Bruno Le Maire

After leaving the ÉNA in 1998, Bruno Le Maire found a job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. He eventually joined the team assisting the Secretary General of the Office of the President, Dominique de Villepin. He went on to a role of Foreign Affairs Advisor in the ministry in 2002,[10] then onto an advisor role in the Interior ministry in 2004.[11]

Bruno Le Maire in 2007

Le Maire talking with Jean-Louis Debré and his constituents in Évreux

Following several roles in Government including one working directly with Dominique de Villepin, Le Maire was chosen to be political advisor to the Prime Minister. In July 2006, Le Maire was appointed to the role of being Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister, replacing Pierre Mongin[12] remaining in the role until Villepin's departure from the office of Prime Minister.

From 2007 to 2008, he was a member of the National Assembly of France, representing Eure's 1st constituency.[4][5] After becoming a political advisor to the UMP, Le Maire was appointed to be Secretary of State in charge of European Affairs, replacing Jean-Pierre Jouyet, in December 2008, serving until 2009.[1][2][13]

From 2008, Le Maire served as a political advisor for the Union for a Popular Movement.[1][5] He also serves as a council member of Evreux.[1][5]

In June 2009, Le Maire became the new Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fishing in the government of François Fillon.[1][2] During his tenure at the Ministry, he created a new framework to modernize French agriculture, food and fishing. He also hosted the G20 Agriculture summit in 2011, which resulted in the creation of AMIS (Agricultural Market Information System). The main objective of AMIS is to monitor the global agricultural market under a rotating presidency. An intervention Forum can be convoked if the presiding country judges it necessary.

Bruno Le Maire speaking at a public event in 2013

Le Maire in Brussels, 2014

In August 2012, Le Maire announced that he would be a candidate for the presidency of the Union for a Popular Movement, competing against former Prime Minister François Fillon, Secretary General Jean-François Copé and former Minister of Ecology Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. He decided to develop a reformist line and to focus his campaign around four main axes:

• Enhancing European economic integration
• Strengthening French entrepreneurship and economy
• Going back to the values of respect and authority in society
• Renewing generations in political parties.

He failed however to obtain the necessary number of sponsors. In November 2014, Le Maire obtained 29.8% of votes against Nicolas Sarkozy in the election for the presidency of The Republicans (formerly UMP).

Le Maire was considered a serious challenger of the 2016 centre-right primary as the polls suggested he could be third-placed but got a poor result with 2.4%. He became LR candidate François Fillon’s international affairs spokesman, but resigned when Fillon was embroiled in a financial scandal during his campaign.[14] Le Maire has since distanced himself from his party, calling for the right to work constructively with Macron to ensure the president's five years in office succeeds and prevents the far-right National Front making further electoral inroads.[3]

On 17 May 2017, The Republicans Secretary-General Bernard Accoyer issued a statement that anyone from the party that was a member of the government was no longer a member, including Le Maire.[15][16]

Bruno Le Maire (left), Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem (centre) and Greek Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos (right), 2017

Le Maire arriving at an Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in September 2017

In May 2017, Le Maire was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron Minister of the Economy in the first Philippe government. In this capacity, he is supported by Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin.[17] Shortly after being appointed as the Minister of the Economy, Le Maire became a member of La République En Marche! following conflicting reports that he was excluded from The Republicans party.[18][19] Le Maire was able to win reelection in his constituency after beating National Front candidate, Fabienne Delacour. He was appointed Minister of the Economy and Finance in the second Philippe government on 19 June 2017.

By November 2017, Le Maire was reported to explore his options to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem as the next President of the Eurogroup;[20] the role of which was eventually given to Mário Centeno of Portugal.[21] In 2019, he led the European Union's selection process for a European candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.[22]

• European Investment Bank (EIB), ex officio member of the Board of Governors[23]
• European Stability Mechanism (ESM), member of the Board of Governors[24]

• Asian Development Bank (ADB), ex officio member of the Board of Governors
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), ex officio member of the Board of Governors[25]
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), ex officio member of the Board of Governors[26]
• Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), ex officio member of the Board of Governors
• International Monetary Fund (IMF), ex officio member of the Board of Governors[27]
• Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member[28]
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group, ex officio member of the Board of Governors[29]
• World Bank, ex officio member of the Board of Governors[30]

• European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), member[31]
• Hertie School of Governance, member of the Board of Trustees
• Long-Term Investors Club, member[5]
• Permanent Platform of Atomium Culture, member of the Advisory Board

During the conservative primaries in 2016, Le Maire shifted to the right, taking a tough stance on law and order and national identity issues. He called for the immediate expulsion of foreigners regarded as suspect by the security services, the deportation of foreign nationals who complete jail terms,[3] and a curb of refugee numbers.[32]

Le Maire has set out a free-market economic agenda, calling for the privatisation of France's labour offices, the end of subsidised jobs and capping of welfare benefits.[3] Since taking office, he has steered Macron's drive to lighten the government touch on the economy and cut red-tape, and is overseeing a push to privatize airports and other state-controlled companies.[33]

In 2016, however, Le Maire was quoted as saying the prospect of Britain leaving the European Union was a "fabulous opportunity for France" as it would remove the bloc's main champion of deregulation.[34] He vowed on 9 July 2017 to put forward a plan to protect French companies from foreign takeovers.[35]

On foreign trade, Le Maire expressed his opposition against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)[34] and also argued for a more protectionist trade policy in order to better defend against "dumping" by China.[36]

In August 2017, Le Maire called upon EU nations to step up efforts to address how they tax the digital economy and stated that a "new momentum" was needed to get a fairer contribution from digital platforms, after a report that Airbnb paid less than €100,000 of taxes in France in 2016. He categorised low tax payments as "unacceptable".[37]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Le Maire and his German counterpart Olaf Scholz were credited as instrumental in overcoming Dutch and Italian resistance and securing the EU's 500 billion euros emergency deal to provide financial aid to workers, companies and governments struggling as a result of the virus.[38]

In July 2020, Le Marie announced that the French government will cut taxes French companies have to pay in addition to normal corporate income tax by 20 million euros over the course of next two years.[39]

On Brexit itself, Le Maire caused controversy on 20 July 2017 when he told the French Parliament's economic affairs committee: "The United Kingdom has a remaining balance to pay to the EU budget of €100 billion"[40] The view held by Le Maire has been shared by European Leaders since April 2017 with some of them believing the "divorce-bill" will lead the UK to owing the European Union £50 billion[41] He also promised to set up a special court to handle English-law cases for financial contracts after Brexit during a conference in New York.[42]

Speaking to the BBC in January 2019, Le Maire said the Brexit withdrawal agreement could not be renegotiated and it was up to the UK to find way through the impasse. He also said a no-deal Brexit would be "catastrophic" for the UK.[43]

On foreign policy, Le Maire is a traditional Gaullist, favouring French national independence.[3] He has argued for a reinforced European defense policy to secure the bloc's exterior borders and fight terrorism, with more spending on the military by Germany in particular.[36]