Christophe Castaner | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Castaner in 2019 | |
| President of theLa République En Marche group in theNational Assembly | |
| In office 10 September 2020 – 21 June 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Gilles Le Gendre |
| Succeeded by | Aurore Bergé |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 16 October 2018 – 6 July 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Édouard Philippe |
| Preceded by | Édouard Philippe |
| Succeeded by | Gérald Darmanin |
| Executive Officer of La République En Marche! | |
| In office 18 November 2017 – 16 October 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Catherine Barbaroux(Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Stanislas Guerini |
| Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament | |
| In office 17 May 2017 – 16 October 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Édouard Philippe |
| Preceded by | André Vallini |
| Succeeded by | Marc Fesneau |
| Government Spokesperson | |
| In office 17 May 2017 – 24 November 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Édouard Philippe |
| Preceded by | Stéphane Le Foll |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Griveaux |
| Member of theNational Assembly forAlpes-de-Haute-Provence's2nd constituency | |
| In office 4 August 2020 – 21 June 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Emmanuelle Fontaine-Domeizel |
| Succeeded by | Léo Walter |
| In office 21 June 2017 – 21 July 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Esther Baron |
| Succeeded by | Emmanuelle Fontaine-Domeizel |
| In office 20 June 2012 – 17 June 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Daniel Spagnou |
| Succeeded by | Esther Baron |
| Mayor ofForcalquier | |
| In office 23 March 2001 – 22 July 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Gérard Avril |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Delmar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1966-01-03)3 January 1966 (age 60) |
| Party | Renaissance(2016–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Socialist Party(before 2016) |
| Education | Aix-Marseille University |
| Signature |  |
Christophe Castaner ([kʁistɔfkastanɛʁ]ⓘ; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician who served asMinister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020 under PresidentEmmanuel Macron.[1] He had been elected in 2017 for a three-year term as chairman (délégué général) of theLa République En Marche! party with Macron's support. Castaner wasGovernment Spokesperson under Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe in 2017 and Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament from 2017 to 2018. He was also Macron's2017 presidential campaign spokesman.[2]
Born inOllioules in theVar department in theProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region,[3] Castaner wasMayor ofForcalquier from 2001 to 2017. He held a vice presidency of theRegional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur from 2004 to 2012 under the presidency ofMichel Vauzelle, before he represented the2nd constituency of theAlpes-de-Haute-Provence department in theNational Assembly from 2012 to 2017. He headed theSocialist Party list in the2015 regional election in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, which saw the party lose all representation at the regional level. He joined Macron'sEn Marche! (later La République En Marche!) movement in 2016; he became its chairman the following year after a few months as Government Spokesman.
In 2018, Castaner was appointed as Minister of the Interior following the resignation ofGérard Collomb. His tenure, which was marked by theyellow vests movement, was heavily criticised for its scenes of police brutality,[4][5][6] as well as a series of controversial public statements he made.[7][8] While France was battling theCOVID-19 pandemic and demonstrations had been banned, he allowed aBlack Lives Matter protest to take place, attracting further criticism.[9] The following month, he was succeeded byGérald Darmanin in government and returned to the National Assembly where he would succeedGilles Le Gendre asLa République En Marche group president. In the2022 legislative election, helost his seat toLéo Walter ofLa France Insoumise (FI).[10]
The youngest of three children, Christophe Castaner's father was in themilitary and his mother was ahousewife.[3]
A poor student, he gained hisbaccalauréat independently (en candidat libre) in 1986.[3][11] A graduate of Law and Political Science at theUniversity of Aix-Marseille, Castaner holds a post-graduate diploma in International Business Law and a diploma in Criminal and Criminological Sciences.
After work experience at theBanque Nationale de Paris (BNP) legal department, he was recruited to local government management posts inAvignon andParis. In 1995 he became office manager forTony Dreyfus, Mayor of the10th arrondissement of Paris.
He was technical adviser toMinister of CultureCatherine Trautmann in 1997 and became her principal private secretary in 1998. He was principal private secretary toMichel Sapin, thenMinister of the Civil Service and State Reform, from 2000 to 2002.[3]
In 2001, Christophe Castaner stood for mayor ofForcalquier. He won against incumbent Pierre Delmar, a member of theRally for the Republic who had been mayor from 1983 to 1989 and again since 1995. Delmar also served as both a member of the National Assembly and adepartmental councillor.
Reelected as Mayor of Forcalquier and president of thedistrict council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure (Communauté de communes Pays de Forcalquier - Montagne de Lure) in 2008, he was an active participant in the creation of theintercommunality of the Pays de Haute-Provence.[12]
He was once again reelected Mayor of Forcalquier on 23 March 2014 by 22 votes, standing against Sébastien Ginet of theUnion for a Popular Movement (UMP).[13] On 11 April 2014, his deputy Pierre Garcin succeeded him as the president of the district council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure.
In 2004, after having been elected to theRegional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Castaner was tasked by Regional Council PresidentMichel Vauzelle with land use planning. It was the first time this duty fell to an "Alpine" representative, who was also the youngest vice president of the regional council. He was reelected as a regional councillor in2010 and given a new portfolio: employment, economy, higher education and innovation.
Castaner was named on 5 February 2015 as lead candidate in theupcoming Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election by members of theSocialist Party with 55% of the vote, ahead of Patrick Allemand (31%) and Elsa di Méo (14%). In the first round he obtained 17% of the vote, trailing the record-breakingNational Front (40.6%) led byMarion Maréchal-Le Pen andThe Republicans (26.5%) led byChristian Estrosi. Following the call of the Socialist Party's national leadership, Christophe Castaner decided not to stand in the second round in an act of unity against the National Front.[14] This choice enabled the election of Estrosi of The Republicans to the presidency of the regional council with 54.8% of the vote in the second round, but meant the Socialist Party would lose all representation in the regional council.
On 17 June 2012, Castaner was elected as adeputy (or MP) to the National Assembly for the2nd constituency of theAlpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the2012 legislative election, ahead of the UMP candidate, Jean-Claude Castel, Mayor ofCorbières.
A member of the National Assembly's Finance Committee, in July 2012 Castaner was appointed Special Rapporteur of Work and Employment Budgets. On 20 June 2014,Prime MinisterManuel Valls entrusted him with the vice presidency of the Council for the Co-ordination of Profit-sharing, Employee Savings and Employee Shareholding (Conseil d'orientation de la participation, de l'intéressement, de l'épargne salariale et de l'actionnariat salarié — COPIESAS). This authority was in charge of bringing negotiations between unions and management on these measures to a successful conclusion.
Castaner is considered to be one of Macron's earliest backers.[15] He sponsored the Bill for Growth, Activity and Equality of Economic Opportunity (Loi pour la croissance, l'activité et l'égalité des chances économiques), known as theloi Macron ("Macron law").[16] He was spokesperson for and a supporter of Emmanuel Macron during the campaign for thepresidential election of 2017.[2] During this campaign, he was repeatedly criticised for his perceived dishonesty and tactlessness.[17][18][19][20][21]
Castaner justified his joining with Emmanuel Macron by explaining that in politics one must be "at the right place at the right time, without necessarily knowing where you will end up". Described as ambitious, he reckons that "all politicians have an ego. Or they are liars. Recently, I downloadedLa Provence at 5 a.m. to see if my picture was in that day's edition".[3] He stood in the2017 legislative election on theLa République En Marche! ticket for the 2nd constituency of the Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence and was reelected.
On 17 May 2017, Castaner was named Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament. He was also appointed asGovernment Spokesperson for theÉdouard Philippe government.
In October 2017, after the arrest of severalfar-right activists, he was named among potential targets of attacks in preparation.La France Insoumise leaderJean-Luc Mélenchon was also included among the targets.[22] The acute risk of an attack was denied by thenMinister of the InteriorGérard Collomb shortly thereafter.[23][24]
On 25 October 2017, a few days after Emmanuel Macron gave him his support, Castaner he declared his candidacy for the chairmanship of the La République En Marche party onRTL.[citation needed] He was elected at the first party convention on 18 November 2017.[citation needed][needs update] In his capacity as chairman, he spearheaded Macron's efforts to forge alliances with like-minded parties across Europe ahead of the2019 European Parliament election.[15]
Following Gerard Collomb's resignation as Interior Minister for theÉdouard Philippe government in early October 2018, Castaner was appointed Interior Minister on 16 October 2018 following an acting period by Philippe. A brief handover ceremony at the Interior Ministry was held the same day; Castaner spoke to journalists citing the issue of security as the ministry's greatest preoccupation, mentioning the "fight against terrorism".[25] In the evening, President Macron addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast, in which he announced the appointment of the new Interior Minister and Agriculture Minister over a 12-minute-long speech.
During his tenure, Castaner faced the2018 Strasbourg attack,2019 Lyon bombing,2019 Paris police headquarters stabbing and2020 Romans-sur-Isère knife attack, perpetrated by Islamic terrorists.
In late 2018 and early 2019, Castaner was criticised for his handling of theyellow vests movement. Numerous scenes of police brutality were shown in international media.[26][27][28] In June 2020, in the aftermath of the yellow vests movement and thedeath of Cédric Chouviat in early 2020, he announced that chokeholds would no longer be taught in police academies in France as an arrest technique.[29]
On 9 March 2019, after a day of yellow vests demonstrations, Castaner, a married man, was photographed in a nightclub in Paris with an unknown young woman. The scene caused embarrassment for the Philippe government.[30]
In 2019, he was heard by the Senate amid theBenalla affair.[31]
On 1 May 2019, duringLabour Day demonstrations, Castaner announced an "attack" of thePitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris by demonstrators, as well as the aggression of the nursing staff and a policeman. Videos and testimonies published the next day revealed that what he presented as an attack was in fact demonstrators trying to escape from police, who charged to disperse rioters. Criticised by journalists and several opposition politicians, he was accused of lying and recognised that he should not have used the term "attack".[7]
In July 2019, Castaner was again criticised for decorating five police officers who were the subject of a police brutality investigation.[32]
In the aftermath of theParis police headquarters stabbing in October 2019, Castaner was criticised for the public statements he had made regarding the motive of the attacker. Castaner had claimed that there were no warning signs prior to the attack in the suspect's behavior, while records dating back to 2015 documented several alerts and reports concerning a possible Islamic radicalisation.The Republicans spokesmanChristian Jacob called for an official inquiry, while other MPs demanded Castaner's resignation.[8]
In June 2020, Castaner announced aBlack Lives Matter demonstration in Paris would be authorised to proceed despite a decree signed by the Prime Minister banning demonstrations as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic in France and although he had stated the week prior "gatherings were prohibited" in order to slow the spread of the virus. He was quoted saying about the fight against racism following themurder of George Floyd in the United States: "I believe that the global emotion, which is a healthy emotion on this subject, goes beyond the legal rules that apply".[9]
In July 2020, Castaner was sacked and replaced as Interior Minister by Budget Minister colleagueGérald Darmanin in the newCastex government.BFM TV published as a headline: "Christophe Castaner replaced by Gérald Darmanin after two years of controversies".[33] He later returned to the National Assembly.
On 10 September 2020, Castaner succeededGilles Le Gendre as president of theLa République En Marche group in theNational Assembly.[34]
Castaner was defeated in the second round of the2022 French legislative election byLéo Walter ofLa France Insoumise and subsequently lost the seat he held since2012.[35]
In October 2020, Castaner was one of 48 LREM members who voted in support of a bill introduced by theEcology Democracy Solidarity parliamentary group that would extend the legal deadline forabortion from 12 to 14 weeks.[41]
18 March 2001 – 22 July 2017: Mayor of Forcalquier.
18 March 2001 – Present: municipal councillor, Forcalquier.
1 January 2003 – 12 April 2014: President of the District Council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure.
28 March 2004 – 13 July 2012: Vice President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.[42]
20 June 2012 – 17 June 2017, 21 June 2017 – 21 July 2017: Socialist member of the National Assembly for the 2nd constituency of the Alpes de Haute-Provence. Member of the Finance Committee — Special protractor of Work and Employment Budgets.
17 May 2017 – 24 November 2017: Government Spokesperson.
17 May 2017 – 16 October 2018: Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament.
18 November 2017 – 16 October 2018: Executive Officer of La République En Marche!
16 October 2018 – 6 July 2020: Minister of the Interior.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of the Interior 2018–2020 | Succeeded by |
