Jean-Louis Debré died on the night of this Monday, March 3 at the age of 80 after a great career in politics.
Jean-Louis Debré lost his life in the night of Monday, March 3 to Tuesday, March 4, his family announced in LCI. This close friend of Jacques Chirac, Minister of the Interior from 1995 to 1997, made his last breath at 80 years old. If the cause has not been specified, it is possible that it is then simply old age. His meeting with the former president, whom he had described as “his friend” during the latter’s disappearance in 2019, had turned his life upside down. After studying law, he accompanied him in politics. Jean-Louis Debré was first elected deputy in Eure and was appointed Minister of the Interior. He then reached the post of president of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007 and then of the Constitutional Council from 2007 to 2016.
Politics, he had it in his blood. His father, Michel Debré, was a famous resistance fighter who participated alongside Charles de Gaulle in the drafting of the fifth Constitution. “I am the child of a family of resistance fighters and all the life of my parents is in this Gaullist movement. When he returned to power, my father was the editor of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, then his Prime Minister. He is part of my adolescent universe,” he said in 2021 in Paris Match. At 72, Jean-Louis Debré had converted and became a host in Paris Première and political columnist in different programs. He also released several works and played in the theater.
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10:10 – The Constitutional Council pays a collective tribute
In a press releasethe Constitutional Council expressed its “great sadness” to the announcement of the death. “By presiding the Constitutional Council from 2007 to 2016, President Debré had attached himself to what could be adopted and unfolds the procedure of the priority question of constitutionality (QPC), which has strengthened the protection of the rights and freedoms that the Constitution guarantees and which profoundly transformed the Constitutional Council”, they wrote ” Employees of the Constitutional Council and in his personal name, Laurent Fabius sends his most lively condolences to the relatives of Jean-Louis Debré “
10:05 – A tribute paid at 2 p.m. in the National Assembly
The president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, will pay tribute to Jean-Louis Debré this Tuesday at 2 p.m. before the opening of the question session to the government.
10:00 – “He loved others very much and he was funny” remembers Renaud Muselier
Renaud Muselier, president of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, praised a “great servant of the Republic”. “In direct and indisputable parentage, he will have marked our constitutional practice: what a fate of son, and what a stress of statesman!”, He wrote on X. “He loved his country fundamentally, he loved others very much (…) and he was funny,” he added on the morning of TF1.
France cries a great servant of the Republic, Jean-Louis Debré.
In direct and indisputable parentage, he will have marked our constitutional practice: what a fate of son, and what a destiny of statesman!
I think of his family, his relatives and all those who loved him. pic.twitter.com/ok0zbhzjvs
– Renaud Muselier (@renaudmuselier) March 4, 2025
09:52 – Jean -Louis Debré Collector of Marianne busts
One of Jean-Louis Debré’s passions remains Marianne’s busts. He said he had more than a hundred. “I even have rare from former French colonies including an African, Haitian and even half a veiled,” he said during the opening of the Exhibition Les Marianne du Senate in 2022.
09:47 – Laurent Wauquiez remembers the welcome from Jean -Louis Debré
Laurent Wauquiez remembered X his welcome as a young deputy by Jean-Louis Debré: “He had welcomed me warmly as a young deputy. I keep the memories of our passionate exchanges in his office where he collected Marianne’s busts for the designer Jacques Faizant, as a resolute assertion of his attachment to the Republic”.
I sadly learn the death of Jean-Louis Debré, a great Gaullist figure. Former Minister, former president of the National Assembly, former president of the Constitutional Council, son of the founder of the Fifth Republic, who lost one of his best servants. He had … pic.twitter.com/kce8vf4mm2
– Laurent Wauquiez (@laurentwauquiez) March 4, 2025
09:39 – The President of the National Assembly pays tribute to her predecessor
Yaël Braun-Pivet, current president of the National Assembly paid tribute to the career of the politician on X. “President of the National Assembly,” this magical place of the Republic “, was for Jean-Louis Debré” the honor of a life “and” five years of absolute happiness “. From the courtroom to the perchor, passing through the government and the presidency of the Constitutional Council, he will have been constantly protecting our Republic and writing.
President of the National Assembly, “this magical place of the Republic”, was for Jean-Louis Debré “the honor of a life” and “five years of absolute happiness”. From the courtroom to the perch, via the government and the presidency of the Constitutional Council, it will not have stopped … pic.twitter.com/j95u1xwdyx
-Yaël Braun-Pivet (@yaelbraunpivet) March 4, 2025
09:38 – Bruno Retailleau greets a “big connoisseur”
Bruno Retailleau, current Minister of the Interior, paid tribute to him, welcoming a “great connoisseur” and “a great servant of our institutions” who “will have marked with his Gaullist convictions French life”,
I send all my thoughts to the family and relatives of Jean-Louis Debré.
From the Ministry of the Interior to the Constitutional Council, including the presidency of the National Assembly, this great connoisseur and this great servant of our institutions will have marked his … pic.twitter.com/yx4mg5wpfj
– Bruno Retailleau (@brunoretailleau) March 4, 2025