Bernard Accoyer

Bernard Accoyer (French pronunciation: [bɛʁnaʁ akɔje], born 12 August 1945 in Lyon) is a French politician who was President of the National Assembly of France from 2007 to 2012.

[1][2] He was President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly of France from 2004 to 2007.

In 2007, Accoyer was selected as the candidate of the UMP group, which has the absolute majority, for the presidency of the National Assembly.

[1] On 6 November 2007, Accoyer was among the guests invited to the state dinner hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush in honor of President Nicolas Sarkozy at the White House.

[3] Despite the unwritten tradition that the President of the National Assembly abstains from taking part in votes, Accoyer voted in favor of a bill providing for major constitutional changes on 21 July 2008; because the bill passed by only a one-vote margin, his vote in favor, along with that of Socialist deputy Jack Lang, was crucial.