François Bayrou | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Bayrou in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister of France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 13 December 2024 – 9 September 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Emmanuel Macron | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Michel Barnier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sébastien Lecornu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of Justice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 May 2017 – 19 June 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Édouard Philippe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jean-Jacques Urvoas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Nicole Belloubet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of National Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 29 March 1993 – 4 June 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Édouard Balladur Alain Juppé | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jack Lang | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Claude Allègre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mayor ofPau | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 4 April 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Martine Lignières-Cassou | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of theDemocratic Movement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 2 December 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of theEuropean Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 13 July 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of theUnion for French Democracy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 February 1998 – 30 November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | François Léotard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1951-05-25)25 May 1951 (age 74) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | MoDem (since 2007) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | CD (1974–1976) CDS (1976–1995) FD (1995–1998) UDF (1978–2007) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University Bordeaux Montaigne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
François Bayrou (French:[fʁɑ̃swabajʁu]ⓘ; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who served asPrime Minister of France from December 2024 to September 2025. He has presided over theEuropean Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and theDemocratic Movement (MoDem) since 2007. Acentrist, he was a candidate in the2002,2007 and2012 presidential elections.
From 1993 to 1997, Bayrou wasMinister of National Education in three successive governments. He was also a member of theNational Assembly for a seat inPyrénées-Atlantiques from 1986 to 2012 with brief interruptions and aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2002. He has been mayor ofPau since 2014.
It was speculated that Bayrou would be a candidate in the2017 presidential election, but he decided not to run and instead supportedEmmanuel Macron, who – after winning the election – named himMinister of State andMinister of Justice in thegovernment headed byÉdouard Philippe. On 21 June 2017, he resigned from the government amid an investigation into the MoDem's allegedly fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants, initiated earlier that month. He was cleared of those accusations in 2024.
On 13 December 2024, he was appointed as prime minister by Emmanuel Macron after theBarnier government was brought down by a vote ofno confidence.[1][2][3] He himself wasbrought down by a confidence vote, and submitted his resignation on 9 September 2025. Polls had shown he had become the most unpopular prime minister under theFifth Republic.[4]
Bayrou was born 25 May 1951 inBordères, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a village located betweenPau andLourdes. He is the son of farmer Calixte Bayrou (1909–1974),MRP mayor of Bordères from 1947 to 1953, and Emma Sarthou (1917–2009).[5][6][7] Bayrou descends from an ancestry of primarilyOccitans except from his maternal grandmother's side which is Irish.[8]
When Bayrou was in his youth, he developed astutter which led to him attendingspeech therapy for seven years.[9] He first went to secondary school in Pau, before transferring to Bordeaux. He studied literature at university, and at the age of 23, sat the "agrégation", the highest qualifying level for teachers in senior high schools andpreparatory classes in France. Around the same time, his father was killed in a tractor accident. After studying atBordères primary school, he obtained a baccalaureate in classical literature (French, Latin, and Greek) in 1968 from the public high school ofNay-Bourdettes. He continued his studies in literary preparatory classes at the Lycée Michel de Montaigne in Bordeaux, then at the University of Bordeaux-III, where in 1972 he wrote a master's thesis onCharles Péguy'sThe Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc.[10] In 1974, he obtained the agrégation (academic qualification) in classical literature and then taught in Pau until 1979.[11]
Bayrou married Élisabeth Perlant, also known as "Babette", in 1971.[12] He and Perlant have five children, Hélène, Marie, Dominique, Calixte and Agnès.[13] The children were raised on the farm where Bayrou was born and where Bayrou currently lives with Perlant.
Prior to embarking on his political career, Bayrou taught history inBéarn in the FrenchPyrenees.[14] He has written several books on politics and history, including one on KingHenry IV of France. Bayrou's hobby is raising horses. He is a practisingRoman Catholic but strongly supports France's system of secularism (French:laïcité).
When Bayrou did not participate inMay 68, he was active in nonviolent movements and followedGandhi disciple,Lanza del Vasto.[15][16] Despite his religious convictions, he did not join theJeunesse Étudiante Chrétienne. From the early 1970s, he was a member of the Amitié Charles Péguy, which he cites as his intellectual references.[17]
He entered politics in 1974, after his agrégation in classical literature, joining theDemocratic Centre (CD) ofJean Lecanuet, candidate in the 1965 presidential election against General de Gaulle.[18][19][20][21] The party became the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS) in 1976, and François Bayrou is considered Lecanue's "scribe".
Bayrou, a member of theCentre of Social Democrats (CDS), the Christian-democratic wing of theUnion for French Democracy (UDF) confederation, was elected to the General Council of thePyrénées-Atlantiques department in 1982 in the canton of Pau-Sud, then theFrench National Assembly four years later.[22] After the victory of theRPR/UDF coalition in the1993 legislative election, he became Education Minister in the cabinet led byÉdouard Balladur. In this post, he proposed a reform allowing local authorities to subsidise private schools, which caused massive protests and was quashed by the Constitutional Council.
In 1989, after poor results in both themunicipal elections and theEuropean Parliament elections, Bayrou and twelve other centre-right parliamentarians includingPhilippe Séguin,Michel Noir,Alain Carignon,Étienne Pinte,Michel Barnier,François Fillon,Charles Millon,Dominique Baudis,François d'Aubert,Philippe de Villiers andBernard Bosson demanded reform of the system at the RPR and the UDF, criticising the most prominent politicians of these parties including former presidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing and Prime MinisterJacques Chirac. They called for the formation of a new right-wing party to unite the UDF and the RPR into a single entity. Ideological differences between members of this group led to members leaving, though d'Estaing endorsed Bayrou to become UDF general secretary in 1991.[23] WithBernard Bosson andDominique Baudis, as well as the leadership of the Centre for Social Democrats (CDS), François Bayrou also decided to support the dissident list "The Centre for Europe" in the European elections, led bySimone Veil, against the RPR-UDF union list, led by the former PresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing.
Despite supporting Édouard Balladur's candidacy in the1995 presidential election, Bayrou remained Education Minister following Jacques Chirac's election and the formation of a new government headed byAlain Juppé. Following the majority for thePlural Left in the1997 legislative election, Bayrou returned to opposition and became president of the UDF in 1998, transforming it into a unified party rather than a union of smaller parties.
In 2002 François Bayrou rejected proposals to merge the UDF with theRally for the Republic (RPR), into a new entity that later became theUnion for a Popular Movement (UMP). As a result, many UDF members left to join the UMP.
Bayrou was increasingly critical of the direction taken by the UMP-led government, which he described as out of touch with the average Frenchman. He denounced thede factotwo-party system, in which theSocialist Party and the RPR (later UMP) alternate. Instead, Bayrou called for apluralist system in which other parties would also contribute.[24]
On 16 May 2006, Bayrou supported amotion of no confidence sponsored by Socialist deputies calling for the resignation of Prime MinisterDominique de Villepin's government following theClearstream affair.[25] As de Villepin's UMP had an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the motion failed. Following Bayrou's support for this measure, France's television authority classified him as a member of the parliamentary opposition for timing purposes. However, after Bayrou protested, he was classified as a member of neither the majority nor the opposition.
Bayroucontested the presidency again in 2007. Most commentators had expected the election to be fought primarily betweenNicolas Sarkozy andSégolène Royal of theParti Socialiste. However, Bayrou's increasing support in polls in February complicated the "Sarko-Ségo" scenario, and led to speculation that the Parti Socialiste candidate would fail to progress to the second round for a second consecutive election, following the defeat of former Prime MinisterLionel Jospin in 2002 byNational Front leaderJean Marie Le Pen. Ultimately, Bayrou finished in third place in the election with 18.57% of the vote (6,820,119 votes), behind Sarkozy and Royal, the best performance by the UDF in a presidential election since 1981. Bayrou declared that he could not endorse either Sarkozy or Royal in the second round, although he indicated that Sarkozy was the worse of the two.
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After the 2007 election, Bayrou intended to form a new centrist party, theDemocratic Movement (MoDem). The majority of UDF politicians did not follow him, and instead formed a rival party, theNew Centre, which pledged to support an alliance with the UMP. However, most of the UDF's grassroots membership remained with Bayrou and joined MoDem. In the subsequentlegislative elections in June 2007, MoDem came third with 7.6% of the vote. Although an increase on the UDF share of the poll of 4.9% in the2002 elections, MoDem won only four seats, including Bayrou's own seat. The other parliamentarians elected on the party's list wereJean Lassalle,Thierry Benoit (who has since left the party, to join the New Centre) andAbdoulatifou Aly. The establishment of MoDem led to the formal dismantling of the UDF alliance on 30 November.
On 18 August 2011, Bayrou released a book,2012. Etat d'urgence, in which he discussed how and why the2008 financial crisis happened, and outlined the top priorities of his next presidential program: production and education.
François Bayrou confirmed his candidacy for the2012 presidential election on 25 November 2011, in an interview with journalistLaurence Ferrari on her showParole Directe onTF1.[26]
His supporters included:
Bayrou was eliminated in the first round, receiving around half of his vote share from 2007; he endorsed SocialistFrançois Hollande in the runoff.[31]
On 22 February 2017, Bayrou stated that he would not contest the2017 presidential election, instead endorsing the centrist candidateEmmanuel Macron ofEn Marche!.[32] The alliance surprised French political pundits and rival candidates.[32] Part of the agreement was Macron's commitment to support a clean government law proposed by Bayrou.[32] Bayrou said that France was "at extreme risk", requiring an "exceptional response",[32] adding that the alliance did not mean that MoDem would be subsumed by En Marche![32]
On 17 May 2017, Bayrou was appointed asMinister of Justice in thefirst Philippe government.[33]
Le Canard enchaîné published information that Democratic Movement politicianMarielle de Sarnez had been paid for work she had not actually done, embroiling Bayrou in a scandal about fictitious jobs.[34] France Info later reported that MoDem had "over a dozen" fictitious jobs in theEuropean Parliament.[35]
Bayrou resigned several days before the2017 legislative election, only 35 days after he had taken the post.[36][37] He was found not guilty of those accusations in February 2024.[38]
In September 2020, Bayrou was appointed as high commissioner for planification by Prime ministerJean Castex.[39]
In February 2022, Bayrou created what he calls a "sponsorship bank", joined by a few hundred local officials, willing to give their signatures to candidates for thepresidential election struggling to obtain them, even if they represent a large part of the public according to opinion polls,[40] including far-right candidateMarine Le Pen.[40]
Following the appointment ofGabriel Attal asPrime Minister in January 2024, Bayrou stated that he would not be joining the government; he had been widely expected to return to the cabinet after he was acquitted of fraud charges shortly before.[41]
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On 13 December 2024, following the motion ofno confidence that endedMichel Barnier'sgovernment, Bayrou was appointed asPrime Minister by Emmanuel Macron.[42][43] The morning of the nomination, Macron reportedly informed Bayrou that he had decided against nominating him, only to revise his position when a furious Bayrou threatened to withdraw his support for the government.[44]
Despite his nomination, Bayrou has pledged to remain in office as Mayor of Pau,[45][46] similarly toJacques Chirac, who served simultaneously as Prime Minister andMayor of Paris from 1986 to 1988. Less than a week after his nomination, he faced criticism after flying to Pau on a presidentialFalcon 7X jet to attend a session of the municipal council, rather than visitingMayotte, which had been heavily affected byCyclone Chido.[47][48][49]
On the same day, during the transfer of power with his predecessor Barnier, Bayrou recalled that he had always warned in his political life about the question of debt and public deficits and affirmed that he was facing a "Himalaya of difficulties".[50][51] He declared that "reconciliation is necessary", quoting theHenry IV of France, from Béarn like him and whose birthday it was.[52]
Bayrou's government was finalized on 23 December, maintaining the goal Bayrou had set of appointing his ministers before Christmas.[53]
On 30 December 2024, Bayrou visited Mayotte with several government members and announced several emergency measures to rebuild the islands' infrastructures and to resolve thelocal crisis.[54]
On 3 February 2025, Bayrou passed his government's budget for the year after bypassing a vote in theNational Assembly through specialconstitutional powers.[55] This led to two unsuccessful no-confidence motions being launched against him on 5 February[56] and 10 February.[57] He survived another a no-confidence motion filed by theSocialist Party following the failure of negotiations over pension reform on 2 July.[58]
A long-time advocate of proportional representation for legislative elections, in April 2025 he initiated a series of consultations with political parties with a view to preparing a bill on the subject. His initiative met with strong resistance within the government majority, notably from the Republicans – whose president,Bruno Retailleau, threatened to resign from his ministerial duties – andÉdouard Philippe's Horizons, who cited a risk of chronic political instability.[59][60] Continuing his action, Bayrou announced that a text on proportional representation would be presented after the budget work, at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026, and did not rule out resorting to a referendum to decide the question, standing up to his divergent partners.[61]
On 15 July 2025, Bayrou proposed discontinuing the observance ofEaster Monday andV-E Day as public holidays as part of cost-cutting measures under the proposed 2026 budget.[62] At the same time, he made the sustainability of public finances and public debt his priority. In mid-July 2025, during a press conference, he unveiled a strict plan of €43.8 billion in savings to reduce the deficit to 4.6% of GDP in 2026.[63]
On 8 September 2025, theNational Assembly voted against confidence in Bayrou's government by a margin of 364 votes to 194. Several parties refused to support Bayrou due to his refusal to negotiate or compromise on his highly controversial budgetary proposal. This was the second government appointed by President Macron to be ousted in a year, and the first government in the history of the Fifth Republic to lose a self-imposed motion of confidence.[64] Bayrou submitted his resignation to Macron on 9 September.[65]
Bayrou has been a vocal campaigner on a variety of issues, including reform of the political process,civil liberties, andfree software (seeDADVSI). During the 2007 presidential election campaign he described theEuropean Union as "the most beautiful construction of all humanity". He called for France to play a greater role in theEuropean Union's affairs, and supports the ratification of aEuropean Constitution, in a more concise and readable form than the onevoted down by the French electorate in 2005.[66]
In an interview withThe New York Times in 2007, Bayrou said: "I am a democrat, I am aClintonian, I am a man of the 'third way'".[67] He positioned himself as a centrist, although he has historic ties to the right. His platform emphasises job creation, improvement of educational standards, improved conditions in the troubled suburbs, reduced government spending, a balanced budget and a stronger European Union, with France as itsde facto leader. He has also criticized China's protection of theSudanese government fromUN Security Council sanctions. Bayrou was highly critical of theAmerican economic model under George Bush and of the unregulated free market in general. He described the United States economic model as a "survival of the fittest" system, where it was often stated that money was people's only motivation, where higher education was too expensive, and where the middle class was shrinking.[67] Bayrou criticized the Iraq war, saying it was "the cause of chaos" in the region.[67]
He criticized Nicolas Sarkozy's foreign policy, including the invitation of Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi for a week-long state visit to France and the signing of military cooperation agreements with Libya.
In 2009, he criticized statements byPope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms promote AIDS on a journey to Cameroon. Bayrou called the remarks "unacceptable", adding that "the primary responsibility, particularly of Christians, is the defence of life...This [Africa] is a continent in which tens of millions of women and men are dying."[68]
He called for France to boycott the2008 Summer Olympics, due to thepoor human rights record in China andpolitical unrest in Tibet. During a rally in Paris on 21 March he said that "if this drama does not stop, France would do itself credit by not coming to the Olympic Games", criticising China's opposition to sanctions againstSudan over its involvement in the humanitarian crisis inDarfur.[69]
Bayrou is fluent inBéarnese and often expresses his support for regionalism.[5]
In July 2025, François Bayrou declared himself in favour of the constitutional bill, providing for the autonomy of Corsica within the French Republic.[70][71]
TheBétharram scandal refers to a case of child sexual abuse committed in the Catholic congregation of theBétharram Fathers, as revealed by journalistic investigations. This Catholic congregation is in full communion with Rome and has followed all of the liberal reforms of the clergy. The abuses spanned several decades and involved clergy members operating in various schools and shelters linked to the institution. François Bayrou is accused of deliberately ignoring reports of child abuse, defending an institution accused of systemic violence, and helping to obstruct the work of whistleblowers and journalists.[72][73][74]
In April 2025, Bayrou's daughter Hélène Perlant revealed[75] that a senior priest at Notre-Dame de Bétharram had beaten her publicly in the 1980s when she was 14. She said that she had never told her father about the assault, adding, "Bétharram was organised like a sect or a totalitarian regime, putting psychological pressure on pupils and teachers so they stayed silent." Two hundred legal complaints have been filed since February 2024 alleging physical or sexual abuse by priests and staff at Bétharram during the period 1957–2004, including an allegation ofgang rape committed by two priests. Some of the complaints led to criminal charges; others exceeded the legalstatute of limitations for prosecution in France.[76][77]
Je suis venu avec vous pour faire de grandes choses ensemble, pas des petites choses. Si vous souhaitez faire des petites choses, je vous quitte.
Bayrou is the sole author unless other names are mentioned.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link), preface by François Bayrou.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of National Education 1993–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice 2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 2024–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of theUnion for French Democracy 1998–2007 | Position abolished |
| New office | Leader of theDemocratic Movement 2007–present | Incumbent |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded byas former Prime Minister | Order of precedence in France Former Prime Minister | Succeeded byas President of the Constitutional Council |
