Michel Poniatowski

Michel Poniatowski
Michel Poniatowski (left) with Tunisian PresidentHabib Bourguibain 1976
Minister of State,Minister of the Interior
In office 28 May 1974 – 29 March 1977
President	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Prime Minister	Raymond Barre Jacques Chirac
Preceded by	Jacques Chirac
Succeeded by	Christian Bonnet
Minister of Health
In office 5 April 1973 – 27 May 1974
President	Georges Pompidou
Prime Minister	Pierre Messmer
Preceded by	Jean Foyer
Succeeded by	Simone Veil
Personal details
Born	(1922-05-16)16 May 1922 Paris,France
Died	15 January 2002(2002-01-15)(aged 79) Le Rouret,Alpes-Maritimes,France
Political party	UDF
Spouse	Gilberte de Chavagnac
Children	Ladislas Poniatowski Isabelle Poniatowski Axel Poniatowski Bruno Poniatowski
Education	Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague
Alma mater	École nationale d'administration

Michel Poniatowski(16 May 1922 – 15 January 2002) was a French politician, member of alegitimizedline ofPoland's princelyPoniatowski family.He was a founder of the Independent Republicans and a part of the administration forPresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing.Poniatowski served asMinister of Healthfrom 1973 to 1974 andMinister of the Interiorin the Giscard d'Estaing government from 1974 to 1977. He was a founder and honorary president of theUnion for French Democracy(Union pour la Démocratie Française, UDF).

Early life and career

Poniatowski was the 7th great-grandson of PrinceKazimierz Poniatowski,older brother ofStanisław August Poniatowski,who reigned as king of Poland from 1764 to 1795. Kasimierz had a son,Stanisław Poniatowski1754–1833, whose son, Giuseppe Luci (1816–1873), by his mistress Cassandra Luci, was recognized and ennobled in theAustrian Empireon 19 November 1850 asJoseph Michel, Prince Poniatowski,a name and title recognised byNapoleon IIIwhen Poniatowski was naturalised in France and became a senator there, both in 1854. Two years later in Paris, Joseph's son, PrinceStanislas Poniatowski(1835–1908), marriedLouise Le Hon,generally reputed to be the daughter ofCountess Le Hon(néeFanny Mosselman) byCharles, Duke de Morny,the illegitimate son ofCharles Joseph, comte de FlahautbyHortense de Beauharnais,sometime Queen consort of Holland as well as the adopted and step-daughter of Napoleon I; thus Louise Le Hon (as a granddaughter of Napoleon III's uterine half-brother) was a niece of the Emperor of France at the time of her marriage to Poniatowski, who was appointed the emperor'saide-de-camp.Their son,André Poniatowski(1864–1954) wedStocktonflour mill heiress Elizabeth Sperry in 1894. The son of that union, Prince Casimir Poniatowski (1897–1980), became the father of Michel by his 1920 marriage to Countess Anne deCaraman-Chimay(1901–1977), member of a Belgian princely family.

Poniatowski attended theCours Hattemer,a private school.He attended theÉcole nationale d'administrationfor finance and began his career inMorocco,later becoming a finance attaché in Washington, DC in 1956. In 1958, he became the chief of staff forPierre Pflimlin,the last president of the Council of theFourth RepublicbeforeCharles de Gaulle.From 1959 to 1962, he was the chief of staff for prime ministerValéry Giscard d'Estaing,thenchargé de mission(1962–1865), and finally director of Insurances at theMinister of Financefrom 1963 to 1967.

1970s

Poniatowski took a founding part in theIndependent Republicans(RI) party, and became an RIdeputyfor theVal-d'Oisein 1967, as well as the general secretary of the Confederation of the Independents before taking the presidency of the party's successor, theRepublican Party,in 1975. He was elected mayor ofL'Isle-Adam (France)in 1971.Bernard Lehideuxserved Poniatowski as of his office in 1969. Poniatowski was then namedMinister of Public Health and Social Securityfrom 5 April 1973 to 27 May 1974, under the government ofPierre Messmer.

Minister of the Interior and State Minister (1974–1977)

See also:Arenc affair

Poniatowski succeededJacques Chiracon 24 May 1974 and served in the post until 1977. Considered as the main organisator ofValéry Giscard d'Estaing's victory at the1974 presidential election,he was namedMinister of StateandMinister of the Interioron 27 May, which changed the official protocol of the Republic: the most important minister was no longer theMinister of Justice.Although he was a strong-handed Interior Minister, he suppressed the personal registers (fiches signalétiques), which customers of a hotel were to sign, a custom that remains in force in many countries.

In August 1975, he sent theFrench military of Franceto repress the nationalist rebellion inCorsicabyEdmond Simeoni,who had illegally occupied awine caveinAleria.Twogendarmeswere killed during the assault, leading him, along with Chirac, of being accused of a large part of the responsibility in the violence that hit Corsica.

Following the assassination of PrinceJean de Broglie,a Giscardian deputy,L'Express(January 1977) and thenLe Canard enchaîné,in 1980, published documents alleging that Poniatowski had known in advance of the death threats on de Broglie but not acted accordingly. The satirical newspaper recalled that de Broglie had been treasurer of the Independent Republicans and tied to the Matesa scandal, which allegedly funded the RI. Soon after the affair and the failure of the right wing at the March 1977 municipal elections, Poniatowski quit the Ministry of Interior and would not be called again as minister.

1980s

Poniatowski was a founding member in 1978 of theUnion for a French Democracy(UDF), the liberal and Christian democrat party that backedValéry Giscard d'Estaingand tried to rival Chirac'sneo-GaullistRally for the Republic(RPR). Until 1981, Michel Poniatowski was ambassador and personal representative of Giscard. He was anMEPfrom 1979 to 1989 and presided in theEuropean Parliamentover the Commission on Development and Cooperation (1979–1984) and then the Commission on Energy, Research and Technology (1984).

Poniatowski approved in September 1983 the merger of the electoral listRPR-UDFwith the far-rightNational Front(FN), a party headed byJean-Marie Le Pen,during the partial municipal election ofDreux.Poniatowski stated, "The fascist danger in France does not come from the right. It comes from the left for which that is its vocation of spirit and method. One must therefore vote against the fascists of the left".

Poniatowski was thensenatorof theVal-d'Oisefrom 1989 to 1995 and continued to advocate in favour of electoral agreements with the National Front by taking as model the (difficult) relationship between theSocialist Party(PS) and theCommunist Party(PCF). An atypical member of the UDF, which he had co-founded, he was first ignored by his colleagues for his support of the far right, and the National Front's ascension is usually dated from the 1983 Dreux elections. After his support for electoral agreements with the FN during the 1992 regional elections and the1993 legislative elections,he was finally disavowed by his fellow party members at the end of 1991, but he was neither excluded nor deprived of his honorary presidential functions.

Like many members of the right wing, he supportedÉdouard Balladuragainst Chirac during the1995 presidential election.Three years later, he participated to the right-wing party ofCharles Millon,who was excluded from the UDF for the same reasons as Poniatowski, and they founded theDroite libérale-chrétienne(Liberal-Christian Right), which continued to ally itself with the National Front.

Poniatowski finally retreated from political life in 1999 and was replaced as mayor ofL'Isle-Adamby his sonAxel Poniatowski.He then died three years later, on 15 January 2002.

See also

• Poniatowski

References and notes

Further reading

• Poniatowski, Michael (1997).Mémoires(in French). Plon.ISBN978-2-259-18517-2.