Jacques Barrot

Jacques Barrot
Barrot in 2004
European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security
In office 9 May 2008 – 9 February 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Franco Frattini
Succeeded by	Viviane Reding (Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship) Cecilia Malmström (Home Affairs)
European Commissioner for Transport
In office 22 November 2004 – 9 May 2008
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Loyola de Palacio (Energy and Transport)
Succeeded by	Antonio Tajani
European Commissioner for Regional Policy
In office 1 April 2004 – 22 November 2004
President	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Michel Barnier
Succeeded by	Danuta Hübner
Member of the Constitutional Council
In office 12 March 2010 – 3 December 2014
Appointed by	Bernard Accoyer
President	Jean-Louis Debré
Preceded by	Pierre Joxe
Succeeded by	Lionel Jospin
Minister of Labour
In office 18 May 1995 – 2 June 1997
President	Jacques Chirac
Prime Minister	Alain Juppé
Preceded by	Michel Giraud
Succeeded by	Martine Aubry
Minister of Health
In office 4 July 1979 – 13 May 1981
President	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Prime Minister	Raymond Barre
Preceded by	Simone Veil
Succeeded by	Edmond Hervé
Member of the National Assembly for Haute-Loire's 1st constituency
In office 1 January 1997 – 4 July 2004
Preceded by	Serge Monnier
Succeeded by	Laurent Wauquiez
Personal details
Born	(1937-02-03)3 February 1937 Yssingeaux, France
Died	3 December 2014(2014-12-03) (aged 77) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Political party	UDF (before 2002) UMP (2002–2014)
Children	3, including Jean-Noël Barrot
Alma mater	Aix-Marseille University Sciences Po

Jacques Barrot (French pronunciation: [ʒak baʁo]; 3 February 1937 – 3 December 2014) was a French politician, who served as European Commissioner for Justice between 2008 and 2010, after having spent four years serving as Commissioner for Transport (2004–2008) and Commissioner for Regional Policy for eight months (2004). He was also one of five vice-presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission. He previously held various ministerial positions in France, and was a member of the right-wing political party UMP. He was officially approved in his post by the European Parliament on 18 June 2008 with a vote of 489 to 52 with 19 abstentions.^[1]

Barrot was a European Commissioner between April 2004 and, serving as Commissioner for Regional Policy in the Prodi Commission before being selected as a Vice-President and Commissioner for Transport in the Barroso Commission.

He was convicted in a French court of embezzlement in 2000. The case involved the diverting of £2 million of government money to his party. He received an eight-month suspended prison sentence. His conviction was automatically erased by a 1995 presidential amnesty.^[2]

Barrot was approved by the European Parliament in 2004 for Commissioner of Transport and made a Vice-President in the new Barroso Commission. However shortly after he began work, his previous conviction was revealed by Nigel Farage, MEP for Independence and Democracy. French President Jacques Chirac had granted him presidential amnesty, a fact the Commissioner did not disclose during his hearing to the Parliament. Despite calls from some MEPs for him to be suspended he remained in office after a large majority accepted legal opinion that Barrot was not legally required to disclose the amnesty.^[3]

A major project during his term was the Galileo positioning system. Work on the system began a year before Barrot came to office and has developed since with the launch of the first satellite. However infighting within private sector partners may have been a potential setback to the project with Barrot favouring greater funds from the EU budget.^[4] Other work includes recent guarantees of air passenger rights and the Single European Sky.

Barrot died on 3 December 2014 in Neuilly-sur-Seine at the age of 77.^[5]