Paris (AFP)

"He did not have his tongue in his pocket" and liked to shake up the codes, in politics as in medicine: the former minister and ex-right-wing deputy Bernard Debré died at the age of 75, his family said to AFP on Sunday evening, after cancer.

A great urologist, Bernard Debré belonged to one of the illustrious families of Gaullism and the Fifth Republic.

He is the son of Michel, who was drafter of the 1958 Constitution then the first Prime Minister of General de Gaulle, and the twin brother of Jean-Louis, also former minister and former UMP president (now LR) of the Assembly National Council and the Constitutional Council.

His death from cancer, Le Point announced, immediately sparked tributes.

President Emmanuel Macron greeted an "heir to Gaullism", who "never hesitated to leave the executives and speak the truth when it came to the interest of the country": "from the hospital to the politician, Bernard Debré was a man of action all his life ".

"Professor and elected representative of the Nation, it is with the same energy that Bernard Debré treated the ailments of his patients and those of his fellow citizens. This humanism which he drew from his Gaullist roots will never leave him", also underlined the Prime Minister Jean Castex (ex-LR).

Many leaders on the right also praised his outspokenness and “free spirit”.

"Bernard Debré was a major figure in our political family. He tirelessly served France through his political commitment as minister, deputy and mayor, but also as a recognized and respected great professor of medicine," underlined LR boss Christian Jacob.

"He was a straight man who did not have the tongue in his pocket, a great doctor, a Gaullist", had previously tweeted the deputy of Vaucluse Julien Aubert (LR), the deputy LR Eric Ciotti saluting a "free man, a passionate and whole politician, a great doctor recognized by all throughout the world "whose" talent "and" freedom will be missed in France ".

The President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand (LREM) paid tribute to a "warm and passionate man" who inspired "the respect of all", the boss of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure also saluting "a good man", "courteous , fine, funny, human and friendly ".

Bernard Debré was from 1986 deputy for Indre-et-Loire, a department of which he was general counsel (RPR, now UMP then LR) from 1992 to 1994. He was also Minister of Cooperation in the government of Edouard Balladur (1994-1995) and mayor of Amboise from 1992 to 2001 and deputy for Paris.

- Shake up the profession -

He was also a great name in medicine: a university professor, he was head of the urology department at Cochin hospital in Paris, where President François Mitterrand was treated in particular.

This renowned surgeon was the author of numerous works, notably on medical ethics: "La France sick de sa santé" (1983);

"The Thief of Life, the Battle of AIDS" (1989);

"Warning to patients, doctors and elected officials" (2002);

"We have loved you so much. Euthanasia, the impossible law" (2004).

In his texts, he did not hesitate to create controversy and shake up the profession.

In 2015, he had received with his co-author Philippe Even a reprimand from the Order of Physicians after the release of their "Controversial Guide to 4,000 useful, unnecessary or dangerous drugs".

The two men then drew the wrath of psychiatrists in 2018 for a very critical book on antidepressants, presented as the "market of the century" ("Depression, antidepressants, psychotropic drugs and drugs"), and claiming against the advice of many experts say that 80% of depression is "deliberately elevated to disease".

On the political scene, he also tasted strong positions, including during internal wars within the right.

This support from François Fillon had pleaded several times for Nicolas Sarkozy not to be a presidential candidate in 2017.

The UMP did not "have to bow to Nicolas Sarkozy" and the primary is essential, he said in 2014.

Knight of the Legion of Honor, he was married and father of four children.

© 2020 AFP