François-Xavier Bellamy (; born 11 October 1985) is a French essayist,

high-school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

teacher and politician. He is a former Deputy Mayor of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

(2008–2019) and is now a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(2019–present), having led The Republicans (LR) list in the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and 2024 election. Since 2023, he has been LR's executive vice president under

Éric Ciotti Éric Ciotti ( or , ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who led The Republicans (LR) from 2022 to 2024. He has represented Alpes-Maritimes's 1st constituency in the National Assembly since the 2007 legislative election. Once a m ...

and

Bruno Retailleau Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau (; born 20 November 1960) is a French politician who has served as Minister of the Interior (France), Minister of the Interior and Minister of State in the Bayrou government, as well as the preceding Barnier gov ...

Early life and education

François-Xavier Bellamy was born in 1985 in Paris. Bellamy was educated at the École Sainte-Marie des Bourdonnais, a private school in Versailles. After two-years preparatory classes (A/L) in the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV () is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges ('' lycées'') in France. The school educates more ...

, he got into the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, from which he graduated in 2005. He earned the

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

in philosophy in 2008.

Early career

Bellamy taught philosophy at the Lycée Sainte-Geneviève and the Lycée Notre-Dame de Grandchamp in Versailles in 2008. In 2009, he taught at the Lycée Auguste Renoir in

Asnières-sur-Seine Asnières-sur-Seine () is a Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It lies on the left bank of the river Seine, some eight kilometr ...

, the Lycée Louis Bascan in

Rambouillet Rambouillet (, , ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of France. It is located beyond the outskirts of Paris, southwest of its Kilometr ...

and the Lycée hôtelier in

Guyancourt Guyancourt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero ...

. Since 2011, he has been teaching philosophy and art history for the preparatory classes at the Lycée Blomet in Paris. Bellamy is the author of four books. He won the Prix d'Aumale from the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 2014 for his first book, ''Les déshérités ou l'urgence de transmettre''. In this

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

, he analyses the failure of the French educational system as the result of an ideology that refuses the transmission of culture, thus creating ''disinherited'' students.

Political career

Career in local politics

Bellamy was

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

for employment, youth and higher education. He was a candidate for the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

elections in Yvelines's 1st constituency in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, invested by The Republicans, but he lost in the second round against the candidate of

En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a List of political parties in France, political party in France that is typically described as liberalism, liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), be ...

Didier Baichère Didier Baichère (born 20 August 1970) is a French politician who has been serving as a member of the National Assembly since 18 June 2017, representing the department of Yvelines. He is a member of Renaissance (RE). Early career From 1997 to 2 ...

with 48.9% vs 51.1% of the votes.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Since May 2019, Bellamy has been a

for the EPP. In parliament, he is a member of the

Committee on Fisheries The Committee on Fisheries (PECH) is a committee of the European Parliament. Chris Davies was the chairman (2019 – 2020) - until the United Kingdom left the European Union. Committee mandate PECH is the European Parliament committee responsi ...

(PECH) and the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

(ITRE). In addition to his committee assignments, Bellamy is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

Political positions

Ahead of the Republicans' 2022 convention, Bellamy endorsed

as the party's chairman. During the

2024 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 (and one day earlier for some voters outside of metropolitan France) to elect all 577 Deputy (France), members of the 17th legislature of th ...

, he stated that he would support the far-right

Rassemblement national The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and nationalist. It is the single largest parliamentary opposition party in the Nati ...

in a second-round contest against the left-wing

New Popular Front The New Popular Front ( , NFP) is a broad Left-wing politics, left-wing electoral alliance with centre-left politics, centre-left and far-left politics, far-left factions in France. It was launched on 10 June 2024 to contest the 2024 French leg ...

. In a joint letter initiated by

Norbert Röttgen Norbert Alois Röttgen (born 2 July 1965) is a German lawyer and politician who served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2009 to 2012. A member of t ...

and Anthony Gonzalez ahead of the

47th G7 summit The 47th G7 summit was held from 11 to 13 June 2021 in Cornwall, England, during the United Kingdom's tenure of the presidency of the Group of Seven (G7), an inter-governmental political forum of seven advanced nations. The participants include ...

in 2021, Bellamy joined some 70 legislators from Europe and the US in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on China and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology including

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and 5G. He voted no in the

2005 French European Constitution referendum A referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was held in France on 29 May 2005 to decide whether the French government should ratify the proposed constitution of the European Union. The result was a victory for the "no" cam ...

. Bellamy has been a member of the French anti gay marriage movement from its modern inception. He opposed extending the right to

assisted reproductive technology Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. This subject involves procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and cryopreservation of ga ...

to lesbian couples. He opposes abortion. In the Republicans' 2025 leadership election, Bellamy again endorsed Bruno Retailleau to succeed

as the party's new chair.Jeanne Sénéchal (15 February 2025)
LR : François-Xavier Bellamy apporte son soutien à Bruno Retailleau
''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

''.

Works

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamy, Francois-Xavier 1985 births Living people Politicians from Versailles Politicians from Paris Lycée Henri-IV alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Paris-Sorbonne University alumni 21st-century French philosophers French schoolteachers The Republicans (France) politicians MEPs for France 2019–2024 Candidates for the 2017 French legislative election French city councillors MEPs for France 2024–2029