Paris (AFP)
Vincent Drouin, a former AFP journalist where he was chief of social service and responsible for parliamentary coverage, died suddenly Monday at the age of 63, announced his family.
Joined AFP in 1980 at the France desk, he was several times a journalist for social information, of which he was deputy (1994-1999) then head of service between 2006 and 2010. He had notably co-signed a book on unemployment insurance in 1985.
Keen on politics, specialist in opinion polls, author of a thesis on "Generation effects in the French electorate" and of a book of testimonies from municipal councilors ("Infantrymen of the Republic" published in 2006), he will occupy several positions in the political service, including that of responsible for covering the National Assembly and the Senate between 2011 and 2015.
He was also stationed in Brussels, in the economy service and had just retired after finishing his career as deputy head of the multimedia documentation service.
Unanimously appreciated for his professional and human qualities, he was a strong and respected voice of AFP from which he has always defended the independence and the missions in France as in the world. His death caused very strong emotion at the Agency.
A graduate of the IEP of Paris and the CFJ, he was also a member of the steering committee of the Association of Journalists for Social Information (Ajis) as well as the Association of Parliamentary Journalists (AJP).
His funeral will be on Monday March 2 at 3:30 p.m. at the Père Lachaise crematorium.
He leaves a companion, the demographer France Meslé, two grown children and a granddaughter.
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