François Bayrou

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 PyrénéesAtlantiques 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 MoDems allegedly fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants initiated earlier that month Bayrou was born on 25 May 1951 in Bordères PyrénéesAtlantiques a village located between Pau and Lourdes He is the son of farmer Calixte Bayrou 19091974 MRP mayor of Bordères from 1947 to 1953 and Emma Sarthou 19182009 Bayrou descends from an ancestry of primarily Occitans except from his maternal grandmothers 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 Prior to embarking on his political career Bayrou taught history in Béarn in the French Pyrenees He is the author of several books on politics and history including one on King Henry IV of France Bayrous hobby is raising horses Although a practising Roman Catholic he strongly supports Frances system of laïcité In Bayrous youth he was active in nonviolent movements and followed Gandhi disciple Lanza del Vasto Bayrou a member of the Centre of Social Democrats CDS the Christiandemocratic wing of the Union for French Democracy UDF confederation was elected to the General Council of the PyrénéesAtlantiques department in 1982 in the canton of PauSud then the French National Assembly four years later After the victory of the RPRUDF coalition in the 1993 legislative election he became Education Minister in the cabinet led by Edouard Balladur In this post he proposed a reform allowing local authorities to subsidise private schools which caused massive protests and was quashed by the Constitutional Council Source Article François Bayrou from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30