Clément Beaune, appointed Minister Delegate for Transport on Monday, was Emmanuel Macron’s “Mister Europe”, as special adviser then Secretary of State, a position in which he made a name for himself by surfing on strong media exposure.
“He is the only Secretary of State for European Affairs who has ever existed”, summarizes the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the outgoing National Assembly, Jean-Louis Bourlanges.
The left wing of Macronie
Born August 14, 1981 in Paris, his father is a teacher-researcher in biochemistry, and his mother a nurse. Clément Beaune is a graduate of the College of Europe in Bruges, which trains the European elite, and a former student of the ENA.
At 40, if he keeps a very youthful appearance, with a round face punctuated by a thin beard, he has already walked the halls of power a lot.
Coming from the left wing of Macronie, he rubbed shoulders in June for the first time with universal suffrage, winning by a hair during the legislative elections in the center of Paris.
Plans to decarbonize
He leaves European Affairs a few days after the end of the French presidency of the EU, of which he was a linchpin. According to a European diplomatic source, “he wanted something else, more visible internally”.
In Transport, however, he will remain confronted with European contests, where many mobility-related issues are decided, in particular for the financing of infrastructure.
Clément Beaune will also have to implement plans to decarbonize road, air and sea transport, look into the future of motorway concessions or find ways to modernize the rail network.