{{Short description|French politician (born 1951)}} {{EngvarB|date=May 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{infobox officeholder | name = François Rebsamen | image = File:François Rebsamen à Dijon en janvier 2023.jpg | caption = Rebsamen in 2023 | office = Minister for Territorial Development and Decentralisation | term_start = 23 December 2024 | term_end = 5 October 2025 | prime_minister = François Bayrou | predecessor = Catherine Vautrin | successor = Éric Woerth | office4 = Mayor of Dijon | term_start4 = 10 August 2015 | term_end4 = 25 November 2024 | predecessor4 = Alain Millot | successor4 = Nathalie Koenders | term_start5 = 25 March 2001 | term_end5 = 5 April 2014 | predecessor5 = Robert Poujade | successor5 = Alain Millot | office1 = Minister of Labour, Employment, Vocational Training and Social Dialogue | term_start1 = 2 April 2014 | term_end1 = 2 September 2015 | prime_minister1 = Manuel Valls | predecessor1 = Michel Sapin | successor1 = Myriam El Khomri | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|06|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = Dijon, France | party = Progressist Federation {{nobr|(2022–present)}} | other_party = LCR (until 1974)<br>PS (1974–2022) | birth_name = François Michel Édouard Rebsamen | children = 1 | office2 = President of the Socialist group in the Senate | term_start2 = 1 October 2011 | term_end2 = 15 April 2014 | predecessor2 = Jean-Pierre Bel | successor2 = Didier Guillaume | office3 = Senator for Côte-d'Or | term_start3 = 1 October 2008 | term_end3 = 2 May 2014 | predecessor3 = Louis Grillot | successor3 = Isabelle Lajoux | office6 = Member of the General Council of {{nobr|Côte-d'Or}} for the canton of Dijon-5 | term_start6 = 2 April 1998 | term_end6 = 1 October 2008 | predecessor6 = Pierre Barbier | successor6 = Laurent Grandguillaume }} '''François Michel Édouard Rebsamen''' ({{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃swa ʁɛbsamɛn}}; born 25 June 1951) is a French politician who served as Minister for Territorial Development and Decentralisation in the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou from 2024 to 2025.<ref>Sandrine Cassini and Benoît Floc'h (24 December 2024). [https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2024/12/24/francois-rebsamen-ancien-socialiste-en-rupture-avec-le-parti-a-l-amenagement-du-territoire_6464665_823448.html "François Rebsamen, ancien socialiste en rupture avec le parti, à l’aménagement du territoire"]. ''Le Monde'' (in French).</ref> A former member of the Socialist Party, he previously served as Minister of Labour, Employment, Vocational Training and Social Dialogue in the first and second governments of Prime Minister Manuel Valls from 2014 to 2015.
==Early life and education== Rebsamen is the son of Eric Gottfried Rebsamen, a Protestant who was born in Stuttgart on 9 January 1917, and worked at Renault in Dijon for several months in 1939–40. In that same city, after the war, the senior Rebsamen married Denise Agron, daughter of Édouard Agron, a surgeon and radical-socialist, originally from Briennon in Loire, who was a member of Dijon's municipal council under the Popular Front. The senior Rebsamen died in Dijon on 19 February 1974.<ref>Hassoux, Didier. [https://www.liberation.fr/france/2003/05/15/une-trempe-d-elephant_433733 "François Rebsamen. Une trempe d'éléphant"]. ''Libération'' (in French). 15 March 2003.</ref><ref>[https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/francois-rebsamen-un-proche-de-francois-hollande-charge-du-dialogue-social-02-04-2014-1808299_20.php "François Rebsamen: un proche de François Hollande chargé du dialogue social"]. ''Le Point'' (in French). 4 February 2014.</ref><ref>[https://www.lepoint.fr/villes/rebs-de-a-a-z-08-09-2011-1374420_27.php " Rebs " de A à Z]. ''Le Point'' (in French). 9 August 2011.</ref>
Rebsamen earned a master's degree in public law, a ''diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées'' in economics and a degree in political science.<ref>[https://www.bienpublic.com/edition-dijon-ville/2015/08/26/denise-rebsamen "Dijon : Denise Rebsamen est décédée"]. ''Le Bien Public'' (in French). 26 August 2015.</ref>
==Early career== Rebsamen began his professional and political career by serving as chief of staff for the Regional Council of Burgundy from 1979 to 1983, where he worked alongside Pierre Joxe (1979{{endash}}1982) and André Billardon (1982{{endash}}1983). He followed Joxe to various other posts, serving as his chief of staff from 1984 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1991. He then worked under Laurent Fabius while the latter was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (1992{{endash}}1993), then as technical advisor to Jean-Jack Queyranne.
==Political career== ===Early beginnings=== In the early 1970s, Rebsamen was an active member of the Revolutionary Communist League, a militant group. He left in 1974.
Following the 1989 French municipal elections, Rebsamen was elected president of the Socialist group in the Dijon municipal council.
In 1994, Rebsamen was elected to the Regional Council of Burgundy, where he held a seat until 2001. In 1997 he ran in the legislative election in the 1st constituency of Côte-d'Or, but was defeated by Robert Poujade, the mayor of Dijon. In the same year, he was named National Secretary of the Socialist Party at the Brest Congress, and became the party's deputy head, under his friend François Hollande.<ref>[http://plus.lefigaro.fr/tag/francois-rebsamen François Rebsamen]. ''Le Figaro''.</ref>
Rebsamen was elected in March 1998 as the general councillor of the canton of Dijon-5, winning 51.5% of the vote and defeating the incumbent, Pierre Barbier of the Rally for the Republic (RPR).
===Mayor of Dijon=== In the 2001 municipal election, Rebsamen became the first left-wing candidate to be elected mayor of Dijon since 1935, winning 52.1% of the vote and defeating Jean-François Bazin (RPR). That year he also became president of Grand Dijon, a post he held until 2014. He ran again for the legislature in 2002, but lost to Bernard Depierre of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), who succeeded Poujade. He was re-elected general councillor in March 2004, this time winning 62.5% of the vote.
Rebsamen directed the Socialist Party's campaign for the March 2004 regional and cantonal elections, and in 2005 ran the campaign for a "Yes" vote in the French referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. In June, then in August 2006, he asked Jack Lang and Dominique Strauss-Kahn to withdraw their candidacy for president of France, and explicitly supported Ségolène Royal, becoming co-director of her campaign, along with Jean-Louis Bianco.
Rebsamen was re-elected mayor of Dijon in the 2008 municipal election, winning 56.2% of the vote to François-Xavier Dugourd's 36.4%. His plan to build a tramway in Dijon was unanimously approved by the Greater Dijon Community Council on 15 May 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.grand-dijon.fr/archives/tramway-la-concertation/concertation-prealable/presentation-concertation-tramway-25178.jsp |title=Cette concertation préalable est close; Le Grand Dijon a initié |access-date=3 December 2014 |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20141203113117/http://www.grand-dijon.fr/archives/tramway-la-concertation/concertation-prealable/presentation-concertation-tramway-25178.jsp |archive-date=3 December 2014 |url-status=live |lang=fr }}</ref>
From 2007 to 2008, Rebsamen was a director of Dexia-Crédit Local de France, resigning a few days before it went bankrupt.
===Senator for Côte-d'Or, 2008–2014=== In the 2008 elections, Rebsamen became a Senator, the first Socialist to represent Côte-d'Or in the Senate since 1948, and then resigned as general councillor. In the Senate, he was a member of the Committee on Finance. Following the Senate elections of 25 September 2011, and the election of 1 October, Rebsamen was chosen to lead the Socialist group in the Senate.
In the Socialist Party's 2011 primary, Rebsamen endorsed François Hollande as the party's candidate ahead of the 2012 presidential election.<ref>Estelle Gross (6 July 2011), [https://www.nouvelobs.com/politique/election-presidentielle-2012/20110706.OBS6561/primaire-qui-soutient-qui-au-ps.html "Primaire : qui soutient qui au PS ?"]. ''L'Obs'' (in French).</ref>
In 2012, Rebsamen opposed a government effort tried to prevent politicians from holding multiple posts, and said that if forced to choose between continuing as Senator or as mayor of Dijon he would opt for the latter.<ref>Pierron, Maud; [https://www.20minutes.fr/politique/991781-20120828-non-cumul-mandats-francois-rebsamen-rejette-engagement-hollande "Non-cumul des mandats: François Rebsamen rejette l'engagement d'Hollande"]. ''20 minutes'' (in French). 28 August 2012.</ref><ref>Huet, Sophie. [http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2013/06/12/97001-20130612FILWWW00389-rebsamen-en-cas-de-non-cumul-je-choisirai-dijon.php "Non-cumul: "Je choisirai Dijon" (Rebsamen)"]. ''Le Figaro'' (in French). 12 June 2013.</ref>
Following the 2014 municipal election, Rebsamen was elected to his third term as mayor with 52.8% of the vote, defeating Alain Houpert (UMP).<ref>[https://www.bienpublic.com/politique/2014/03/30/dijon-troisieme-mandat-pour-francois-rebsamen "Dijon : troisième mandat pour François Rebsamen"]. ''Le Bien Public'' (in French). 31 March 2014.</ref>
===Minister of Labour, 2014–2015=== On 2 April 2014, Rebsamen was appointed Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Dialogue in the government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls. This appointment led Rebsamen to resign from the mayorship of Dijon. Upon the appointment of the second Valls government, his ministerial portfolio was expanded to include vocational training. While at the Labour Ministry, he was nicknamed "Minister of Unemployment" owing to the high jobless rate characteristic of Hollande's presidency.<ref>[http://www.leparisien.fr/municipales-2014/en-direct-gouvernement-de-vallls-sa-composition-est-annoncee-aujourd-hui-02-04-2014-3733411.php VIDEOS. Valls au sujet de son gouvernement : "Nous sommes tous Hollandais"]. ''Le Parisien'' (in French). 2 April 2014.</ref><ref>[https://www.bienpublic.com/actualite/2014/04/06/alain-millot-prend-la-mairie-de-dijon "Alain Millot prend la mairie de Dijon"]. ''Le Bien Public'' (in French). 6 April 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/citations/2015/08/10/25002-20150810ARTFIG00072-rebsamen-quitte-le-gouvernement-affuble-du-titre-de-ministre-du-chomage.php Rebsamen quitte le gouvernement affublé du titre de "ministre du chômage"]. ''Le Figaro'' (in French). 10 August 2015.</ref>
===Return to local politics=== On 30 July 2015, after the death of Alain Millot, who had succeeded him as mayor of Dijon, Rebsamen announced that he would run for the post again. On 10 August 2015, he was re-elected mayor and Grand Dijon (renamed Dijon Métropole in 2017) president, and a few days later he resigned his ministerial post. On 6 December 2016, he was offered the post of Minister of the Interior, but refused as he preferred to remain mayor of Dijon.<ref>Sportouch, Benjamin. [https://www.rtl.fr/actu/politique/remaniement-francois-rebsamen-a-refuse-le-poste-de-ministre-de-l-interieur-778614 "Remaniement : François Rebsamen a refusé le poste de ministre de l'Intérieur"]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}. RTL (in French). 12 June 2016.</ref>
Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2018 convention in Aubervilliers, Rebsamen publicly endorsed Stéphane Le Foll as candidate for the party's leadership.<ref>Pierre Lepelletier (7 March 2018), [https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/2018/03/07/25001-20180307ARTFIG00142-congres-du-ps-qui-soutient-qui.php "Congrès du PS : qui soutient qui ?"]. ''Le Figaro'' (in French).</ref>
After being diagnosed with cancer, Rebsamen announced on 10 April 2018 that he would not be able to serve as mayor of Dijon and president of Dijon Métropole during his treatment, and thus appointed Nathalie Koenders as interim mayor and Pierre Pribetich as interim metropolis president.<ref>[https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/francois-rebsamen-est-atteint-d-un-cancer-1523349017 "Le maire de Dijon, François Rebsamen, annonce qu'il est atteint d'un cancer"]. France Bleu (in French). 10 April 2018.</ref>
Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, Rebsamen endorsed Emmanuel Macron and left the Socialist Party.<ref>Jannick Alimi (5 March 2022), [https://www.leparisien.fr/elections/presidentielle/francois-rebsamen-je-suis-un-homme-de-gauche-qui-vote-emmanuel-macron-05-03-2022-46HKA6RKNNAK3BX6D7ZIXQP3JA.php François Rebsamen : «Je suis un homme de gauche qui vote Emmanuel Macron»]. ''Le Parisien'' (in French).</ref> In May 2022, he launched the Progressist Federation (''Fédération progressiste'', FP), a new centre-left party.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-05-06 |date=2022-05-06 |lang=fr |title=Législatives 2022 : une majorité présidentielle rebaptisée et remaniée. |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/elections-legislatives-2022/article/2022/05/06/legislatives-2022-la-majorite-en-ordre-de-bataille_6124968_6104324.html |website=Le Monde}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-05-06 |date=2022-05-06 |lang=fr |title=Des élus socialistes créent un nouveau parti pour soutenir Emmanuel Macron. |url=https://www.cnews.fr/france/2022-04-04/des-elus-socialistes-creent-un-nouveau-parti-pour-soutenir-emmanuel-macron-1200210 |website=CNews}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The party joined the Ensemble coalition and saw two of its members {{endash}} Christine Decodts in Nord and Benoît Bordat in Côte-d'Or {{endash}} win a seat in the National Assembly in 2022, joining the Renaissance group.
===Minister for Territorial Development, 2024–2025=== After having resigned as mayor of Dijon on 25 November 2024, Rebsamen was appointed Minister for Territorial Development and Decentralisation the following 23 December in the newly-formed government of Prime Minister François Bayrou, marking his return to national politics.<ref>{{cite web|date=2024-12-13 |language=fr |title=Darmanin, Borne, Valls, Retailleau, Lombard, Dati… La composition du gouvernement Bayrou dévoilée |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/politique/gouvernement/darmanin-borne-valls-retailleau-lombard-dati-la-composition-du-gouvernement-bayrou-devoilee-43991528-c156-11ef-8952-e83e02de38bc |website=Ouest-France}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
==Honours== * Officer of the Legion of Honour (2021)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000044806286|title=Décret du 31 décembre 2021 portant promotion et nomination dans l'ordre national de la Légion d'honneur|website=Légifrance|lang=fr}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110306110946/http://www.francois-rebsamen.info/ Official website] *{{in lang|fr}} [http://www.senat.fr/senfic/rebsamen_francois08070y.html Page on the Senate website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebsamen, Francois}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century mayors of places in France Category:Mayors of Dijon Category:Socialist Party (France) politicians Category:Government ministers of France Category:French city councillors Category:French general councillors Category:Regional councillors of France Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour Category:Senators of Côte-d'Or Category:French senators of the Fifth Republic Category:Members of the Bayrou government