Stéphane Séjourné (; born 26 March 1985) is a French politician of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

who currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. He served as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Gabriel Attal Gabriel Nissim Attal de Couriss (; born 16 March 1989) is a French politician who was the prime minister of France from January to September 2024. He was the youngest and the first openly Gay man, gay prime minister in French history. A member ...

between January and September 2024. Séjourné was 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 ...

(MEP) in

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 ...

, where he led

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

, a liberal

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

parliamentary

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, from 2021 to 2024. He was an adviser to

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

during his ministerial tenure and advised him during his

2017 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April and 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he wo ...

campaign. In 2022, he became general secretary of

Early life and education

Born in

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 ...

,Olivier Beaumont and Pauline Théveniaud (11 March 2019)
LREM : Stéphane Séjourné, un pilote en campagne pour les européennes
''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...

''. Séjourné grew up in Madrid and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and later did an

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

exchange program in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

.Maïa de La Baume (25 October 2021)
Macron’s man in Brussels takes control of the liberals
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

''.

Early career

After working in the office of Jean-Paul Huchon at the

Regional Council of Île-de-France The Regional Council of Île-de-France () is the regional council of Île-de-France, France's most populous administrative region. Made up of 209 regional councillors elected for 6 years, it is headquartered in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, just north ...

from 2012 to 2014, Séjourné became an adviser to Minister of the Economy and Finance

. When Macron became president in the 2017 elections, Séjourné came along as a political adviser, working alongside Alexis Kohler and Ismaël Emelien.Nathalie Segaunes (21 July 2017)
Pépinières: la «bande de Poitiers», du MJS à l’Assemblée nationale
'' L'Opinion''. He then took a six-month-long

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they ar ...

to lead LREM’s campaign for the 2019 European elections.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–2024

Since entering parliament, Séjourné has been serving on the

Committee on Legal Affairs The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities The main responsibilities of the committee are the interpretation and application of international and European law and the compliance of European U ...

(2019–2022), the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (2020–2022) and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (since 2022). In addition to his committee assignments, Séjourné is part of the Parliament's delegations for relations with

Mercosur The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...

and the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. He is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital, the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights, the MEPs Against Cancer group and the European Internet Forum. Following the resignation of

Dacian Cioloş Dacian may refer to: Relating to "Dacia" * of or relating to Dacia in southeastern Europe ** Dacians, the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia ** Dacian language * of or relating to one of the other meanings of Dacia ...

in 2021, Séjourné announced his candidacy for the leadership of the

group in the European Parliament. In May 2022, Séjourné – together with Patrick Mignola for the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and

Gilles Boyer Gilles Boyer (born 4 July 1971) is a French politician of the Horizons party. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019 and was re-elected in 2024. Early life and education Born to two university professors, Boyer spent h ...

for Horizons – negotiated the agreement leading to the creation of Ensemble, a coalition of the parties forming the presidential majority, including on the financial distribution between them. At the September 2022 convention of Renaissance, Séjourné was the only candidate in the running to succeed the party’s chair Stanislas Guerini and was elected as new leader.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2024

On 11 January 2024, Séjourné was appointed minister of Europe and foreign affairs in Gabriel Attal's government. His first official trip abroad was to Germany for a meeting with his counterpart

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician and diplomat of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. She served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Germany's minister for foreign affairs from 2021 to 2025. I ...

. Séjourné criticized South Africa's ICJ genocide case against Israel, saying "To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold." The same year, Séjourné stood for election in Hauts-de-Seine's 9th constituency, taking a 46 percent plurality in the initial round, and was elected with 72.6 percent in the runoff.

European Commission, 2024–2029

Following

Thierry Breton Thierry Breton (; born 15 January 1955) is a French-Senegalese business executive, politician, writer and former Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union from 2019 to 2024. Breton was vice-chairman and CEO of Groupe Bull (1996–19 ...

's resignation, Séjourné was announced as the next candidate for the French post in the

Von der Leyen Commission II The second von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission, in office since 1 December 2024. It consists of one commissioner from each of the member states of the European Union – including Ursula von der Leyen, its President of t ...

. As

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

in charge of the bloc’s industrial policy he is opting for offensive EU strategies.

Political positions

Séjourné is considered a close ally of President

. In an article published by '' Le Journal du Dimanche'' in February 2021, Séjourné opposed the proposed Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). On 12 November 2023, he took part in the '' March for the Republic and Against Antisemitism'' in Paris in response to the rise of anti-Semitism in France since the start of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

. In 2024, Séjourné committed not to work with the far-right in the next European Parliament and refused to align with the nationalist

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

(ECR) group.

Personal life

Séjourné is gay and was in a

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

(PACS) with

, a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France in 2024. The relationship had ended by 2022. He has stated that he has suffered from very severe

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

since youth.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Séjourné, Stéphane 1985 births Living people 21st-century French LGBTQ people Foreign ministers of France French gay politicians LGBTQ legislators in France LGBTQ MEPs for France Members of the Attal government MEPs for France 2019–2024 People from Versailles Renaissance (French political party) MEPs Renaissance (French political party) politicians University of Poitiers alumni Politicians with dyslexia European commissioners (2024–2029) French European commissioners