Former minister Jean Puech, “builder” of Aveyron, died at 84
Quick Look
- Jean Puech, former Minister of Agriculture and Civil Service between 1993 and 1995, died Thursday at the age of 84 in La Grande-Motte.
- Born in Viviez in Aveyron, he chaired this department from 1976 to 2008 and the Assembly of French Departments from 1989 to 2004.
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Why It Matters
Jean Puech was Minister of Agriculture then of the Civil Service between 1993 and 1995, under the governments of Édouard Balladur and Alain Juppé, during the presidency of François Mitterrand then of Jacques Chirac. He chaired the general council of Aveyron from 1976 to 2008 and the Assembly of French departments from 1989 to 2004.
Jean Puech, former Minister of Agriculture and then of the Civil Service, between 1993 and 1995, died Thursday at the age of 84, we learned from those around him. Born in Viviez, in Aveyron, the man who was also president of this department from 1976 to 2008, died surrounded by his family in La Grande-Motte (Hérault), where he had retired for several years, his wife Danièle and his former colleague René Bécouze told AFP.
“His journey is that of a tireless builder”
Between 1993 and 1995, during the presidency of the socialist François Mitterrand, he became Minister of Agriculture in the cohabitation government of the conservative Prime Minister Édouard Balladur, then Minister of the Civil Service of Alain Juppé, after the defeat in 1995 of the left and the election to the presidency of the Republic of the conservative Jacques Chirac.
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“His journey is that of a tireless builder. At the head of the general council, he modernized Aveyron, defended its interests with feared firmness, and knew how to impose his leadership, sometimes feared, always respected,” writes the current president of the departmental council of Aveyron, Arnaud Viala, in a press release.
“President of the Assembly of French Departments (1989-2004), vice-president of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, he also carried the voice of the territories well beyond the French borders,” he adds. His wife also recalled his “passion for territoriality, as it is now called”.
