Christophe Castaner

Christophe Castaner
Castaner in 2019
President of the La République En Marche group in the National Assembly
In office
10 September 2020 – 21 June 2022
Preceded byGilles Le Gendre
Succeeded byAurore Bergé
Minister of the Interior
In office
16 October 2018 – 6 July 2020
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byÉdouard Philippe
Succeeded byGérald Darmanin
Executive Officer of
La République En Marche!
In office
18 November 2017 – 16 October 2018
Preceded byCatherine Barbaroux (Acting)
Succeeded byStanislas Guerini
Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament
In office
17 May 2017 – 16 October 2018
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byAndré Vallini
Succeeded byMarc Fesneau
Government Spokesperson
In office
17 May 2017 – 24 November 2017
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Preceded byStéphane Le Foll
Succeeded byBenjamin Griveaux
Member of the National Assembly
for Alpes-de-Haute-Provence's 2nd constituency
In office
4 August 2020 – 21 June 2022
Preceded byEmmanuelle Fontaine-Domeizel
Succeeded byLéo Walter
In office
21 June 2017 – 21 July 2017
Preceded byEsther Baron
Succeeded byEmmanuelle Fontaine-Domeizel
In office
20 June 2012 – 17 June 2017
Preceded byDaniel Spagnou
Succeeded byEsther Baron
Mayor of Forcalquier
In office
23 March 2001 – 22 July 2017
Preceded byGérard Avril
Succeeded byPierre Delmar
Personal details
Born (1966-01-03) 3 January 1966 (age 58)
Ollioules, France
Political partyRenaissance (2016–present)
Other political
affiliations		Socialist Party (before 2016)
EducationAix-Marseille University
Signature

Christophe Castaner (French pronunciation: [kʁistɔf kastanɛʁ]; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020 under President Emmanuel Macron.[1] He had been elected in 2017 for a three-year term as chairman (délégué général) of the La République En Marche! party with Macron's support. Castaner was Government Spokesperson under Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in 2017 and Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament from 2017 to 2018. He was also Macron's 2017 presidential campaign spokesman.[2]

Born in Ollioules in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region,[3] Castaner was Mayor of Forcalquier from 2001 to 2017. He held a vice presidency of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur from 2004 to 2012 under the presidency of Michel Vauzelle, before he represented the 2nd constituency of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the National Assembly from 2012 to 2017. He headed the Socialist Party list in the 2015 regional election in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, which saw the party lose all representation at the regional level. He joined Macron's En Marche! (later La République En Marche!) movement in 2016; he became its chairman the following year after a few months as Government Spokesman.

In 2018, Castaner was appointed as Minister of the Interior following the resignation of Gérard Collomb. His tenure, which was marked by the yellow vests movement, was heavily criticised for its scenes of police brutality,[4][5][6] as well as a series of controversial public statements he made.[7][8] While France was battling the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrations had been banned, he allowed a Black Lives Matter protest to take place, attracting further criticism.[9] The following month, he was succeeded by Gérald Darmanin in government and returned to the National Assembly where he would succeed Gilles Le Gendre as La République En Marche group president. In the 2022 legislative election, he lost his seat to Léo Walter of La France Insoumise (FI).[10]

  1. ^ "Gouvernement Castex en direct : Darmanin nommé ministre de l'intérieur, Dupond-Moretti garde des sceaux et Bachelot à la culture". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2020-07-06.
  2. ^ Pietralunga, Cédric (2016-11-16). "Macron : une annonce de candidature pour engranger de nouveaux soutiens". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  3. ^ "Christophe Castaner : l'enjoliveur". Libération.fr (in French). Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  4. ^ "Gilets jaunes : violences policières, la preuve par l’image", Libération (in French), 2019-11-18.
  5. ^ "Gilets jaunes : un policier mis en examen à Bordeaux pour violences volontaires", L'Express (in French), 2020-01-08.
  6. ^ "Violences policières : le CRS qui avait jeté un pavé le 1er mai condamné à deux mois de prison avec sursis", Le Parisien (in French), 2019-12-19.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference salpetriere was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Paris was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Castaner ne sanctionnera pas les manifestations contre le racisme : «L'émotion dépasse les règles juridiques»", Le Figaro (in French), 2020-06-09.
  10. ^ "Résultats législatives 2022: Christophe Castaner battu dans les Alpes-de-Haute-Provence". LEFIGARO (in French). 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2022-06-19.