Little known to the general public and diplomats alike until eight months ago, Jean-Noël Barrot had barely made his mark as minister delegate for Europe when he was propelled to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government.

Aged 41, the vice president of the center-right MoDem party replaces Stéphane Séjourné, tipped since Monday, September 16, to join the European Commission, following the resounding resignation of Thierry Breton due to deep disagreements with its German president, Ursula von der Leyen. Barrot is the fourth French foreign minister since Emmanuel Macron was first elected president in 2017. Barrot is the third since the start of Macron's second term in 2022, when the political crisis sparked by the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale is worrying France's partners, and blurring its message.

Although his career has been meteoric, Barrot is a diplomatic newcomer. An alumnus of the HEC business school, where he taught economics after a spell at Boston's MIT, he holds a doctorate in management science. His research interests include corporate finance. His ministerial career began at the Finance Ministry, as minister delegate for digital affairs (from July 2022 to January of this year). Although he didn't really make his mark in the media, he did work to strengthen regulation of the sector, in order to protect minors from online pornography and limit the omnipotence of multinationals.

Barrot describes himself as a "committed European," and says he is very attached to the driving force of the French-German partnership, despite the high level of tension between Paris and Berlin, particularly since the war in Ukraine. Grandson of the Christian-Democrat resistance fighter Noël Barrot, he is the son of former centrist minister and European commissioner Jacques Barrot, who died in 2014, when he sat on the Constitutional Council. Like his father, who was an MP for Haute-Loire for over three decades, Jean-Noël Barrot began his political career in the southeastern canton of Yssingeaux, but it was in Yvelines, west of Paris, that he was elected to the Assemblée Nationale in 2017. He won his re-election this July, following the dissolution.

Macron's surprise decision to dissolve the government took Barrot by surprise at the time. A few weeks later, in the midst of the Olympic Games, the resigning minister confided at a reception organized in Paris by the German embassy that he did not see a quick solution to the political crisis. Little did he know that he would be replacing Séjourné, who made no secret of his intention to stay on after barely eight months in office.

You have 32.13% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.