Biography

Jean-François Copé (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa kɔpe]; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—including Minister of the Budget—at the same time. He also served as the member of the National Assembly for the 6th constituency of Seine-et-Marne and president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly. In November 2010 he became the party's secretary-general. In August 2012 he announced that he would run for the presidency of the UMP, facing the former Prime Minister François Fillon.

On 19 November 2012 he was elected to the presidency of the UMP with 50.03% of votes from its members, defeating Fillon, who asserted his own victory. He resigned from the post on 27 May 2014 following an invoices scandal and poor results for the UMP at the 2014 European elections.