Jean-Pierre Bel

Jean-Pierre Bel
Bel in 2011
President of the French Senate
In office
1 October 2011 – 30 September 2014
Preceded byGérard Larcher
Succeeded byGérard Larcher
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
In office
1 October 2004 – 30 September 2011
Preceded byClaude Estier
Succeeded byJean-Claude Gaudin
Senator for Ariège
In office
1 October 1998 – 30 September 2014
Preceded byGermain Authié
Succeeded byAlain Duran
Personal details
BornJean-Pierre Marcel Louis Bel
(1951-12-30) 30 December 1951
PartyRevolutionary Communist League (1968–1978)
Socialist Party (1983–present)
Alma materToulouse 1 University Capitole
ProfessionJurist
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "nationality". It should be removed.

Jean-Pierre Marcel Louis Bel (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃pjɛʁ bɛl]; born 30 December 1951) is a French retired politician who served as President of the Senate from 2011 to 2014 (the sole left-winger under the Fifth Republic). From the Ariège department, Bel is a member of the Socialist Party; he was elected to the Senate in September 1998 and re-elected in September 2008. Bel presided over the Socialist group in the Senate from 2004 to 2011.

Following his Senate tenure, he was appointed in 2015 as President François Hollande's personal envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean. He was instrumental in strengthening the ties with Cuba and Panama.