François-Xavier Villain

François-Xavier Villain (born 31 May 1950 in Abbeville, Somme) was a member of the National Assembly of France. He represented the Nord department,^[1] from 2002 to 2017^[2] and is a member of Arise the Republic, a small Gaullist party led by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. He is also mayor of Cambrai.

François-Xavier Villain
François-Xavier Villain in 2020
Mayor of Cambrai
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 October 1992
Preceded by	Jacques Legendre
Member of the National Assembly for Nord's 18th constituency
In office 19 June 2002 – 21 June 2017
Preceded by	Brigitte Douay
Succeeded by	Guy Bricout
Personal details
Born	(1950-05-31) 31 May 1950 (age 73) Abbeville, France
Political party	Debout la France UDI
Alma mater	Sciences Po

Professional career

François-Xavier Villain graduated from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris in 1972,^[3] and was admitted to the Cambrai bar the same year, at just 22 years of age, making him the youngest lawyer in France.^[4]

Political career

Political debut

Immersed in the world of politics by his father, François-Yves Villain, a Gaullist activist, he became involved in local politics at an early age, and it was under Jacques Legendre's mandate that he was first elected town councillor in 1977, then deputy mayor in charge of personnel in 1983.^[5]

At the same time, François-Xavier Villain was elected general councillor for the canton of Cambrai-Ouest in 1982, a position he held until 2002. From March 1992 to March 1998, he was vice-president of the Conseil Général du Nord. He also chaired the council's decentralization and human resources commission from 1994 to 1998.

Mayor of Cambrai

Elected mayor of Cambrai on October 18, 1992, following the resignation of Jacques Legendre,^[6] who was affected by the accumulation of mandates following his election to the Senate,^[7] he was re-elected in the first round in 1995 with 67.3% of the vote,^[8] and in 2001 with 63.9%.^[9]

As mayor, he was instrumental in setting up neighborhood meetings in 1993, as well as the Handimômes scheme to support parents of disabled children.^[10]

His list won the first round of the 2008 municipal elections with 66.2% of the vote.^[11] In December of the same year, he was elected chairman of the Cambrai urban community following the resignation of Jacques Legendre.^[12]

With the redistribution of France's armed forces having led to the closure of the 103 Cambrai-Épinoy air base, he obtained government approval for the entire arrondissement to be classified as a revitalization zone (tax assistance for business start-ups) and for the Ministry of Defense's accounting and financial analysis center to be set up in Cambrai.^[13] This project was eventually abandoned. Accompanied by Guy Bricout, mayor of Caudry, François-Xavier Villain presented an initial project in 2012 to convert the air base into a Mobilopolis mobility theme park.^[14] In the end, it was the project for a logistics platform specialized in e-commerce, christened E-Valley, that saw the light of day.^[15] The site, sold for a symbolic one euro to the Cambrai agglomeration community and the Osartis Marquion community of municipalities, is Europe's largest logistics park, with 750,000 m2 of warehouse space and 1,300 jobs created. It is inaugurated by François-Xavier Villain, in the presence of Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France regional council, on May 11, 2021.^[16]

François-Xavier Villain is re-elected as Cambrai mayor in the 2014 municipal elections. His "Union pour Cambrai" list was elected with 72.5% of the vote in the first round, winning a majority of 35 seats out of 39 on the municipal council, enabling him to be re-elected mayor on March 29, 2014.^[17] Shortly afterwards, he was re-elected president of the Cambrai agglomeration community (CAC).^[18]

On January 2, 2017, François-Xavier Villain was re-elected to the presidency of the Communauté d'Agglomération de Cambrai following its merger with the Communauté de Communes de la Vacquerie.^[19]

In August 2019, he announces his candidacy for the 2020 municipal elections in Cambrai.^[20] His list wins in the first round with 56.3% of the vote against six other lists.^[21] He is re-elected mayor by the municipal council on May 24, 2020.^[22][23] On July 15, he ran for the presidency of the CAC, winning by a narrow margin over dissident Marjorie Gosselet (48 votes to 44).^[24] At the same time, he withdrew the delegations of three vice-presidents supported by Gosselet.^[25] The following year, he resigned from the presidency of the intermunicipality.^[26]

On September 7, 2022, he announced that he was temporarily withdrawing from Cambrai town council affairs for health reasons, with his first deputy acting as interim mayor.^[27] He resumed his activities at the end of 2022.

Member of Parliament for Nord

He joined forces with Guy Bricout, mayor of Caudry, the second largest town in the eighteenth Nord constituency, with whom he won the 2002^[28] and 2007^[29] legislative elections. Under the slogan "La passion du territoire",^[30] this same pair was re-elected for a further term in 2012.^[31][32][33] Throughout his term of office, he was one of the least active members of the French National Assembly, making 0 appearances in the Chamber between 2002 and 2006.^[34] He defends himself by saying: "Just because you don't come to Paris doesn't mean you're a bad MP", preferring to describe himself as a "regional facilitator", particularly in economic terms.^[35]

References

1. "LISTE DÉFINITIVE DES DÉPUTÉS ÉLUS À L'ISSUE DES DEUX TOURS" (in French). National Assembly of France. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
2. "François-Xavier Villain - Son activité de député à l'Assemblée nationale" [François-Xavier Villain - His Representative activities in National Assembly] (in French). DosDéputés France. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
3. "Fiche de François-Xavier Villain". le site de Sciences Po Paris..
4. "La politique en famille". La Voix du Nord (in French). 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2021-08-13..
5. "Le Maire de Cambrai". villedecambrai.com. Retrieved 2021-08-11..
6. "Après la démission de M. Legendre M. Villain (RPR) est élu maire de Cambrai". Le Monde. 20 October 1992. Retrieved 24 May 2020..
7. "Démission du maire de Cambrai". Les Échos. 1992-10-09. Retrieved 2021-08-11..
8. . Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2023-09-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved 11 août 2021..
9. . Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2023-09-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved 11 août 2021..
10. Antoine Swietlicki (18 November 2022). "Cambrai : François-Xavier Villain, le mandat d'une vie". L'Observateur du Cambrésis. Retrieved 28 February 2023..
11. "François-Xavier Villain réélu dans son fauteuil". L’Observateur du Cambrésis. 10 March 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2012..
12. "François-Xavier Villain élu sans surprise". La Voix du Nord. 19 December 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2008..
13. "Le centre de liquidation des factures des armées emménagera début 2013 à Cambrai". La Voix du Nord. 7 August 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2012..
14. "Mobilopolis, le pharaonique projet de reconversion de la BA 103 de Cambrai". La Voix du Nord (in French). Retrieved 2021-08-12..
15. "Mégaprojet d'e-logistique sur l'ancienne base aérienne de Cambrai". Les Échos (in French). 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2021-08-12..
16. "E-Valley, le plus grand parc européen de logistique inauguré ce mardi sur l'ancienne BA 103 de Cambrai". le site de France Bleu (in French). 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2021-08-12..
17. "Un triomphe historique pour le maire sortant, François-Xavier Villain, à Cambrai". L’Observateur du Cambrésis. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014..
18. "François-Xavier Villain élu à nouveau président de l'agglo". L'Observateur du Cambrésis (1333): 9. 17 April 2014..
19. "François-Xavier Villain réélu président de l'agglo". La Voix du Nord. 2017-01-02. Retrieved 14 January 2017..
20. "Municipales 2020 : le maire de Cambrai annonce sa candidature à sa succession". La Voix du Nord. 2019-08-31. Retrieved 23 November 2019..
21. "François-Xavier Villain réélu à Cambrai". La Voix du Nord. 2020-03-15. Retrieved 2020-03-15..
22. . L’Observateur du Cambrésis. 20 May 2020. Archived from the original on 27 May 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020..
23. "Cambrai : François-Xavier Villain est réélu maire". L’Observateur du Cambrésis. 24 May 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}.
24. Samuel Petit (15 July 2020). "François-Xavier Villain réélu président de la communauté d'agglomération de Cambrai". La Voix du Nord. Retrieved 18 July 2020..
25. . L’Observateur du Cambrésis. 17 July 2020. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020..
26. Diane Béthune (10 December 2021). "Agglo de Cambrai: François-Xavier Villain quitte la présidence". La Voix du Nord. Retrieved 11 December 2021..
27. "Malade, Le maire de Cambrai François-Xavier Villain se met en retrait provisoirement". France 3 Hauts-de-France (in French). Retrieved 2022-09-08..
28. "Résultats des élections législatives 2002". le site du ministère de l'Intérieur..
29. "Résultats des élections législatives 2007". le site du ministère de l'Intérieur..
30. "Résultats des élections législatives 2012". le site du ministère de l'Intérieur..
31. "Qui sont les fantômes de l'Assemblée ?". Le Monde. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2020..
32. "François-Xavier Villain, l'élu fantôme de l'Assemblée". Le Figaro (in French). 2010-09-07. Retrieved 23 October 2017..
33. "Cambrésis : le bilan des quinze ans du député François-Xavier Villain". La Voix du Nord (in French). 2017-06-05. Retrieved 23 October 2017..
34. Constanty, Hélène (2006). Députés sous influences: le vrai pouvoir des lobbies à l'Assemblée nationale. Fayard. ISBN 2-213-63008-9. OCLC 72758116. Retrieved 2021-06-21..
35. "Patrimoine de Balkany : la Haute autorité pour la transparence saisit la justice". Le Figaro. 2017-11-09. Retrieved 9 November 2017..