Bruno Gollnisch

Prof.
Bruno Gollnisch
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
15 July 1989
Constituency France (1989-2004)
East France (since 2004)
Regional councillor
for Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Assumed office
16 March 1986
Member of the French National Assembly
for Rhône (department)
In office
16 March 1986 – 14 May 1988
Municipal Councillor
for the 8th arrondissement of Lyon
In office
18 June 1995 – 30 March 2014
Personal details
Born (1950-01-28) 28 January 1950
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Nationality France
Political party National Front
Spouse(s) Setsuko Takeuchi
Children 3
Religion Roman Catholic

Bruno Gollnisch (born 28 January 1950 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French academic and politician, a member of the National Front (FN) far-right party, and a member of the European Parliament. He was chairman of the European Parliamentary group 'Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty' in 2007, which was dissolved in November 2007 following the defection of the Greater Romania Party. He is therefore a Non-Inscrit. Gollnisch has also been the executive vice-president of the FN since 2007. He is a councillor of the Rhône-Alpes région of France. Because of his public comments, and his position in the National Front he is a controversial figure in France.

Education

Bruno Gollnisch studied law, political science and far-eastern languages with the view to becoming a diplomat. He met Jean-Marie Le Pen while studying at Nanterre university. He also became a reserve officer in the French Navy.

In 1971-1973 he was granted degrees in Japanese and Malaysian-Indonesian by the INALCO. In 1973, he was awarded a degree in political sciences at Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He did a masters (DEA) in public law in 1973. In 1974, he began doctoral studies in Law at Kyoto University (Japan). In 1978, he obtained a doctorate in law at Panthéon-Assas University.[1] Since 1980, he has been an attorney at the bar of Paris.

Academic career

After his return to France, he began a career as juridical advisor, then lawyer. He is a specialist in the law of Eastern Asian countries.

He became associate professor of Law at Metz university. In 1981, he became professor of Japanese language and civilization at the University of Lyon III - a position which he holds to this day. The humanities division of University Lyon 3 is notorious for the profusion of FN supporters and Holocaust deniers among its faculty—most notably, Robert Faurisson. Gollnisch has collaborated with the white nationalist American Renaissance magazine.

Video Introduction (English) / (French)

Political career

Gollnisch, who is part of the Catholic faction within the National Front, along with Bernard Antony, joined the "TSM" faction inside the FN (Tout sauf Mégret, Anybody But Mégret) during the 1990s crisis, along with Samuel Maréchal, Marine Le Pen, Roger Holeindre, Jean-Claude Martinez and Martine Lehideux.[2]

Gollnisch served as the President of the Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) from 2010 until 2013, when his party left the AENM in order to join the more moderate European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) and so unify the National Front under the EAF banner.[3]

Gollnisch was an unsuccessful candidate for the leadership of the National Front in 2011 when the party's founding leader Jean Marie Le Pen retired. Gollnisch was defeated by Marine Le Pen, Jean Marie's daughter.[4]

Controversy

Bruno Gollnisch interviewed by a journalist at the 1st of May rally in honour of Joan of Arc, Paris.

Bruno Gollnisch was condemned in January 2007 to a three-month prison sentence on probation and ordered to pay costs of 55,000 Euros (with interest) by the Lyon tribunal correctionnel on a charge of "an offence of verbal contestation of the existence of crimes against humanity,[5] " which is punished in France by virtue of the 1990 Gayssot Act. Gollnisch had committed the verbal contestation on October 11, 2004, by declaring:

I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to speak their minds ("de se déterminer").[6]

In reaction to a report denouncing the complacent attitude of the University Lyon III with respect to the far right, Bruno Gollnisch reiterated his declarations shortly after its publication. Bruno Gollnisch's declarations, with their implication of holocaust denial, provoked a scandal, especially in the run-up to the ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp. The chancellor of the university asked the Minister of National Education to suspend Professor Gollnisch, and announced the opening of a disciplinary procedure against him.

On 26 December, the chancellor suspended Professor Gollnisch's classes for 30 days. Furthermore, on 2 December, the chancellor excluded him from the university, alleging a possible breach of the peace; however, this decision was overturned by the Conseil d'État on 14 January 2005.[7]

On 2 February, Bruno Gollnisch started teaching again at Lyon III. Students were prevented from entering his lecture room by groups of students from left-wing and Jewish associations. A group of National Front students enabled his students to enter and blocked the protesters. A brawl ensued; police officers arrived on the scene and a National Front student was arrested. Other trouble ensued.

On 7 November 2006, at the opening of the trial, Bruno Gollnisch was asked whether "the organized extermination of European Jews by the Nazi regime (...) constitutes an undeniable crime against humanity, and that it was carried out notably by using gas chambers in extermination camps". He replied "absolutely".[8] Gollnisch was finally found not guilty by the Cour de cassation on 24 June 2009.[9]

On 23 October 2012, Bruno Gollnisch visited Hungary to deliver a speech in honor of Jobbik, a party described as "anti-Semitic" by the New York Times and as "extremist" by Marine Le Pen.[10][11] In the speech, Gollnisch declared that the Treaty of Trianon was "unjust and shameful."[12] Condemnation of the Treaty of Trianon is seen by Romania as the endorsement of irredentist claims on Romanian territory and of the redrawing of the map of Europe.[13]

Criticism of the Vatican

In August 2010, Bruno Gollnisch - who supports the French Government's move to deport Roma from French territory - publicly criticised the Vatican for opposing the deportation.[14] He suggested that the evicted Roma should be accommodated in St Peter's Square, Rome, and that the Vatican should then re-state its position.

Personal life

He married a Japanese, Setsuko Takeuchi, in 1981 and they have three children.

Electoral mandates

References

  1. ↑ Thiébaud, Jean-Marie (2008). La Présence française au Japon : du XVIe siècle à nos jours. Éditions L'Harmattan. p. 457. ISBN 978-2296192874.
  2. ↑ Erwan Lecoeur, Dictionnaire de l’extrême-droite, Larousse 2007, pp.263-264
  3. ↑ FN : Jean-Marie Le Pen "obéit" à sa fille et quitte le parti pan-européen
  4. ↑ "Marine Le Pen 'chosen to lead France's National Front'". BBC News. 15 January 2011.
  5. ↑ Bruno Gollnisch condamné pour ses propos sur l'Holocauste, REUTERS cable published by L'Express on January 18, 2007 — URL accessed on January 18, 2007 (French) délit de contestation de l'existence de crime contre l'humanité par paroles
  6. ↑ NEGATIONNISME: Lyon III demande la suspension de Bruno Gollnisch, Le Nouvel Observateur, 13 October 2004 (French)
  7. ↑ "Conseil d'État : Accueil". Conseil-etat.fr. 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  8. ↑ Bruno Gollnisch a reconnu l'existence des chambres à gaz à l'ouverture de son procès, Le Monde, 8 November 2006 (French)
  9. ↑ Gollnisch blanchi par la Cour de cassation, Le Nouvel Observateur, 24 June 2009 (French)
  10. ↑ "Viktor Orban Wins a Second Term in Hungary", "The New York Times", 7 April 2014. Retrieved on 6 June 2014
  11. ↑ "FN: Marine le Pen demande à son père de quitter une alliance trop radicale", L'Express (France)", 12 October 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "Bruno Gollnisch: Trianon is unjust", 24 October 2012. Retrieved on 6 June 2014
  13. ↑ "Romania condemns irredentist statements by Hungarian politician", Euractiv, 13 August 2013. Retrieved on 6 June 2014
  14. ↑ M3 Web - http://m3web.bg (2010-08-26). "Bulgaria: French MEP 'Irritated' by Pope's Criticism of Roma Deportation - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". Novinite.com. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
New office		 President of the Alliance of European National Movements
2010–2013 		Succeeded by
Béla Kovács


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