Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who served as

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020. Castex served for twelve years as

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 ...

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: 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 ...

. He resigned his post ahead of the 2022 legislative election. He has been president of the state-owned RATP since November 2022.

Political career

Elected in 2008 as the

of Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales, Castex served under Health Minister

Xavier Bertrand Xavier René Louis Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician; he is 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 2007 ...

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 supportin ...

in François Fillon's ministry from 2010 until 2011. He succeeded Raymond Soubie 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 (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...

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

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

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. T ...

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

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), 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 202 ...

's resignation on 3 July 2020, Castex was appointed

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 ...

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

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

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

as chairman of the board of directors of the Agence de financement des infrastructures de transport de France (AFITF). He left the post on 10 November 2022, to be nominated to the PDG of the RATP, starting on the 28 November.

Personal life

Castex, whose name means 'castles' in Gascon (), hails from the

Gers Gers (; or , ) is a departments of France, department in the regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southwestern France. Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to ...

. 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''. they have four daughters. A fluent Catalan 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 and the physician Patrick Pelloux, a former columnist at ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; ) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism ...

''. Castex tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on 23 November 2021.

Honours

References

External links