Political groups

1989-1991: Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group
1991-1993: Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group)
1999-2009: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
2009-2019: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

National parties

1989-1993: Union pour la démocratie française - Clubs Perspectives et Réalités
1999-2003: Union pour la démocratie française
2003-2015: Union pour un Mouvement Populaire
2015-2017: Les Républicains
2017-2019: independent

Biography

Alain Lamassoure was born in Pau, France. He graduated from Sciences-Po Paris and is a former student at the National School of Administration (Turgot Promotion). He began his career at the Court of Auditors as an auditor in 1968 and continued working as a legal advisor. From 1973 onwards, he was a special advisor to Maurice Druon, Minister for Cultural Affairs from 1973 to 1974, and later became a technical advisor in the office of the Minister for Finance (1974-1976) and the Minister for Infrastructure (1977-1978). He continued his career as a senior official in the office of the President of the Republic during the final years of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing's term of office (1978-1981).

National activity

From 1986 to 1993, Alain Lamassoure was Member of the National Assembly, representing the department Pyrénées-Atlantiques. In 1993, he was appointed Minister Delegate for European Affairs in the government of Édouard Balladur while François Mitterrand was President of the Republic. Under the presidency of Jacques Chirac and the premiership of Alain Juppé, he worked as Minister Delegate for the Budget and as government spokesperson from 1995 to 1997. These functions meant involvement in France’s preparations for the Euro and the 1995 EU-enlargement, the French Presidency of the European Union in 1995, and the negotiations of the Amsterdam Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact.

At local level, Alain Lamassoure was First Deputy Mayor of Anglet from 1995 to 1999, then Mayor of the same town from 1999 to 2000. He was a member of the Anglet Municipal Council until 2008.

From 1995 to 2014, he was a regional councillor for the region Aquitaine. In 1995, he presided over the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz Agglomeration Community, a position held until 2001. He was then President of the Council of Elected Representatives of the Basque Country until 2008.

Alain Lamassoure at the constitutive meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control © European Communities 1992 - European Parliament

Alain Lamassoure was a member of the Union for French Democracy, a party founded by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing when he was President of the Republic. He switched to the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) upon its creation in 2002. From 2004, he was National Secretary in charge of European affairs. He was the Secretary-General of the governing bodies of the Democratic Convention.

In March 2017, he rescinded his support for François Fillon, the presidential candidate of the Les Républicains (formerly UMP) in the wake of what is referred to as 'the Fillon affair'. In October 2017, following the decision of the political bureau of Les Républicains to exclude so-called ‘constructive’ deputies and ministers, he announced that he was leaving the party.

He is a member of the European Movement France of which he was formerly Vice-President. He has close links with various European federalist groups. He is also a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour.

He is currently Chairman of the Governing Board of the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe.

European activities

Alain Lamassoure's commitment to Europe is demonstrated by his work as an MEP. He held a seat in the European Parliament during the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th parliamentary terms. He was the spokesperson of the French delegation of the European People’s Party (EPP) Group and longstanding member of the Bureau of the EPP Group.

His activities as MEP were mainly focused on financial, budgetary, and institutional issues.

Alain Lamassoure was Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control (1992-1993), Chair of the Committee on Budgets (2009-2014), and Chair of the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (2015-2016).

He was Vice-Chair of the Committee on Budgets (1990-1992), Vice-Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (1992-1993), and Vice-Chair of the Delegation for relations with South Africa (1999-2002).

He was a member of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Budgetary Control, the Committee on Energy, Research and Technology, the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, the Temporary Committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007-2013, the Special Committee on the policy challenges and budgetary resources for a sustainable European Union after 2013, the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect, the Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion, and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.

He was a member of several delegations, including the Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as well as the Delegation for relations with India.

Alain Lamassoure is the author of several reports on own resources and the EU budget and on relations between the EU and the Member States. In 2002 and 2003, he participated in the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe. From 2002 to 2005, he was Vice-President of the European Movement France, and from 2005 to 2013, he was Vice-President of the Cercle de l’Industrie which ‘contributed to the articulation of a new industrial policy and improved economic governance in Europe’. In March 2007, Cercle de l'Industrie published a report in which, by pointing out shortcomings of the European Union’s financing system, Alain Lamassoure called for new own resources.

Constitutional Affairs Committee meeting: Debate on the future of Europe. L-R: José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Karl von Wogau, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Alain Lamassoure, Charlotte Cederschiold © European Union 2001 - European Parliament

During the 3rd parliamentary term, Alain Lamassoure took part in the discussions on the 25 June 1992 amendment of French constitutional law, a change necessary to align French law with the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. He tabled a parliamentary amendment to Article 88-1 of the French Constitution, which stated that “the Republic shall participate in the European Communities and the European Union, made up of States which have freely chosen, by virtue of the Treaties which established them, to exercise jointly some of their powers”. This amendment would have far-reaching consequences for subsequent French constitutional and administrative case law. According to the publication Les grands arrêts de la jurisprudence administrative (Grand Judgments of Administrative Case Law), that article served as basis for jurisprudence of the Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council), which was the guiding principle for the Arcelor case law of the Conseil d’État (Council of State).

In 2008, President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy requested a report from Alain Lamassoure on the effective application of Community law in the daily life of citizens, in preparation for the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2008. In his report of 27 June 2008, Alain Lamassoure called for better application of European rules in France.

In 2014, Alain Lamassoure became the leader of the European project of Alain Juppé, the candidate of the right and the centre he supported in the presidential primary of 2016. Though he was a candidate for the succession of Martin Schulz as President of the European Parliament in 2017, he was no longer in position to win that election after François Fillon defeated Alain Juppé. 

At the end of his last term of office, he was appointed Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

For more information on Alain Lamassoure's time as an MEP, click here. 

Selected plenary speeches

On 10 March 2015, in his capacity as a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Chairman of the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature and Effect, Alain Lamassoure called for the creation of long-term investment funds designed to consolidate economic growth and competitiveness in the European Union:

On 14 March 2018, as former member of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and co-rapporteur of the draft directive on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, Alain Lamassoure spoke at the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee to defend the harmonisation of company taxation within the European Union:

Archivists' corner

The fonds of Alain Lamassoure are rich and complex, reflecting intense work during his term of office. They are structured around three major strands: parliamentary work, political activities, and correspondence. In the first two series, the organisation mostly follows Alain Lamassoure's positions during certain terms of office, i.e. the 6th (2004-2009), 7th (2009-2014), and 8th parliamentary term (2014-2019), with an emphasis on the 8th term. The 3rd (1989-1994) and 5th parliamentary terms (1999-2004) are not included in this index.

The fonds reflect Alain Lamassoure’s preferred topics (economy, finance, constitutional affairs, past and present European dimension) and his activities as Chair of the Committee on Budget and the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect. They also include his activities as member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion, as well as the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.

The fonds are testimony to Alain Lamassoure’s investment into various areas of work at the European Parliament, as shown by the thematic files. The largest folders are tax rulings (in the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect - TAXE/TAX2) and the Euroepan Citizens’ Initiative (Committee on Constitutional Affairs).

A few archives relate to activities at national level, such as letters from interest groups in Alain Lamassoure's constituency Aquitaine or texts about the preparation of European elections.

Finally, the third part includes a large number of letters received and sent by Alain Lamassoure.