Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who was the country's

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020, when he joined

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...

(LREM). Castex served for twelve years as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of the small town of Prades prior to his appointment as Prime Minister by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

. He resigned his post in May 2022.

Political career

Elected in 2008 as the

Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales Prades (; ) is a subprefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 6,063. Prades is the capital of the historical Conflent comarca. Its inhabitants are cal ...

, Castex served under Health Minister

Xavier Bertrand Xavier Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician who has been serving as president of the regional council of Hauts-de-France since the 2015 regional elections. Earlier in his career, Bertrand was Minister of Health from 2005 to ...

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

from 2010 until 2011. He succeeded

Raymond Soubie Raymond Soubie (born 23 October 1940) is a former social affairs advisor to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Biography Raymond Soubie is a graduate of the Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux (class of 1960) and the École nationale ...

as Secretary-General of the Élysée under President Nicolas Sarkozy between 2011 and 2012. In the UMP 2012 leadership primaries, he endorsed Fillon. On the local level, Castex was a regional councillor of

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and ...

from 2010 to 2015, and has served as department councillor of

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

since 2015. In September 2017, Castex was appointed interdepartmental delegate to the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics; he was also appointed as President of the National Sports Agency. On 2 April 2020, he was appointed coordinator of the phasing out of the lockdown implemented during the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. Th ...

. Castex was a member of The Republicans until early 2020, where he was regarded as being

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

. Following

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 under President ...

's resignation on 3 July 2020, Castex was appointed

. His appointment was described as a "doubling down on a course that is widely seen as

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

in economic terms". Castex subsequently named his government on 6 July. On 25 April 2022, following Macron's

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

as President, Castex agreed to resign as Prime Minister. Castex had previously pledged to do so if Macron was re-elected. Upon his resignation, Castex's government resigned as well, effective on 16 May.

Life after politics

After leaving office, Castex was nominated by his successor

Élisabeth Borne Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since May 2022. She is a member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance. A civil engineer, government official and manager of sta ...

as chairman of the board of directors of the

Agence de financement des infrastructures de transport de France The Agence de financement des infrastructures de transport de France (AFITF) is an ''établissement public administratif national'' (EDAN) whose goal is to fund transport projects in France. Starting from 2013, the AFITF will receive a part of the ...

(AFITF).

Personal life

Castex, whose name means 'castle' in Gascon, hails from the

Gers Gers (; oc, Gers or , ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southwestern France. Named after the Gers River, its inhabitants are called the ''Gersois'' and ''Gersoises'' in French. In 2019, it had a population of 191,377.

. He is married to Sandra Ribelaygue;Arnaud Focraud (3 July 2020)
Les multiples vies de Jean Castex, nouveau Premier ministre d'Emmanuel Macron
''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du dimanche'' (English: ''Sunday's newspaper'') is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. History and profile ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' was created by Pierre Lazareff in 1948. He was managing editor of ''France ...

''. they have four daughters. A fluent

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

speaker, Castex is regarded a defender of the Catalan identity in Southern France and other regional sensibilities. He is also friends with the ex-trades union leader

Jean-Claude Mailly Jean-Claude Mailly (born 12 March 1953) is a French former trade union leader. Born in Béthune, Mailly grew up in Lens, then studied economic science in Lille. He found work with the National Health Insurance Fund. In 1974, he met Marc Blonde ...

and the physician

Patrick Pelloux Patrick Pelloux (born 19 August 1963 in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Val-de-Marne) is a French physician and activist. He is a specialist of emergency medical services. Biography Patrick Pelloux became well known in France during the 2003 European h ...

, a former columnist at ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; meaning ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as Anti-racism, anti-racist, sceptica ...

''. Castex tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 23 November 2021.

Honours

References

External links