Christophe Castaner

In 2001, Christophe Castaner stood for mayor of Forcalquier. He won against incumbent Pierre Delmar, a member of the Rally for the Republic who had been mayor from 1983 to 1989 and again since 1995. Delmar also served as both a member of the National Assembly and a departmental councillor.

Reelected as Mayor of Forcalquier and president of the district council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure (Communauté de communes Pays de Forcalquier - Montagne de Lure) in 2008, he was an active participant in the creation of the intercommunality of the Pays de Haute-Provence.[12]

He was once again reelected Mayor of Forcalquier on 23 March 2014 by 22 votes, standing against Sébastien Ginet of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).[13] On 11 April 2014, his deputy Pierre Garcin succeeded him as the president of the district council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure.

In 2004, after having been elected to the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Castaner was tasked by Regional Council President Michel Vauzelle with land use planning. It was the first time this duty fell to an "Alpine" representative, who was also the youngest vice president of the regional council. He was reelected as a regional councillor in 2010 and given a new portfolio: employment, economy, higher education and innovation.

Castaner in 2013

Castaner was named on 5 February 2015 as lead candidate in the upcoming Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election by members of the Socialist Party with 55% of the vote, ahead of Patrick Allemand (31%) and Elsa di Méo (14%). In the first round he obtained 17% of the vote, trailing the record-breaking National Front (40.6%) led by Marion Maréchal-Le Pen and The Republicans (26.5%) led by Christian Estrosi. Following the call of the Socialist Party's national leadership, Christophe Castaner decided not to stand in the second round in an act of unity against the National Front.[14] This choice enabled the election of Estrosi of The Republicans to the presidency of the regional council with 54.8% of the vote in the second round, but meant the Socialist Party would lose all representation in the regional council.

On 17 June 2012, Castaner was elected as a deputy (or MP) to the National Assembly for the 2nd constituency of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the 2012 legislative election, ahead of the UMP candidate, Jean-Claude Castel, Mayor of Corbières.

A member of the National Assembly's Finance Committee, in July 2012 Castaner was appointed Special Rapporteur of Work and Employment Budgets. On 20 June 2014, Prime Minister Manuel Valls entrusted him with the vice presidency of the Council for the Co-ordination of Profit-sharing, Employee Savings and Employee Shareholding (Conseil d'orientation de la participation, de l'intéressement, de l'épargne salariale et de l'actionnariat salarié — COPIESAS). This authority was in charge of bringing negotiations between unions and management on these measures to a successful conclusion.

Castaner is considered to be one of Macron's earliest backers.[15] He sponsored the Bill for Growth, Activity and Equality of Economic Opportunity (Loi pour la croissance, l'activité et l'égalité des chances économiques), known as the loi Macron ("Macron law").[16] He was spokesperson for and a supporter of Emmanuel Macron during the campaign for the presidential election of 2017.[2] During this campaign, he was repeatedly criticised for his perceived dishonesty and tactlessness.[17][18][19][20][21]

Castaner justified his joining with Emmanuel Macron by explaining that in politics one must be "at the right place at the right time, without necessarily knowing where you will end up". Described as ambitious, he reckons that "all politicians have an ego. Or they are liars. Recently, I downloaded La Provence at 5 a.m. to see if my picture was in that day's edition".[3] He stood in the 2017 legislative election on the La République En Marche! ticket for the 2nd constituency of the Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence and was reelected.

On 17 May 2017, Castaner was named Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament. He was also appointed as Government Spokesperson for the Édouard Philippe government.

In October 2017, after the arrest of several far-right activists, he was named among potential targets of attacks in preparation. La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon was also included among the targets.[22] The acute risk of an attack was denied by then Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb shortly thereafter.[23][24]

On 25 October 2017, a few days after Emmanuel Macron gave him his support, Castaner he declared his candidacy for the chairmanship of the La République En Marche party on RTL. He was elected at the first party convention on 18 November 2017. In his capacity as chairman, he spearheaded Macron’s efforts to forge alliances with like-minded parties across Europe ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election.[25]

Following Gerard Collomb's resignation as Interior Minister for the Édouard Philippe government in early October 2018, Castaner was appointed Interior Minister on 16 October 2018 following an acting period by Philippe. A brief handover ceremony at the Interior Ministry was held the same day; Castaner spoke to journalists citing the issue of security as the ministry's greatest preoccupation, mentioning the "fight against terrorism".[26] In the evening, President Macron addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast, in which he announced the appointment of the new Interior Minister and Agriculture Minister over a 12 minute-long speech.

During his tenure, Castaner faced the 2018 Strasbourg attack, 2019 Lyon bombing, 2019 Paris police headquarters stabbing and 2020 Romans-sur-Isère knife attack, perpetrated by Islamic terrorists.

Yellow vest demonstrator holding a sign against Castaner during a protest in May 2019

In late 2018 and early 2019, Castaner was criticised for his handling of the yellow vests movement. Numerous scenes of police brutality were shown in international media.[27][28][29] In June 2020, in the aftermath of the yellow vests movement and the death of Cédric Chouviat in early 2020, he announced that chokeholds would no longer be taught in police academies in France as an arrest technique.[30]

On 9 March 2019, after a day of yellow vests demonstrations, Castaner, a married man, was photographed in a nightclub in Paris with an unknown young woman. The scene caused embarrassment for the Philippe government.[31]

In 2019, he was heard by the Senate amid the Benalla affair.[32]

Christophe Castaner and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2019

On 1 May 2019, during Labour Day demonstrations, Castaner announced an "attack" of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris by demonstrators, as well as the aggression of the nursing staff and a policeman. Videos and testimonies published the next day revealed that what he presented as an attack was in fact demonstrators trying to escape from police, who charged to disperse rioters. Criticised by journalists and several opposition politicians, he was accused of lying and recognised that he should not have used the term "attack".[7]

In July 2019, Castaner was again criticised for decorating five police officers who were the subject of a police brutality investigation.[33]

In the aftermath of the Paris police headquarters stabbing in October 2019, Castaner was criticised for the public statements he had made regarding the motive of the attacker. Castaner had claimed that there were no warning signs prior to the attack in the suspect's behavior, while records dating back to 2015 documented several alerts and reports concerning a possible Islamic radicalisation. The Republicans spokesman Christian Jacob called for an official inquiry, while other MPs demanded Castaner's resignation.[8]

In June 2020, Castaner announced a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Paris would be authorised to proceed despite a decree signed by the Prime Minister banning demonstrations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in France and although he had stated the week prior "gatherings were prohibited" in order to slow the spread of the virus. He was quoted saying about the fight against racism following the murder of George Floyd in the United States: "I believe that the global emotion, which is a healthy emotion on this subject, goes beyond the legal rules that apply".[9]

In July 2020, Castaner was sacked and replaced as Interior Minister by Budget Minister colleague Gérald Darmanin in the new Castex government. BFM TV published as a headline: "Christophe Castaner replaced by Gérald Darmanin after two years of controversies".[34] He later returned to the National Assembly.

On 10 September 2020, Castaner succeeded Gilles Le Gendre as president of the La République En Marche group in the National Assembly.[35]

Castaner was defeated in the second round of the 2022 French legislative election by Léo Walter of La France Insoumise and subsequently lost the seat he held since 2012.[36]

18 March 2001 – 22 July 2017: Mayor of Forcalquier.

18 March 2001 – Present: municipal councillor, Forcalquier.

1 January 2003 – 12 April 2014: President of the District Council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure.

28 March 2004 – 13 July 2012: Vice President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.[41]

20 June 2012 – 17 June 2017, 21 June 2017 – 21 July 2017: Socialist member of the National Assembly for the 2nd constituency of the Alpes de Haute-Provence. Member of the Finance Committee — Special protractor of Work and Employment Budgets.

17 May 2017 – 24 November 2017: Government Spokesperson.

17 May 2017 – 16 October 2018: Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament.

18 November 2017 – 16 October 2018: Executive Officer of La République En Marche!

16 October 2018 – 6 July 2020: Minister of the Interior.