Nanterre (AFP)

Hospitalized mid-week after being tested positive for coronavirus, the former minister of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy Patrick Devedjian, 75, died in the night from Saturday to Sunday.

Diagnosed positive at Covid-19, this figure from the right, who had been president of the Hauts-de-Seine general council since 2007, had been placed under observation on Wednesday in a hospital in the department. Still stable on Friday, according to those around him, his condition quickly deteriorated on Saturday.

Thursday, he indicated in a tweet to be "affected by the epidemic, therefore able to testify directly to the exceptional work of doctors and all caregivers". "Tired but stabilized thanks to them, I go back up the hill and send them a very big thank you for their constant help to all the patients," he added.

Quickly on Sunday morning, the announcement of his death sparked many reactions in the political world, where the personality and culture of this former minister were greeted. Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate expressed his "great sadness" to learn the death of a "courageous man and totally devoted to his city of Antony and to the Hauts-de-Seine".

Anne Hidalgo, the PS mayor of Paris, also expressed her "immense sadness" "I think of our Armenian friends who are losing one of their brothers today," she said. Proud of his Armenian origins, Patrick Devedjian never ceased to fight for the recognition of the genocide and for the development of Armenia today.

Pierre Moscovici also estimated that "his word will be missed". "Our ideas were certainly different. But I enjoyed the debate with this cultivated, courteous, authentically liberal and European man."

- "Intellectual nonconformist" -

"He was the most brilliant of us, an extremely free man, intellectual nonconformist, very funny", deplored with AFP Philippe Juvin, president of the federation LR of Hauts-de-Seine which also directs the emergency at the Parisian Georges-Pompidou hospital.

A lawyer by profession, Patrick Devedjian was a deputy for the 13th district of Hauts-de-Seine from 1986 to 2017, mayor of Antony from 1983 to 2002 and elected departmental councilor in 2004. He has chaired the department since 2007.

He was also spokesperson for the RPR from 1999 to 2001 and secretary general of the UMP from 2007 to 2008 and held several government positions.

Strong supporter of the autonomy of local authorities, he was first Minister Delegate in charge of local freedoms (2002 to 2004). As such, he piloted the laws of Act II of decentralization. He was then Minister Delegate for Industry and worked in particular on the liberalization of telecommunications. Finally, he was Minister in charge of the Recovery Plan, from 2008 to 2010, in the midst of the global financial crisis.

He also chaired the public establishment of La Défense (Epad) from 2007 to 2009 and was president of the public establishment of La Défense (Defacto) from 2009 to 2018. He worked to merge the two establishments to create the Paris-La Défense public establishment, which he took over in 2018.

A great collector, keen on 18th century art, Patrick Devedjian was also administrator of the Louvre museum.

He was at the initiative of the construction of the large complex installed on the island Seguin La Seine Musicale in Boulogne-Billancourt and the indoor sports and cultural center Paris-La Défense Arena in Nanterre.

Recently, he was in charge of the creation of the Grand Siècle Museum in the Sully barracks in Saint-Cloud.

President of the Syndicat Paris Métropole and co-president of the Prefiguration Mission of the Greater Paris metropolis from 2014 to 2016, Patrick Devedjian had initiated a merger with the department of Yvelines.

Finally, he was the author of several books and, since 2016, has published a regular column in the newspaper L'Opinion.

Married, he had four sons.

© 2020 AFP