of External Affairs 1984–1986 |
Succeeded by Jean-Bernard Raimond |
| Preceded by Jean-Bernard Raimond |
Minister of Foreign Affairs 1988–1993 |
Succeeded by Alain Juppé |
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