Christophe Béchu (; born 11 June 1974) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister for Ecological Transition and Cohesion of the Territories in the government of successive

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 ...

Élisabeth Borne Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...

and

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 ...

from 2022 to 2024. Béchu previously was the

President of the General Council In France, the President of the Departmental Council (French language, French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the Departmental councils (France), departmental council, the assembly governing a Departments ...

of the

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

department from 2004 to 2014. He briefly served as 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 ...

from

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

until 2011, representing the West France constituency. A former member of the centre-right

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

, later the

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

(LR), and the DL, Béchu became the secretary general of Horizons in 2021. Béchu briefly served as Minister of Relations with Local Authorities from 20 May to 4 July 2022.Marius Bocquet (20 May 2022)
Gouvernement : Christophe Béchu, le premier des philippistes, nommé ministre délégué aux Collectivités territoriales
''

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'', ...

''.

Political career

Béchu has represented the

Canton of Angers-Nord-Ouest Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an I ...

since 2001, and was re-elected there during the

2008 French cantonal elections Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100 departments were held on 9 and 16 March 2008. These elections coincided with the municipal elections, in which the left did well. Electoral system The canto ...

. However, he was narrowly defeated by the incumbent PS

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, Jean-Claude Antonini, in the 2008 municipal elections.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2011

In 2009, the UMP selected him to lead the UMP list in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

constituency ahead of the 2009 European elections. He was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

as a result. His list won 27.16% of the vote and three MEPs. In parliament, he served on the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the parliament's delegation for relations with Japan. He resigned in January 2011. Béchu lost the regional election of 2010 to become President of

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; but can also mean 'Lower Loire') is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital an ...

region, but was elected as a regional councillor. In the 2011 elections, he was elected as a Senator of

, and thereafter resigned from regional council of Pays-de-Loire.

Mayor of Angers, 2014–2022

During the

2014 French municipal elections The French municipal elections of 2014 were held on 23 March of that year with a second round of voting, where necessary, on 30 March to elect the municipal councils of France's communes. The first task of each newly constituted municipal council ...

, Béchu competed against Frédéric Béatse, incumbent, and became the new mayor of Angers on 4 April 2014. Béchu was re-elected in 2020. In 2016, Béchu caused controversy when he requested the removal of posters that had been installed as part of a governmental

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

prevention campaign "not to expose a young public to a message they cannot understand“; at the time,

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

Marisol Touraine Marisol Touraine (; born 7 March 1959) is a French politician who served as Minister of Social Affairs and Health under Prime Ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault,Angelique ChrisafisWomen in the French cabinet ''The Guardian'', 18 May 2012Olivier Augu ...

denounced Béchu as " homophobe."

Career in government

In October 2023, Béchu participated in the first joint cabinet retreat of the German and French governments in Hamburg, chaired by

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

and

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 ...

Other activities

* Agence de financement des infrastructures de transport de France (AFITF), chair of the board of directors * Dexia Crédit Local, member of the board of directors (2007–2009)

Political positions

In 2019, Béchu publicly declared his support for incumbent

.Voici la tribune des 72 maires et élus locaux de droite et du centre qui annoncent leur soutien à Macron
''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' (; ), also known as the JDD , is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. JDD was bought in 2023 by Vivendi of media mogul Vincent Bolloré, triggering a strike movement against the new editorial s ...

'', 8 June 2019. In 2022, Bechu sponsored regulations to re-allow lark hunting in France. This is after previous regulations were struck down as being a violation of EU law.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bechu, Christophe 1974 births Living people People from Angers Liberal Democracy (France) politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Modern and Humanist France French senators of the Fifth Republic Mayors of places in Pays de la Loire MEPs for West France 2009–2014 Union for a Popular Movement MEPs Sciences Po alumni Senators of Maine-et-Loire Horizons (political party) politicians Members of the Borne government Members of the Attal government