Coronavirus: death of Patrick Devedjian, former minister and deputy

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He is the first national politician to be victim of the coronavirus epidemic. Former Minister Patrick Devedjian died on the night of Saturday to Sunday of the coronavirus at the age of 75. Since 2007, he has been Chairman of the Hauts-de-Seine General Council, in the Paris region.

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Diagnosed positive for Covid-19, Patrick Devidjian was placed under observation on Wednesday in a hospital in the department. Still stable Friday, according to those around him, his condition quickly deteriorated yesterday Saturday.

The announcement of his disappearance quickly reacted political figures of all stripes, from Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris who hailed his commitment to the Armenian cause - Patrick Devedjian is the son of an Armenian refugee who arrived in France in 1919-, to Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, who expressed his “great sadness”. Many of those who knew him greet a free and courageous man, a subtle and cultivated spirit, he who was passionate about French painting.

Born in 1944 in Fontainebleau, Patrick Devidjian was a figure in French political life. Member of a group of far-right activists in the 1960s, he moved closer to the Gaullist right and registered his steps in those of Jacques Chirac and then Nicolas Sarkozy, two presidents of which he was minister.

Minister Delegate for Local Liberties, then Minister Delegate for Industry, in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of Jacques Chirac, this lawyer by training dreams of being Keeper of the Seals. Close to Nicolas Sarkoy, he hopes to win the Grail during the election to the presidency of the latter. Alas, he is not part of the first Fillon government, open to centrists and to the grips on the left. He will join the team later, in charge of the recovery plan launched in response to the financial crisis.

Patrick Devidjian also succeeded Nicolas Sarkozy at the head of the UMP and then of Hauts-de-Seine, one of the richest departments in France, of which he was a deputy then president of the General Council. It was for him to " clean the stables of Augias, " he said provocatively. Patrick Devedjian was nicknamed the "minister of speech" within the right. " I prefer small murderous sentences to big hollow speeches ," said this early Sarkozy, who then distanced himself from the former head of state ...

In his last tweet, Thursday, Patrick Devedjian assured that he was "going up the slope" ... and thanked the doctors who had taken care of him.

with AFP

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• French politics
• France
• Coronavirus