Martine Aubry

Who is Martine Aubry?

Martine Aubry is a French politician. She has been the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party since November 2008 and Mayor of Lille since March 2001. Her father, Jacques Delors, served as Minister of Finance under President François Mitterrand and was also President of the European Commission.

Aubry joined the PS in 1974 and was appointed Minister of Labour by Prime Minister Édith Cresson in 1991, but lost her position in 1993 after the Right won the legislative elections. However, she became Minister of Social Affairs when Lionel Jospin was appointed Prime Minister in 1997. She is mostly known for having pushed the popular 35-hour workweek law, known as the "Loi Aubry", reducing the nominal length of the normal full-time working week from 39 to 35 hours, and the law that created the Couverture maladie universelle.

Aubry stepped down from her Cabinet post in 2001 to be elected Mayor of Lille in place of Pierre Mauroy. Aubry subsequently lost her seat in the National Assembly in the general election of 2002. In March 2008, she was reelected Mayor of Lille, with 66.55% of the votes.