Gilbert Collard
Gilbert Georges Jean Camille René Collard is a French writer, barrister and politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. A member of the National Rally, he previously was the member of the National Assembly for the second constituency of Gard from 2012 until 2019. Collard has also served as Secretary-General of the Rassemblement bleu Marine since 2012, a right-wing political association and think-tank supporting Marine Le Pen, officially distinct from the National Rally, the political party she leads.Biography
Early life and education
Gilbert Collard was born in Marseille. He studied law at Aix-Marseille University and Panthéon-Assas University. In his youth, he was a member of the French Section of the Workers' International and subsequent Socialist Party until 1992.Career and first involvement in politics
Collard started his career as a barrister in Marseille in 1971. He quickly became a well-known lawyer at the national level, often speaking in the media about cases he defended. He most notably had Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Pasqua, Marine Le Pen, Valérie Bègue, as well as Paul Aussaresses as clients. In 2001, he was an independent candidate for Mayor of Vichy. He was elected to the city's council but declined the mandate.Member of the National Assembly
Collard later moved to Gallician, a town in Gard; he was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the RBM in the 2012 legislative election, at the same time as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen in Vaucluse. He succeeded Étienne Mourrut of the Union for a Popular Movement, whom he had defeated.
Since the 2014 municipal elections, Collard has also been a councillor of Saint-Gilles, Gard. On 17 April 2017, during a Marine Le Pen rally for the upcoming presidential election, an anti-fascist disrupter threw a Molotov cocktail towards him; he sustained minor injuries amid a quick reaction by police officers. Gilbert Collard was reelected to the National Assembly in the 2017 legislative election. He officially joined the National Rally, then called National Front, later the same year.Collard stood as a candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election. Following his election he resigned from the National Assembly.
