Gérard Errera
French ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
2002–2007
PresidentJacques Chirac
Preceded byDaniel Bernard
Succeeded byMaurice Gourdault-Montagne
Personal details
Born (1943-10-30) 30 October 1943
Brive-la-Gaillarde, France
Alma materSciences Po, ÉNA
ProfessionDiplomat

Gérard Paul Errera CVO (born 30 October 1943) is a French diplomat and serves as an advisor to a number of American, Chinese and French international firms.

Early life and education

Gérard Errera comes from a Jewish family, and was born in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in what was, during World War II, France's Free Zone. The Erreras were hidden and saved by a French family during the German occupation under the Vichy regime. Right after the war, he moved to Paris where he completed his education, and graduated from two French elite institutions, L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po),[1] and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA).

Gérard Errera is the brother of Roger Errera (1933–2014), who was a member of the Conseil d'Etat, and director of the Diaspora series (Calmann-Lévy), and whose life and work is remembered through a website: www.rogererrera.fr.

Current career and board memberships

Errera is chairman of the Blackstone Group France, and member of Blackstone International Advisory Board.[2] He is also the Senior Adviser for International Affairs to the French law firm August & Debouzy.[3] In addition, Errera also serves on the advisory committee of the International Capital Conference (ICC),[4] which is an annually held forum gathering China's top entrepreneurs, CEOs and officials with their European counterparts. Errera, a supporter of the arts, is also on the board of directors of the Musee des Arts decoratifs.[5]

Errera served as a member of the supervisory board of Orano (formerly AREVA),[6] the global leader in nuclear energy (2007-2009) and a Director of Electricité de France (EDF, 2007-2009).[7] He is a frequent contributor to the Financial Times[8] and other international newspapers.

Diplomatic career

Errera has spent the last two years before joining Blackstone as secretary general of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2009. This is the highest-ranking position in the French Foreign service, and effectively oversaw the foreign policy and all French diplomatic missions, alongside the minister.[9]

During that time, Errera was appointed by the French president Sarkozy, as "Ambassadeur de France", a lifelong dignity, and the highest title a French career diplomat.[9]

Prior to this Errera was the French ambassador to the United Kingdom for five years, from 2002 to 2007. At a time when Franco-British relationships were particularly tense, Gerard Errera was especially appreciated by the British, being called by the press "one of the wittiest and wisest diplomats in modern times, a worthy follower in the footsteps of Talleyrand".[10] Mr Errera was a fierce defender of the principled and moral view not to invade Iraq, and was characterised as a"model of discretion, and master of the unspoken inference".[11]

He also served as the French ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)[12] and director general for political affairs. During that time, he was one of the architects of the St Malo Treaty in 1998, which was the founding moment of European defence[13]

He was the French special representative of President Chirac for strategic dialogue with India during 1998–2002. Before that, Gerard Errera was director for international affairs at the French Atomic Energy Commission and governor for France at the International Atomic Energy Agency. From 1991 to 1995, he served as the French ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Errera started his career at the French embassy in Washington, then was appointed as special adviser to the French foreign minister. He also served as the French general consul in San Francisco, at the time of the development of the Silicon Valley, and in Madrid from 1977 to 1980.[14]

Family

He is married to Virginia Bedoya Calvo, who is Bolivian-Argentinian. They have three children together: Philippe, Emmanuelle and Alexandre. His eldest son, Philippe, is also a diplomat.

Distinctions

  • Ambassadeur de France,
  • Légion d'Honneur (Officer)
  • Ordre du Mérite (Officer)
  • Royal Victorian Order (CVO, Commander)
  • Order of the White Rose of Finland (Officer)
  • Order of Saint Charles, Monaco (Knight)
  • Orden del Merito Civil (Officer)

References

  1. ↑ List of Sciences Po People
  2. ↑ "Gerard Errera is Appointed Chairman of Blackstone France". Archived from the original on 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  3. ↑ "August & Debouzy | le droit et l'audace". Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  4. ↑ "International Capital Conference (ICC)". www.internationalcapitalconference.com.
  5. ↑ "MAD Paris - Site officiel". www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr.
  6. ↑ "Orano - Accueil". www.areva.com.
  7. ↑ "Stocks".
  8. ↑ Errera, Gerard (3 June 2013). "Cameron and the folly of playing politics with Europe". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Le Figaro - Actualités". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  10. ↑ "Leader: In praise of... Gerard Errera". The Guardian. London. 28 November 2007.
  11. ↑ "Model of discretion, interview with the Independent, 12.05.03 - France in the United Kingdom - la France au Royaume-Uni". Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
  12. ↑ "OTAN: Ambassadeur de la France auprès de l'OTAN".
  13. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2011-12-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ↑ "ICC Speakers: - International Capital Conference". www.internationalcapitalconference.com.
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