Éric Zemmour
Éric Zemmour (French: [eʁik zemuʁ]; born 31 August 1958) is a French right wing [2] to far-right[a][b][c] politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on Face à l'Info, a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to 2021.[4] He ran in the 2022 French presidential election, in which he placed fourth in the first round.
Éric Zemmour
Office established
Reconquête (2021–present)
Sarah Knafo (2021–present)
3
"Le Z"[1]
L'homme qui ne s'aimait pas
Le premier sexe
Mélancolie française
Le Suicide français
Destin français
La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot
Born in Montreuil, Zemmour studied at Sciences Po. He worked as a reporter for Le Quotidien de Paris from 1986 to 1996. He then joined Le Figaro, where he worked until 2021.[d] Zemmour also became known as a television personality, appearing as a pundit or co-host on shows such as On n'est pas couché on France 2 (2006–2011) and Ça se dispute on I-Télé (2003–2014), as well as Zemmour et Naulleau (2011–2021), a weekly evening talk show on Paris Première, together with literary critic Éric Naulleau.[9] Zemmour also worked for RTL from 2010 until 2019, first hosting the daily radio show Z comme Zemmour, prior to joining Yves Calvi's morning news show as an analyst. His book The French Suicide (Le Suicide français) sold more than 500,000 copies in 2014.[10][11]
Zemmour is well known for his controversial views regarding immigration and Islam in France. He has extensively supported the idea of the "great replacement", a conspiracy theory contending that France's native population will be replaced by non-European people.[12] Zemmour was fined for incitement to racial discrimination in 2011 and for incitement of hate against Muslims in 2018. He appealed the conviction before the European Court of Human Rights but he lost the appeal.[13] He was acquitted six times of similar charges, in 2008, 2014 (twice), 2016, 2017 and 2019. Convictions in 2015 and 2020 were overturned on appeal.
Zemmour announced his candidacy for the 2022 French presidential election on 30 November 2021.[14] On 5 December 2021, he launched Reconquête, a nationalist political party.[15] In 2021, a New York Times article described Zemmour's views as "hard-line... on immigration, Islam's place in France and national identity",[12] while he self-identifies as Gaullist and Bonapartist.[16] During his presidential campaign, Zemmour advocated vast changes in France's political system. He endorsed Marine Le Pen for the second round.[17]
He was a candidate for a parliamentary seat in the Saint-Tropez-centred 4th constituency of the Var department in the 2022 French legislative election but was eliminated in the first round, placing third.
Life and career[edit]
Early life and family[edit]
Zemmour was born on 31 August 1958 in the Seine department, now part of Seine-Saint-Denis. His parents were Berber Jews from Algeria, which was part of France at that time, and so they had French citizenship.[e][19][20] They had moved to metropolitan France in 1952, before the Algerian War, alongside their parents and siblings.[21][22] Upon their arrival in France, his paternal grandparents, born Liaou and Messouka, took the names Justin and Rachel, and his maternal grandmother, born Ourida, took her middle name Claire. Her husband was named Léon; this is the root of Zemmour's middle name.[23]
His parents were Roger Zemmour, a paramedic, and Lucette, a housewife.[24] His father was often absent and so he was principally raised by his mother and grandmother; he has since said that this helped him to forge his character, and that it was his mother who instilled in him drive and ambition for excellence.[25][26] He has one younger brother, Jean-Luc.[27]
Zemmour grew up first in Drancy and later in the Paris Château Rouge quarter.[24] He was brought up in the Jewish faith, and he speaks Hebrew.[28] Although private about his faith, he follows the directions of the Halakha and attended synagogues frequently until the death of his father in 2013. He has stated that his Jewish name is "Moïse".[29][23][30]
Education[edit]
Zemmour attended Jewish private schools, École Lucien-de-Hirsh and École Yabné.[31] He graduated from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris in 1979. He subsequently failed twice (in 1980 and 1981) to gain admission to the École nationale d'administration (ÉNA).[32] However, he later became member of the admissions committee of the school in 2006.[33]
Personal life[edit]
Since 1982, Éric Zemmour has been married to Mylène Chichportich, a lawyer of Tunisian Jewish descent who specialises in bankruptcy law. She maintains a low media profile and never comments on her husband's controversies. The couple have three children, two boys and a girl.[34]
In 2021, Zemmour was alleged by French gossip magazines to have impregnated his chief campaign advisor Sarah Knafo.[35] He recognised her as his partner in January 2022.[36]
In a 2014 interview with Le Point, Zemmour stated that although he does not believe in God, he keeps a kosher home and occasionally attends synagogue services on High Holy Days.[37]
