Raphaël Glucksmann

Raphaël Glucksmann (, born 15 October 1979) is a French politician, journalist, and film director. In May 2019, he was elected a member of the European Parliament, within the S&D alliance.

Early life and career
Glucksmann is the son of philosopher André Glucksmann (who was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent) and Françoise Glucksmann (née Villette), daughter of philosopher Jeannette Colombel. Between 2005 and 2012, he was an adviser to the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. He was married to former Georgian and Ukrainian politician Eka Zguladze, with whom he has a son. Zguladze was a special adviser to President Saakashvili from 2009 to 2012 and later served as First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2016. The couple are now divorced.

Beginnings
In 2018, Glucksmann founded the French centre-left Place Publique party.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present
On 26 May 2019, Place Publique and the French Socialist Party presented a joint list at the European Parliament election, with Glucksmann as the head, under the slogan, "Envie d'Europe, écologique et sociale". The list obtained a total of 6.2%, thereby securing the election of six Members to the European Parliament: Glucksmann, Sylvie Guillaume, Eric Andrieu, Aurore Lalucq, Pierre Larrouturou, Nora Mebarek.

In Parliament, Glucksmann has served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Human Rights. Since 2020, he has also chaired the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union.

In addition to his committee assignments, Glucksmann is a member of the Responsible Business Conduct Working Group and the Spinelli Group.

In his parliamentary work, Glucksmann has focused attention on the Xinjiang re-education camps, for which he has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.

Glucksmann has led public campaigns to raise awareness and enact legislation to hold companies accountable for labor exploitation and forced labor in the fashion supply chain industry in China.

In March 2024, Glucksmann was one of twenty MEPs to be given a "Rising Star" award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.

2024 European elections
In the 2024 European elections, Glucksmann led the list “Réveiller l'Europe”, an alliance of his own Place publique party and the historical Parti socialiste. That list obtained of the national votes, a high score compared to the  obtained in 2019. This result made this list the third nation-wide (after those led by Bardella and Hayer), which confirmed the increasing prominence of Raphaël Glucksmann as a national political figure.

Political positions
In May 2021, Glucksmann joined a group of 39 mostly Green Party lawmakers from the European Parliament who in a letter urged the leaders of Germany, France and Italy not to support Arctic LNG 2, a $21 billion Russian Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, due to climate change concerns.

In November 2021, Glucksmann led a group of seven Members of the European Parliament to Taiwan to send a strong signal in support of the self-ruling island, despite a threat of retaliation from China. During this visit, the delegation stated to President Tsai Ing-wen: "Europe is standing with you." Glucksmann has been a strong proponent for deepened cooperation with Taiwan.

In March 2024, he refused to use the term "genocide" in regards to the treatment of Palestinians by Israel during the 2024 Israel-Hamas war by claiming to be "extremely cautious about the term's usage." He nevertheless denounces the "carnage" in Gaza as well as the blockade. In April 2024, he asserts the legitimacy of the actions by the leadership of Sciences Po Paris to force their premises to be evacuated after their occupation by groups in support of the Palestinians.

Personal life
Glucksmann was married to Georgian and Ukrainian politician Eka Zguladze until 2014.

He has a son, Gabriel, born 12 March 2017, with journalist Léa Salamé.

Publications

 * Je vous parle de liberté, with Mikheil Saakashvili, Paris, Hachette Livre, 2008, ISBN 978-2012376489.
 * Mai 68 expliqué à Nicolas Sarkozy, with André Glucksmann, 2008, ISBN 978-2207260074.
 * Génération gueule de bois, Manuel de lutte contre les réacs, Allary Éditions, 2015, ISBN 978-2370730404.
 * Notre France. Dire et aimer ce que nous sommes, Allary Éditions, 2016.
 * Les Enfants du vide. De l'impasse individualiste au réveil citoyen, Allary Éditions, 2018, ISBN 978-2370731623.
 * Lettre à la génération qui va tout changer, Allary Éditions, 2021, ISBN 9782370731418.