Montebourg was first elected to the National Assembly in
Saône-et-Loire in the
1997 legislative election. He was reelected in
2002 and
2007. In 2001, together with Bastien François, a professor of Political Science at
Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Montebourg became the cofounder of the
Convention pour la VI-ème République (C6R). This convention called for significant constitutional changes, and for a Sixth French Republic. Its objectives were to decrease the power of the president and allow a parliamentary balance. Montebourg was one of the founding members of the political movement known as the
Nouveau Parti Socialiste (New Socialist Party), where he defended economical protectionism and sovereignty. When the movement ended due to internal difficulties, he created a new movement within the Socialist Party called
Rénover, Maintenant (Renewal, Now). He was one of the leading opponents of
President Jacques Chirac's
immunity from prosecution, especially concerning the
corruption scandals in the Paris region. Montebourg also supported reporter
Denis Robert for his role in revealing the illegal system of double-accounts maintained by
Clearstream, a
clearing-house based in
Luxembourg, involving high-ranking politicians. He has also been engaged in a campaign against the rules governing taxation of foreign nationals and the banking secrecy of
Switzerland. rally featuring
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in Toulouse ahead of the
2007 presidential election Montebourg was appointed spokesman for
Ségolène Royal's presidential campaign following his endorsement of her candidacy during the
Socialist Party primary election in November 2006. On 18 January 2007, Royal suspended him from her campaign for one month the day after he gave an interview on a
Canal+ talk show, where he said, "Ségolène Royal has only one fault, her partner." He was referring to the contradictory statements on tax policy made by Royal's partner,
François Hollande, who was at the time serving as First Secretary of the Socialist Party. Montebourg had offered his resignation, which Royal declined to accept. , 2010 In 2008, Monteboug became President of the General Council of Saône-et-Loire, elected in the canton of
Montret, while at the same time retaining his mandate as a parliamentarian. In 2011, when
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from prison and flown back to France, Montebourg urged him to apologise for embarrassing the Socialist Party. ==In government under the presidency of François Hollande==