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Lionel Jospin, Vaillant held several ministerial portfolios in his cabinets: Minister of the Relations with Parliament from 1997 to 2000 and
Interior Minister from 2000 to 2002. He also supported Jospin as candidate for the
Socialist Party in the
2007 presidential election; a candidacy which eventually did not materialize. As of 2009, he is mayor of the
18th arrondissement of Paris (first election 1995) and a member of the
National Assembly. In October 2009, he proposed to decriminalize the personal use of cannabis through control of production and import, as is the case with alcohol. == Published work==