Member of the National Assembly Morin was first elected as a representative to the
French National Assembly on 16 June 2002, in the
3rd constituency of
Eure,
Normandy. He served as chairman of the
Union for French Democracy (UDF) group in the National Assembly. After the UDF's candidate for the
2007 presidential election,
François Bayrou, did not make it to the 2nd round, he hinted that he attempted to create an alliance with the
Socialist Party and decided to found a new political party: the
Democratic Movement (or MoDem). Consequently, Morin, who is of the center-right and an ally of the presidential election's winner,
Nicolas Sarkozy, made it an organisation within the presidential majority in the National Assembly. It is now called
New Centre and he is the leader. After the creation of the
UMP, Morin took the presidency of the UDF group at the National Assembly, from 2002 to 2007. When Morin joined the government as minister of Defence in July 2007,
Marc Vampa of
New Centre replaced him as representative.
Minister of Defence in 2010 Following the
Battle of N'Djamena in 2008, Morin flew to
Chad in a show of support for
President Idriss Deby, who had just survived an assault on the capital by rebels seeking to topple him. Over the course of 2009, he oversaw efforts to halve the number of troops deployed in
Ivory Coast to 900. In 2009, Morin rejected requests by
U.S. President Barack Obama for reinforcements to
Afghanistan, arguing the France had already deployed enough troops. He instead called on
NATO partners to set specific timelines for achieving progress in Afghanistan in areas including security and governance. After France had long refused to officially recognise a link between its testing of nuclear bombs in the Pacific Ocean and health complaints reported by both military and civilian staff involved in the tests, Morin announced in 2009 that the government would compensate victims of past nuclear tests and has earmarked an initial 10 million euros to do so. When Pierre Siramy, a former deputy director of
intelligence service DGSE Pierre Siramy published his memoirs in 2010, Morin filed a complaint against him, accusing him of violating secrecy rules and divulging the identities of operatives.
Later career On 27 November 2011, Morin officially announced his intention to run for the
2012 French presidential election. At the time of the announcement, he had the support of about 20 deputies, senators and European parliamentarians, and polls saw him winning only between 1-2 percent of the vote. During his campaign he claimed to have been present at the allied invasion of Normandy (1944), although he was not born until 1961. On 16 February 2012, he withdrew his candidacy and gave support to
Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2013,
Jean-Louis Borloo of the
Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) included Morin in his
shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Pierre Moscovici. In the
Republicans'
2016 primaries, Morin endorsed
Bruno Le Maire as the center-right parties joint candidate for the
2017 French presidential election; after Le Maire was eliminated in the first round, Morin supported
François Fillon. Shortly after, he left the UDI. Ahead of the
2022 presidential elections, Morin publicly declared his support for
Valérie Pécresse as the Republicans’ candidate.
Overview Governmental functions Minister of Defence : 2007–2010
Electoral mandates National Assembly of France Member of the
National Assembly of France for
Eure (
3rd constituency) : 1998–2007 (Became minister in 2007) / 2010–2016. Elected in 1998, reelected in 2002, 2007, 2012. Resignation in 2016.
General Council General councillor of
Eure : 1992–2004 / 2011-2014 (Resignation). Reelected in 1998 and 2011.
Regional Council Regional councillor and President of
Normandy, elected in Eure constituency : Since 2016. Regional councillor of
Haute-Normandie, elected in Eure constituency : 2004–2010.
Municipal Council Mayor of
Epaignes : 1995–2016. Reelected in 2001, 2008, 2014. Resignation in 2016. Municipal councillor of
Epaignes : Since 1989. Reelected in 1995, 2001, 2008, 2014.
Community of communes Council President of the
Communauté de communes of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014. Member of the
Communauté de communes of Canton de Cormeilles : Since 2001. Reelected in 2008, 2014. ==Other activities==