April Event: Panel discussion on the French Presidential Election

As the world comes to terms with the implications of Brexit and the recent US presidential election, attention is focussed on the upcoming presidential election in France.

Will French voters follow the trend set in the UK and US and elect the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen? Or will they resist the populist trend, as voters in the recent election in the Netherlands have done, and choose the charismatic Justin Trudeau-like Emmanuel Macron instead?

Please join us to discuss the upcoming landmark election and hear our panelists elaborate on the implications that the result may have for France, Europe and the world.

About our speakers:

Patrick Kedemos

Patrick Kedemos has over 22 years of experience, including 16 years in increasingly senior roles within the international industrial, medical and environmental gases industry at Air Liquide and Wesfarmers. Patrick started his career as the founder of Action Plus, a company providing Marketing Research to a number of industrial customers. He later joined Air Liquide, a Fortune 500 Company and one of the largest industrial groups in Europe, within which he gained a wealth of experience from various roles in France, Greece and Australia, operating across various geographies and industries. These included roles as General Manager, Sales & Marketing Manager, Strategy Manager and Financial Controller. More recently, Patrick was the Managing Director of AnaeCo, a publically-listed Australian technology Company. Patrick is currently the Managing Director of Avanguard Capital, a global capital group with extensive international capital raising capabilities and investments in resources, retail, financial services and information technology. Patrick also sits on a number of boards. Patrick is a French, Lebanese and Australian citizen. He is a graduate of the INSEAD MBA, holds a Master of Science from NEOMA Business School and is fluent in English, French, German, Greek and Arabic and is learning Italian and Spanish. He was the Honorary Consul for France in Western Australia between 2011 and 2017.

Carine Bougnague

Carine Bougnague has over 20 years of experience in Senior positions within public organisations, local governments, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Alliance Française network.

She started as an economic developer attracting inward investments and setting up businesses for the region of Montpellier in France, known as a leading place for High-tech and innovative companies in Europe.

She later became Head of Companies Development, Set-up and Business Infrastructure Programming before she became Head of International Relations for the City of Montpellier. In this role she developed partnerships and cooperation programmes with major cities around the world in fields such as the Culture and the Arts, Education, Tourism, Sports, Hospital Cooperation and Public Health

Carine is currently the Managing Director of the Alliance Française de Perth, a non-profit incorporated Australian association, part the international Alliance Française network, whose goals are to promote the French language and Culture in WA and to foster the links between WA and France. The Nedlands-based Alliance Française teach to a large audience from 18 months old and organises 50 cultural events throughout the year. She is involved in the French elections process as President of the Perth polling station.

Associate Professor Roderic Pitty

Roderic Pitty teaches international politics at the University of Western Australia with a focus on global governance, international relations in Europe, Russia, and nuclear weapons.  He has a PhD in Russian foreign policy from ANU, has taught at Sydney and Deakin Universities, and worked as a historian for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Roderic is also a past president of the Australasian Association for the Study of Post-Communist Societies.  He has published articles on Russia, Australian politics, international relations, and the United Nations.  He also wrote the chapter on Australia and UN reform for the book Australia and the United Nations edited by James Cotton and David Lee, published in 2013.