Jean-Yves Le Drian

Jean-Yves Le Drian ; born 30 June 1947) is a French politician who is a member of the French Socialist Party. He has served as the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs under Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault since 2012.

Early life and education
Jean-Yves Le Drian was born on 30 June 1947 in Lorient, Brittany, to working-class parents, Jean and Louisette, who were active members of the Young Christian Workers (Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne, or JOC, in French). He completed his studies at the University of Rennes, where he was an activist for the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF).

Political career
First of all interested by Breton Democratic Union (UDB) in the 1970's, he joined the French Socialist Party (PS) in May 1974. He served as the deputy mayor of Lorient in 1977 and then, at the age of 30, he became a member of the French National Assembly for Morbihan. He served until 1993 and then again from 1997 until June 2007.

He served as Minister of the Sea under the government of Prime Minister Édith Cresson from 1991 to 1992.

In 2004 at the top of the list Bretagne à gauche, Bretagne pour tous (PS-PCF-PRG-Les Verts-UDB), he won 58.66% in the runoff and a total of 58 seats in the regional council. He thus became regional president of Brittany. In October 2010 he became President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR).

He was nominated to serve as the Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on 16 May 2012. As Minister of Defence, he has been managing the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan and the deployment of French troops in the ongoing Northern Mali conflict.