Franck Riester

He previously served as Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Élisabeth Borne between 2020 and 2022. A former member of The Republicans, he founded and currently leads the centre-right Agir party.

Franck Riester
Minister Delegate for Parliamentary Relations
In office 4 July 2022 – 11 January 2024
Prime Minister	Élisabeth Borne
Preceded by	Olivier Véran
Succeeded by	Marie Lebec
President of Agir
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 September 2018
Preceded by	Position established
Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness
In office 6 July 2020 – 4 July 2022
Prime Minister	Jean Castex Élisabeth Borne
Preceded by	Position established
Minister of Culture
In office 16 October 2018 – 3 July 2020
Prime Minister	Édouard Philippe
Preceded by	Françoise Nyssen
Succeeded by	Roselyne Bachelot
President of the UDI and Independents group in the National Assembly
In office 27 June 2017 – 16 November 2018 Serving with Stéphane Demilly (2017) and Jean-Christophe Lagarde (2017–2018)
Preceded by	Philippe Vigier
Succeeded by	Jean-Christophe Lagarde
Member of the National Assembly for Seine-et-Marne's 5th constituency
In office 20 June 2007 – 16 November 2018
Preceded by	Guy Drut
Succeeded by	Patricia Lemoine
Mayor of Coulommiers
In office 15 March 2008 – 10 July 2017
Preceded by	Guy Drut
Succeeded by	Ginette Motot
Personal details
Born	(1974-01-03) 3 January 1974 (age 50) Paris, France
Political party	Agir (since 2017)
Other political affiliations	Rally for the Republic (until 2002) Union for a Popular Movement (2002–2015) The Republicans (until 2017)
Alma mater	ISG Business School ESSEC Business School

Riester was a member of the National Assembly for the fifth constituency of Seine-et-Marne from 2007 to 2018 and Minister of Culture in the Second Philippe government from 2018 until his appointment as Minister delegate attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

After a stint at accounting firm Arthur Andersen, Riester managed his family's Peugeot car dealership.

Member of the National Assembly

Riester was a member of the National Assembly from 2007 until 2018. During his time in parliament, he served on the Committee on the Committee on Economic Affairs (2007-2009), the Committee on European Affairs (2009-2011) and the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education (2009-2018). In his first term from 2007 until 2012, he was the UMP parliamentary group's youngest member. He was also the parliament's rapporteur on the 2009 HADOPI law.

In the 2009 European elections, Riester was the national campaign manager for Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party. During Sarkozy’s unsuccessful campaign for the 2012 presidential elections, he served as the party’s head of communications, along with Geoffroy Didier, Valérie Debord, Guillaume Peltier and Salima Saa.

In the Republicans’ 2016 presidential primaries, Riester endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the party's candidate for the office of President of France. When the primaries' winner François Fillon became embroiled in a political affair during his campaign, Riester publicly called on him to step down.

From June 2017, Riester co-chaired UDI and Independents group in the National Assembly, alongside Stéphane Demilly. He was subsequently excluded from the Republicans on 31 October 2017, alongside Gérald Darmanin, Sébastien Lecornu and Thierry Solère. In November 2017, he co-founded a new party, Agir.

Riester was a candidate for mayor of Coulommiers in the 2020 French municipal elections which he won in the first round with more than 50 percent of the vote, but entrusted the role of mayor to Laurence Picard.

Minister of Culture

Riester is appointed Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on 16 October 2018. During his time in office, he announced in September 2019 a public broadcasting reform project aimed at creating "France Médias", bringing together France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde (Radio France Internationale and France 24) and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA). He also merged the Superior Council of the Audiovisual (CSA) and the Supreme Authority for the Distribution and Protection of Intellectual Property on the Internet (HADOPI).

As minister he attempted to prevent the demolition of the Saint-Joseph Chapel of Saint-Paul College in Lille.

Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness

On 6 July 2020, after the appointment of Jean Castex as Prime Minister, Riester is appointed Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

In January 2013, Riester was one of the two UMP deputies, along with Benoist Apparu, to publicly declare his support and vote for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in France which had been proposed by the government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

When director Roman Polanski won best directing for his film An Officer and a Spy at the annual César Awards in 2020, his cast and production team boycotted the ceremony after Riester said the success of a director accused of sexual violence would send the wrong signal in the era of the Me Too movement.

Riester came out as gay in 2011, the first French MP to do so.

In March 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic Riester tested positive for COVID-19.