Robert Poujade, Prime Minister of the Environment and figure of Gaullism, died at the age of 91 years unrelated to the coronavirus, his son Bernard said on Tuesday. " He died on April 8 in the evening and was buried today " (Tuesday), said Bernard Poujade, preferring to keep the place of burial secret.
Robert Poujade, born May 6, 1928 in Moulins (Allier), joined Gaullism at the age of 18. Militant in the various movements and parties supporting the general, he takes responsibility in the successive formations linked to De Gaulle, first as one of the national secretaries of the UNR in 1967, then secretary general of the UDR (1968-1971) and finally member of the political bureau of the RPR in 1984. Very early interested in ecology, he became in January 1971 the Prime Minister of the Environment of a French government, under the presidency of Georges Pompidou.
For more than three years, until March 1974, he worked on air quality, noise reduction, industrial standards ... Missions where he met with many oppositions at a time when the ecology was still far from the order of the day. He will recount his difficulties in a book, published in 1975, entitled " The Ministry of the Impossible ". After leaving the government, he assumed functions related to the environment, such as the presidency of the Conservatoire du littoral, since 1976.
He was mayor of Dijon for 30 years, from 1971 to 2001, and deputy for Côte-d'Or from 1967 to 1971, then until 1981 and again from 1986 to 2002, as well as president of the general council (departmental) , from 1982 to 1988.