Laurent Wauquiez

Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez ([lɔʁɑ̃ timɔte maʁi vokje] ; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 following the resignation of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Wauquiez was Secretary of State for European Affairs under the Foreign Minister Alain Juppé; and previously Secretary of State for Employment under the Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment from March 2008 in François Fillon's government. He also was Government Spokesman from June 2007 to March 2008 as Minister of State under the Prime Minister. He was elected as 2nd Vice President of the ORU Fogar at the organisation's General Assembly held in Quito, Ecuador on 16 October 2016.

On 10 December 2017, Wauquiez was elected to the presidency of The Republicans with 74% of the vote. Pundits have described him as moving the party to the right. On 2 June 2019, a week after overseeing the worst result for the right in its history in the European election with 8% of the vote, Wauquiez resigned as party president.

After 2024 legislative election, Wauquiez became president of the LR group in the National Assembly.

Early life and education

Wauquiez graduated from the École normale supérieure in 1994 and Université Panthéon-Sorbonne with a masters in history and studied public law at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po); he later attended the École nationale d'administration (ÉNA). He worked as professor at Emlyon Business School.