Christophe Castaner (; 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. 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.
Born in Ollioules in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, 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, as well as a series of controversial public statements he made. 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. 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).
Early life and education
The youngest of three children, Christophe Castaner's father was in the military and his mother was a housewife.
A poor student, he gained his baccalauréat independently (en candidat libre) in 1986. A graduate of Law and Political Science at the University of Aix-Marseille, Castaner holds a post-graduate diploma in International Business Law and a diploma in Criminal and Criminological Sciences.
Political career
After work experience at the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) legal department, he was recruited to local government management posts in Avignon and Paris. In 1995 he became office manager for Tony Dreyfus, Mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
He was technical adviser to Minister of Culture Catherine Trautmann in 1997 and became her principal private secretary in 1998. He was principal private secretary to Michel Sapin, then Minister of the Civil Service and State Reform, from 2000 to 2002.
Local government
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.
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). On 11 April 2014, his deputy Pierre Garcin succeeded him as the president of the district council of Forcalquier-Mount Lure.
Regional government
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.