Departures of note

Charles Josselin was born on 31 March 1938 in Pleslin-Trigavou, Brittany, to a family of farmers. He studied law and public law at the University of Rennes and at Sciences Po Paris, and was active in student politics, presiding over the Rennes student association and serving as vice-president of the national student union UNEF in the late 1950s. He worked as a banking attaché and later as a regional planning expert before entering politics.

A member of the Socialist Party from 1971, Josselin was elected deputy for the Côtes-d'Armor in 1973, defeating the veteran René Pleven. He served as a deputy in several terms between 1973 and 1997, and presided over the Côtes-d'Armor general council from 1976 to 1997, a period when the department's shift to the left was dubbed the "Costarmorican exception." He also served as mayor of his native Pleslin-Trigavou from 1977 to 1997.

Josselin held several ministerial posts under socialist governments, including Secretary of State for Transport (1985-1986), Secretary of State for the Sea (1992-1993), and Minister Delegate for Cooperation and Francophonie (1997-2002) in Lionel Jospin's government, where he worked on reshaping France's relations with African countries. He later served as a senator for Côtes-d'Armor from 2006 to 2008 and was active in international cooperation bodies.

He died on the night of 31 August to 1 September 2026 at the age of 88.