Jean-Noël Barrot | |
|---|---|
 Barrot in 2023 | |
| Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 21 September 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Stéphane Séjourné |
| President of theForeign Affairs Committee of theNational Assembly | |
| In office 20 July 2024 – 21 September 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Jean-Louis Bourlanges |
| Succeeded by | Bruno Fuchs |
| Minister Delegate for European Affairs | |
| In office 8 February 2024 – 21 September 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Gabriel Attal |
| Preceded by | Laurence Boone |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Haddad |
| Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Telecommunications | |
| In office 4 July 2022 – 11 January 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Élisabeth Borne |
| Preceded by | Cédric O |
| Succeeded by | Marina Ferrari |
| Member of theNational Assembly forYvelines's2nd constituency | |
| In office 8 July 2024 – 21 October 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Anne Bergantz |
| Succeeded by | Anne Bergantz |
| In office 10 October 2022 – 9 November 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Anne Grignon |
| Succeeded by | Anne Bergantz |
| In office 21 June 2017 – 19 June 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Pascal Thévenot |
| Succeeded by | Anne Grignon |
| Member of theRegional Council of Île-de-France | |
| Assumed office 2 July 2021 | |
| General Secretary of theDemocratic Movement | |
| In office 12 December 2018 – 23 July 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Yann Wehrling |
| Succeeded by | Maud Gatel |
| Spokesperson of theDemocratic Movement | |
| In office 28 February 2018 – 12 December 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Yann Wehrling |
| Succeeded by | Sarah El Haïry |
| Departmental councillor ofHaute-Loire for thecanton of Yssingeaux | |
| In office 2 April 2015 – 27 June 2017 Serving with Madeleine Dubois | |
| Preceded by | Madeleine Dubois |
| Succeeded by | Georges Philibert |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1983-05-13)13 May 1983 (age 42) Paris, France |
| Nationality |
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| Political party | Democratic Movement |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
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Jean-Noël Barrot (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃nɔɛlbaʁo]; born 13 May 1983)[2] is a French-Swiss politician of theDemocratic Movement (MoDem) who has been serving asMinister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the successive governments ofPrime MinistersMichel Barnier andFrançois Bayrou since 21 September 2024.[3] He previously served as Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Telecommunications in thegovernment ofÉlisabeth Borne from 2022 to 2024 and Minister Delegate for European Affairs in thegovernment ofGabriel Attal in 2024.[4][5][6]
An academic by occupation, Barrot was elected to represent the2nd constituency of theYvelinesdepartment in theNational Assembly in2017 with the support ofLa République En Marche! (LREM), prior to joining the government.[7][8] In 2024, he was elected president of the National AssemblyCommittee on Foreign Affairs,[9] a position he held until his appointment as Foreign Minister.
Barrot was born in the7th arrondissement of Paris, the son of politicianJacques Barrot (1937–2014), who served as a Christian-democratic government minister, European commissioner, as well as a member of theConstitutional Council until his death. His sister Hélène Barrot worked as director of communications forUber in Europe.[10]
Barrot followed aclasse préparatoire at theLycée Henri-IV, and graduated fromHEC Paris in 2007 (grande école master's programme) and 2013 (PhD). He also graduated with master's degrees fromSciences Po and theParis School of Economics, both in 2008.
In 2013, Barrot became a research affiliate at theSloan School of Management at theMIT.[11] In 2017, he became an assistant professor atHEC Paris.[12]
Barrot served in theDepartmental Council ofHaute-Loire for thecanton of Yssingeaux from2015 until his resignation in 2017, a position his father had held until 2004.
In the2021 regional election, he was elected to theRegional Council of Île-de-France on theLa République En Marche! list led byLaurent Saint-Martin.
In the2017 legislative election, Barrot was elected to theNational Assembly in the2nd constituency ofYvelines, which encompasses HEC Paris, thegrande école he taught at. He defeated outgoingdeputyPascal Thévenot ofThe Republicans with 58.3% of the second-round vote.[13]
In Parliament, he served as a vice president of theCommittee on Finance.[14] He co-authored withBénédicte Peyrol draft legislation in 2018 to combat large-scale tax evasion and avoidance schemes throughdividend stripping in the wake of theCumEx Files revelations.[15]
In addition to his committee assignments, Barrot was a member of the French-Uruguayan parliamentary friendship group.
In late 2017, Barrot was appointed byPresident of the National AssemblyFrançois de Rugy to chair a ten-member working group on reforming the National Assembly. The group submitted two reports, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.[16]
From February 2018, Barrot served as a Democratic Movement spokesperson, in tandem withSarah El Haïry.[17] He eventually succeededYann Wehrling as Secretary General of the Democratic Movement in December 2018, serving until July 2022 under the leadership of party presidentFrançois Bayrou.[18]
In July 2022, Barrot was appointed Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Telecommunications in thegovernment ofPrime MinisterÉlisabeth Borne.[4][5]
He won a by-election in October 2022, triggered by the resignation of his substitute Anne Grignon—who had been representing him in the National Assembly after he joined the government—due to a legal incompatibility related to her eligibility.[19]
In 2023, he criticizedChatGPT and accused the service of not respectingprivacy law. However, he also stated being opposed to efforts to ban the service.[20]
In February 2024, Barrot was appointed Minister Delegate for European Affairs under Foreign MinisterStéphane Séjourné in thegovernment of Prime MinisterGabriel Attal.
After being reelected in the2024 snap legislative election, he was elected chair of theForeign Affairs Committee while serving as the caretaker Minister Delegate for European Affairs.
Barrot was appointedMinister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in thegovernment of Prime MinisterMichel Barnier on 21 September 2024,[21] succeeding Séjourné, who had been proposed as France's newEuropean Commissioner in Brussels by PresidentEmmanuel Macron, within theVon der Leyen Commission II. He was retained byFrançois Bayrou when he succeeded Barnier as prime minister.[22] He was also retained by Bayrou's successor,Sébastien Lecornu upon the formation ofhis first government and later also inhis second government in October 2025.[23][24]
On 29 September, Barrot traveled to Lebanon, two days prior to the start of theIsraeli invasion of the country, stating France "stands with Lebanon", as the country was being pulled into a war "it did not choose".[25] On 8 October, he called Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu's rhetoric on the matter a "provocation".[26]
In January 2025, Barrot and his German counterpartAnnalena Baerbock visited Damascus to meet Syria'sde facto new leaderAhmed al-Sharaa on behalf of the European Union, thereby becoming the first ministers from the EU to visit the country since thefall of the Assad regime.[27]
In February 2025 Barrot urgedG20 states to show unambivalent support for the international rules-based order, including the sovereignty of Ukraine. Barrot said the real line of geopolitical division was not between north and south but between those who supported the international rules-based order and those who did not.[28]
In June 2020, Barrot together with fellow party memberPatrick Mignola proposed a law to introducemail-in voting to facilitate voting during the public health crisis caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic in France.[29][30]
"Le Liban est un pays ami de la France, déjà si fragilisé, entraîné dans une guerre qu'il n'a pas choisi", a déclaré Jean-Noël Barrot. "La France se tient aux côtés du Liban dans les moments les plus durs", a ajouté le ministre.
Le ministre français des Affaires étrangères, Jean-Noël Barrot a dénoncé, mardi 8 octobre sur France 2, une "provocation" du Premier ministre israélien Benyamin Nétanyahou, qui a menacé le Liban de "destructions et (de) souffrances comme celles que nous voyons à Gaza" s'il ne se débarrassait pas du Hezbollah.
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