François Bayrou

François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (MoDem) since 2007. A centrist, he was a candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 presidential elections.

From 1993 to 1997, Bayrou was Minister of National Education in three successive governments. He was also a member of the National Assembly for a seat in Pyrénées-Atlantiques from 1986 to 2012 with brief interruptions and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2002. He has been mayor of Pau since 2014.

It was speculated that Bayrou would be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election, but he decided not to run and instead supported Emmanuel Macron, who – after winning the election – named him Minister of State for Justice in the government headed by Édouard 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 , he was appointed as Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron after Michel Barnier's government was brought down by a vote of no confidence.

Early life

Bayrou was born on 25 May 1951 in Bordères, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a village located between Pau and Lourdes. He is the son of farmer Calixte Bayrou (1909–1974), MRP mayor of Bordères from 1947 to 1953, and Emma Sarthou (1917–2009). Bayrou descends from an ancestry of primarily Occitans except from his maternal grandmother's side which is Irish.

When Bayrou was in his youth, he developed a stutter which led to him attending speech therapy for seven years. 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 and preparatory classes in France. Around the same time, his father was killed in a tractor accident.

Bayrou married Élisabeth Perlant, also known as "Babette", in 1971. He and Perlant have five children, Hélène, Marie, Dominique, Calixte and Agnès. 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 in Béarn in the French Pyrenees. He has written several books on politics and history, including one on King Henry IV of France. Bayrou's hobby is raising horses. He is a practising Roman Catholic, but strongly supports France's system of secularism (French: laïcité).

Political career

First steps in politics: 1982–2002

In Bayrou's youth, he was active in nonviolent movements and followed Gandhi disciple, Lanza del Vasto.

Bayrou, a member of the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS), the Christian-democratic wing of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) confederation, was elected to the General Council of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in 1982 in the canton of Pau-Sud, then the French National Assembly four years later. After the victory of the RPR/UDF coalition in the 1993 legislative election, he became Education Minister in the cabinet led by Édouard 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 the municipal elections and the European Parliament elections, Bayrou and twelve other centre-right parliamentarians including Philippe Séguin, Michel Noir, Alain Carignon, Étienne Pinte, Michel Barnier, François Fillon, Charles Millon, Dominique Baudis, François d'Aubert, Philippe de Villiers and Bernard Bosson demanded reform of the system at the RPR and the UDF, criticising the most prominent politicians of these parties including former president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Prime Minister Jacques 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.

Despite supporting Édouard Balladur's candidacy in the 1995 presidential election, Bayrou remained Education Minister following Jacques Chirac's election and the formation of a new government headed by Alain Juppé. Following the majority for the Plural Left in the 1997 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.

Positioning of the UDF as a centrist party: 2002–2007

In 2002 François Bayrou rejected proposals to merge the UDF with the Rally for the Republic (RPR), into a new entity that later became the Union 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 the ''de facto'' two-party system, in which the Socialist Party and the RPR (later UMP) alternate. Instead, Bayrou called for a pluralist system in which other parties would also contribute.

On 16 May 2006, Bayrou supported a motion of no confidence sponsored by Socialist deputies calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's government following the Clearstream affair. 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.

Second presidential campaign: 2007

Bayrou contested the presidency again in 2007. Most commentators had expected the election to be fought primarily between Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal of the Parti 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 Minister Lionel Jospin in 2002 by National Front leader Jean 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.

Foundation of the Democratic Movement: 2007–2012

After the 2007 election, Bayrou intended to form a new centrist party, the Democratic Movement (MoDem). The majority of UDF politicians did not follow him, and instead formed a rival party, the New 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 subsequent legislative 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 the 2002 elections, MoDem won only four seats, including Bayrou's own seat. The other parliamentarians elected on the party's list were Jean Lassalle, Thierry Benoit (who has since left the party, to join the New Centre) and Abdoulatifou Aly. The establishment of MoDem led to the formal dismantling of the UDF alliance on 30 November.

Third presidential election: 2012

On 18 August 2011, Bayrou released a book, ''2012. Etat d'urgence'', in which he discussed how and why the 2008 financial crisis happened, and outlined the top priorities of his next presidential program: production and education.

François Bayrou confirmed his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election on 25 November 2011, in an interview with journalist Laurence Ferrari on her show ''Parole Directe'' on TF1.

His supporters included:
* Jean Arthuis, president of the Centrist Alliance, president of the Senate Finance Committee (2002–2011)
* Bernard Bosson, Mayor of Annecy (1977–2007), member of the National Assembly of France for Haute-Savoie (1986–2007)
* Pierre Albertini, Mayor of Rouen
* Anne-Marie Idrac, Secretary of State for International Trade under Nicolas Sarkozy (2008–2010)
* Alain Lambert, Budget Minister (2002–2004)
* Daniel Garrigue, member of the National Assembly of France for Dordogne and former press secretary for Dominique de Villepin
* Jean-François Kahn, author and former director of the newspaper ''Marianne''

Bayrou was eliminated in the first round, receiving around half of his vote share from 2007; he endorsed Socialist François Hollande in the runoff.

2017 presidential election

On 22 February 2017, Bayrou stated that he would not contest the 2017 presidential election, instead endorsing the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron of En Marche!.Kim Willsher
French elections: Emmanuel Macron and François Bayrou form alliance
, ''The Guardian'' (22 February 2017). The alliance surprised French political pundits and rival candidates. Part of the agreement was Macron's commitment to support a clean government law proposed by Bayrou. Bayrou said that France was "at extreme risk", requiring an "exceptional response", adding that the alliance did not mean that MoDem would be subsumed by En Marche!

Minister of Justice (2017)

On 17 May 2017, Bayrou was appointed as Minister of Justice in the first Philippe government.

'' Le Canard enchaîné'' published information that Democratic Movement politician Marielle de Sarnez had been paid for work she had not actually done, embroiling Bayrou in a scandal about fictitious jobs. France Info later reported that MoDem had "over a dozen" fictitious jobs in the European Parliament.

Bayrou resigned several days before the 2017 legislative election, only 35 days after he had taken the post. He was found not guilty of those accusations in February 2024.

Later career

In September 2020, Bayrou was appointed as high commissioner for planification by Prime minister Jean Castex.

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 the presidential election struggling to obtain them, even if they represent a large part of the public according to opinion polls,Tassilo Hummel (27 February 2022)
Macron ally offers help to far-right presidential candidate Le Pen
''Reuters''. including far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

Following the appointment of Gabriel Attal as Prime 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.

Prime Minister (since 2024)

On , following the motion of no confidence that ended Michel Barnier's government, Bayrou was appointed as Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron. 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. Despite his nomination, Bayrou has pledged to remain in office as Mayor of Pau, similarly to Jacques Chirac, who served simultaneously as Prime Minister and Mayor of Paris from 1986 to 1988. Less than a week after his nomination, he faced criticism after flying to Pau on a presidential Falcon 7X jet to attend a session of the municipal council, rather than visiting Mayotte, which had been heavily affected by Cyclone Chido. Bayrou's government was finalized on 23 December, maintaining the goal Bayrou had set of appointing his ministers before Christmas. On 30 December 2024, Bayrou visited Mayotte with several government members and announced several emergency measures to rebuild the islands' infrastructures and to resolve the local crisis. On 3 February 2025, Bayrou passed his government's budget for the year after bypassing a vote in the National Assembly through special constitutional powers. This led to two unsuccessful no-confidence motions being launched against him on 5 February and 10 February.

Political views

Bayrou has been a vocal campaigner on a variety of issues, including reform of the political process, civil liberties, and free software (see DADVSI). During the 2007 presidential election campaign he described the European Union as "the most beautiful construction of all humanity". He called for France to play a greater role in the European Union's affairs, and supports the ratification of a European Constitution, in a more concise and readable form than the one voted down by the French electorate in 2005.

In an interview with ''The New York Times'' in 2007, Bayrou said: "I am a democrat, I am a Clintonian, I am a man of the 'third way'".Sciolino, Elaine. "A 'Neither/Nor' Candidate for President Alters the French Political Landscape", ''The New York Times'' (8 March 2007) 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 its ''de facto'' leader. He has also criticized China's protection of the Sudanese government from UN Security Council sanctions. Bayrou was highly critical of the American 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. Bayrou criticized the Iraq war, saying it was "the cause of chaos" in the region.

He criticized Nicolas Sarkozy's foreign policy, including the invitation of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for a week-long state visit to France and the signing of military cooperation agreements with Libya.

In 2009, he criticized statements by Pope 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 fricais a continent in which tens of millions of women and men are dying."

He called for France to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics, due to the poor human rights record in China and political 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 against Sudan over its involvement in the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

Bayrou is fluent in Béarnese and often expresses his support for regionalism.

Bétharram scandal and François Bayrou's involvement

The Bétharram scandal refers to a case of child sexual abuse committed within the Catholic congregation of the Bétharram 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.

In 2025 Bayrou's daughter Hélène Perlant said that a senior priest at Notre-Dame de Bétharram had beaten her publicly in the 1980s when she was 14, but that she had not told Bayrou, 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 from 1957 to 2004, including an allegation of group rape committed by two priests. Some complaints led to charges; others have passed the time limit for prosecution.

References

Bibliography

Bayrou is the sole author unless other names are mentioned.

* , subject(s): Enseignement—Réforme—France—1970–, Éducation et État—France—1970–.
* le Grand livre du mois 1994, subject(s): Henri IV (roi de France ; 1553–1610) – Biographies, France—1589–1610 (Henri IV).
*
* , preface by François Bayrou.
* , le Grand livre du mois 1996, subject(s): Politique et éducation—France—1990–, France—Conditions sociales—1981–.
*
* , series: J'ai lu 4183.
*
* , preface by François Bayrou.
*
*
* , subject(s): Henri IV (roi de France ; 1553–1610 ) – Ouvrages pour la jeunesse.
*
* , le Grand livre du mois 1999.
*
* , series: Le livre de poche 14779.
* , "témoignages de François Bayrou et de Dominique Baudis", series: Politiques & chrétiens 16.
* , series: L'Info. Citoyenne.
*
*
*
*
* ''Abus de pouvoir'', arisPlon, 2009
* ''2012, Etat d'urgence'', arisPlon, 2011

External links

*
bayrou.fr – Campaign Website
*
lesdemocrates.fr – Website of Bayrou's party
*
france-democrate.fr – Website on the Democratic Movement
*
bayrou.fr – Video Channel on YouTube
*
Video François Bayrou
(not linked to François Bayrou)
*
François Bayrou Blog
(not linked to François Bayrou)
*
Site du Mouvement Democrate en Grande-Bretagne
(Website of Bayrou's party in the UK and Ireland)
*
Blog du Mouvement Democrate en Amerique du Nord – Etats-Unis et Canada
(Website of Bayrou's party in North America)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayrou, Francois
1951 births
Living people
Candidates in the 2002 French presidential election
Candidates in the 2007 French presidential election
Candidates in the 2012 French presidential election
Centre of Social Democrats politicians
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Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
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