Pierre Moscovici (, ; born 16 September 1957) is a French politician who served as the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2014 and as Minister for European Affairs between 1997 and 2002. Previously a member of the Trotskyist group the Revolutionary Communist League, Moscovici joined the French Socialist Party (PS) in 1984 and has since that time been a member of the Departmental Council of Doubs and of the French Parliament and the European Parliament. He has been National Secretary of his party since 1995. In May 2014 he was entrusted by the Prime Minister of France with a six-month mission to assess how European policies can better contribute to growth and employment. In July 2014 French President François Hollande proposed him to be France's representative in the next European Commission. In September 2014, he was named as European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs by President-designate of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. Early life and education Born in Paris, Moscovici is the son of the influential Romanian social psychologist Serge Moscovici and of the Polish psychoanalyst Marie Bromberg-Moscovici. Moscovici obtained his Baccalauréat at the Lycée Condorcet in 1974, a DEA in economics and in philosophy, and he graduated from Sciences Po Paris and the École nationale d'administration, where he studied under Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who became a friend and mentor in politics. He was a president of À gauche en Europe, a group founded by Strauss-Kahn and Michel Rocard and also created his own group "Besoin de Gauche". After graduating from the École nationale d'administration in 1984, Moscovici was appointed to the Cour des comptes – French Court of Audit -, of which he is currently a senior member. Political career Early political career Initially active in the Revolutionary Communist League, he left in 1984 to join the PS and, in 1986, became secretary of the "experts' group" created by Claude Allègre. In 1988, he moved on to the Ministry for National Education in Minister Lionel Jospin's cabinet, first as conseiller technique, then as chargé de mission. From 1990 to 1994, he headed the Public Service Modernisation and Financing Department at the Commissariat général du Plan – French Planning Office. Member of the European Parliament From 1994 to 1997, Moscovici was a Member of the European Parliament. In