SHARE
COPY LINK

UMP

Shamed ex-UMP party head lands university job

Despite being forced to quit as leader of France’s main opposition party after being charged over a finance scandal, Jean François Copé has landed a job at a prestigious French university, giving a course in political governance.

Shamed ex-UMP party head lands university job
Former UMP chief Jean-François Copé next to the man who succeeded him, Nicolas Sarkozy. Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP

Copé has been out of the limelight since he stepped down last June over a campaign finance scandal dating back to Nicolas Sarkozy’s run for the presidency in 2012.

Earlier this month Copé, who has since been replaced by Sarkozy as UMP president, was charged with “abuse of finance” as part of a police probe into allegations that €10million worth of invoices from Sarkozy’s campaign were passed off as UMP party expenses.

Copé was forced to resign as head of the party over the scandal because of his close links to PR company Bygmalion, which organised the events and has admitted falsifying bills.

However while he awaits the outcome of the investigation against him, Copé has landed a job at the prestigious Sciences-Po university, where L’Express news site reports he is giving courses in governance.

According to L’Express Copé has been giving the course, which is in English, to around 20 students since the beginning of the year.

It’s titled “How to legislate and govern in a globalised world”.

The aim is to “familiarize students with the art of governance and give them the tools to enable them to think critically about the origins and impact of public policies".

It is not clear whether there are lectures on governing French presidential campaigns.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.