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François Bayrou

Biography

François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has presided over the Democratic Movement (MoDem) since he founded it in 2007. A centrist, he was a candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 presidential elections. He has also presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004.

From 1993 to 1997, he was Minister of National Education in three successive governments. He was also a member of the National Assembly for a seat in Pyrénées-Atlantiques from 1986 to 2012 with brief interruptions and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2002. He has been Mayor of Pau since 2014.

It was speculated that Bayrou would be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election, but he decided not to run and instead supported Emmanuel Macron, who – after winning the election – named him Minister of State and Minister of Justice in the government headed by Édouard Philippe. On 21 June 2017, he resigned from the government amid an investigation into the MoDem's allegedly fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants, initiated earlier that month.

Bayrou was born on 25 May 1951 in Bordères, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a village located between Pau and Lourdes. He is the son of farmer Calixte Bayrou (1909–1974), MRP mayor of Bordères from 1947 to 1953, and Emma Sarthou (1918–2009). Bayrou descends from an ancestry of primarily Occitans except from his maternal grandmother's side which is Irish.

When Bayrou was in his youth, he developed a stutter which led to him attending speech therapy for seven years. He first went to secondary school in Pau, before transferring to Bordeaux. He studied literature at university, and at the age of 23, sat the "agrégation", the highest qualifying level for teachers in senior high schools and universities in France. Around the same time, his father was killed in a tractor accident.

Bayrou was married in 1971 to Élisabeth Perlant also known as "Babette". He and Perlant have five children, Hélène, Marie, Dominique, Calixte and Agnès. The children were raised on the farm where Bayrou was born and Bayrou currently lives there with Perlant.