Early beginnings • First federal secretary, Haute-Garonne Socialist Party (1999–2008) • Member of the Socialist Party national bureau (since 2000) • Socialist Party national secretary, with responsibility for globalisation • Member of Castanet-Tolosan Municipal Council, with responsibility for sport (1995–2001)
Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2012 During his time as
Member of the European Parliament, Arif served on the
Committee on International Trade. He was also a substitute for the
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and a member of the delegations to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, the
ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and the
Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. In the Socialist Party's
2011 primaries, Arif endorsed
François Hollande as the party's candidate for the
2012 presidential election. In January 2012, Arif resigned as the European Parliament's
rapporteur of the
ACTA agreement in protest against the ACTA agreement.
Junior Minister for Veterans, 2012–2014 On 16 May 2012, Arif was appointed Junior
Minister for Veterans at the French
Ministry of Defence in the
government of Jean-Marc Ayrault by President
François Hollande. On 21 November 2014, Arif resigned due to suspicion on fraud and opening of judicial inquiry. ==Political positions==