Editing Natacha Bouchart

Natacha Bouchart was born on the 29th May, 1963 and is a French politician. Elected mayor of Calais in 2008 she became senator for the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) in 2011.

Natacha Bouchart began her political career in 1986 as a collaborator of Jean-Paul Delevoye and became a Parliamentary Assistant of Claude Demassieux from 1993 to 1997. Breaking with 37 years of traditionally having a mayor from the French Communist Party, Natacha Bouchart became mayor in 2008 thanks to an open popular and social list supported by the UMP and composed by candidates from the right, centre, left and apolitical groups. Her election as mayor was facilitated by the withdrawal of Franóis Dubout, the candidate for the Front National, who Bouchart did not want to negotiate with. Dubout called for the public to vote for an alternative group rather than choose the communist candidate, Jacky Hénin. After that, Bouchart was reelected as mayor of Calais in the past municipal elections held in March 2014. She is a current member of the Committee on Social Affairs and holds the position of Vice-President of the Senatorial Delegation of Forecasting, which deals with the reflection on societal and economic transformations and informs on request of the Senate. She is also a member of the Study Group on the Sea and the Littoral within the Senate.

Finally, influenced by her Armenian heritage (her father was Armenian and her grandparents were part of the Armenian diaspora), Bouchart is particularly sensitive to the integration of young people, minorities and underprivileged people and has contributed and led many projects such as in school assemblies.