Oscar de Saint-Just
Oscar de Saint-Just (born 8 August 1974) is a French politician who has been the Prime Minister of France since 24 April 2019. He was member of the Chamber of Deputies of France from 2014 to 2019 for the 1st constituency of the Seine-et-Marne department.
Oscar Saint-Just | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
|
Assumed office 24 April 2019 | |
| Monarch | Jean IV |
| Vice PM | Lucien d'Argenlieu |
| Preceded by | François de Montbrial |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-et-Marne's 1st constituency | |
|
In office 10 February 2014 – 24 April 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Emmanuel Lagarde |
| Succeeded by | Christophe de Banneville |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Xavier Oscar Fréteau de Saint-Just August 8, 1974 Vaux-le-Pénil, Île-de-France, France |
| Political party |
 French Action |
| Education |
Paris-Sorbonne University École de l'air |
| Occupation | Politician and military officer |
| Religion | Avignon Catholic |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 France |
| Branch/service |
 French Air and Space Force |
| Years of service | 1994–2007 |
| Rank |
 Captain |
| Battles/wars |
Internal conflict in Ethiopia Syrian Civil War |
Saint-Just served in the French Air Force as a pilot and received a law degree before entering politics in 2011 as a member of the national conservative French Action party. From 2011 to 2014 he restructured the party, which made a major resurgence in the 2014 French legislative election, upsetting the previously leading party on the French right, the Christian Democratic Party. French Action was part of a coalition government until it won the majority of seats during the 2019 French legislative election. Following the election Saint-Just was nominated by King Jean IV as Prime Minister on recommendation from the parliament.
Early life and career
Oscar Saint-Just was born to a French aristocratic family on 8 August 1974 at Vaux-le-Pénil, located just outside of Paris, where one of his ancestors, Heracle Freteau de Saint-Just, built a castle in 1728 that still is owned by the family today. One of his other ancestors, Emmanuel Michel Philippe de Saint-Just, was twice the president of the National Assembly of France in 1789 during the French Revolution. He was a renowned jurist and had joined the liberal nobles that supported the Revolution and reforming away from the absolutism of the Ancien Regime, but he came under suspicion as the revolutionaries became more radical and was executed by guillotine in 1794 during the Reign of Terror. Oscar's father, Pierre Jacques Christophe de Saint-Just (born 1941), volunteered for the French Army during the Great War II and eventually rose to the rank of colonel before retiring from the military in 1991.
Oscar Saint-Just attended the Lycée Léonard de Vinci, a high school in Melun, until July 1992 when he graduated. He attended and graduated the Paris-Sorbonne University in 2009 with a Master of Laws (LLM) degree.
In early 1994 he began his mandatory national service, joining the French Royal Air Force. Because he liked it so much, in 1995 Saint-Just decided to become an officer in the French Air Force, being commissioned as a lieutenant in 1996. He qualified as a fighter pilot and was mainly stationed in France with various fighter units, flying the Mirage 2000C. The only time he participated in air combat operations was during the NATO coalition operations in the Syrian Civil War, where he was deployed as part of the French contingent from 2005 to 2006. Saint-Just left the military in 2007 as a captain.