Jean-Noël Barrot
Jean-Noël Barrot is a French-Swiss politician of the Democratic Movement who has been serving as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the successive governments of Prime Ministers Michel Barnier, François Bayrou and Sébastien Lecornu since 21 September 2024. He previously served as Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Telecommunications in the government of Élisabeth Borne from 2022 to 2024 and Minister Delegate for European Affairs in the government of Gabriel Attal in 2024.
An academic by occupation, Barrot was elected to represent the 2nd constituency of the Yvelines department in the National Assembly in 2017 with the support of La République En Marche!, prior to joining the government. In 2024, he was elected president of the National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs, a position he held until his appointment as Foreign Minister.
Early life and career
Barrot was born in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the son of politician Jacques Barrot, who served as a Christian-democratic government minister, European commissioner, as well as a member of the Constitutional Council until his death. His sister Hélène Barrot worked as director of communications for Uber in Europe.Barrot followed a classe préparatoire at the Lycée Henri-IV, and graduated from HEC Paris in 2007 and 2013. He also graduated with master's degrees from Sciences Po and the Paris School of Economics, both in 2008.
In 2013, Barrot became a research affiliate at the Sloan School of Management at the MIT. In 2017, he became an assistant professor at HEC Paris.
Political career
Career in local politics
Barrot served in the Departmental Council of Haute-Loire for the canton of Yssingeaux from 2015 until his resignation in 2017, a position his father had held until 2004.In the 2021 regional election, he was elected to the Regional Council of Île-de-France on the La République En Marche! list led by Laurent Saint-Martin.
Member of Parliament (2017–2022)
In the 2017 legislative election, Barrot was elected to the National Assembly in the 2nd constituency of Yvelines, which encompasses HEC Paris, the grande école he taught at. He defeated outgoing deputy Pascal Thévenot of The Republicans with 58.3% of the second-round vote.In Parliament, he served as a vice president of the Committee on Finance. He co-authored with Bénédicte Peyrol draft legislation in 2018 to combat large-scale tax evasion and avoidance schemes through dividend stripping in the wake of the CumEx Files revelations.
In addition to his committee assignments, Barrot was a member of the French-Uruguayan parliamentary friendship group.
In late 2017, Barrot was appointed by President of the National Assembly François de Rugy to chair a ten-member working group on reforming the National Assembly. The group submitted two reports, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
From February 2018, Barrot served as a Democratic Movement spokesperson, in tandem with Sarah El Haïry. He eventually succeeded Yann Wehrling as Secretary General of the Democratic Movement in December 2018, serving until July 2022 under the leadership of party president François Bayrou.
Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications (2022–2024)
In July 2022, Barrot was appointed Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Telecommunications in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.He won a by-election in October 2022, triggered by the resignation of his substitute Anne Grignon—who had been representing him in the National Assembly after he joined the government—due to a legal incompatibility related to her eligibility.
In 2023, he criticized ChatGPT and accused the service of not respecting privacy law. However, he also stated being opposed to efforts to ban the service.
Minister Delegate for European Affairs (2024)
In February 2024, Barrot was appointed Minister Delegate for European Affairs under Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné in the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.After being reelected in the 2024 snap legislative election, he was elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee while serving as the caretaker Minister Delegate for European Affairs.
Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs (2024–present)
Barrot was appointed Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier on 21 September 2024, succeeding Séjourné, who had been proposed as France's new European Commissioner in Brussels by President Emmanuel Macron, within the Von der Leyen Commission II. He was retained by François Bayrou when he succeeded Barnier as prime minister. He was also retained by Bayrou's successor, Sébastien Lecornu upon the formation of his first government and later also in his second government in October 2025.On 29 September, Barrot traveled to Lebanon, two days prior to the start of the Israeli invasion of the country, stating France "stands with Lebanon", as the country was being pulled into a war "it did not choose". On 8 October, he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rhetoric on the matter a "provocation".
In January 2025, Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock visited Damascus to meet Syria's de facto new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on behalf of the European Union, thereby becoming the first ministers from the EU to visit the country since the fall of the Assad regime.
In February 2025 Barrot urged G20 states to show unambivalent support for the international rules-based order, including the sovereignty of Ukraine. Barrot said the real line of geopolitical division was not between north and south but between those who supported the international rules-based order and those who did not.
On 3 January 2026, Barrot condemned the United States strikes in Venezuela as illegal, stating: "The military operation that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro violates the principle of not resorting to force, that underpins international law. France reiterates that no lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside and that only sovereign people themselves can decide their future."