François Baroin

François Claude Pierre René Baroin (born 21 June 1965) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Finance Minister from 2011 to 2012, following a stint as Budget Minister in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. A member of The Republicans (LR), he was a long-time ally of Jacques Chirac and has been Mayor of Troyes in Champagne since 1995.

Baroin was born in the 12th arrondissement of Paris to an upper-class family. His father Michel Baroin was a student friend of Chirac’s who went on to become a leading freemason, chairman of retailer Fnac and the insurer GMF, and a powerful local politician.

Baroin studied at Collège Stanislas de Paris before moving to ISG Business School and Panthéon-Assas University.

Baroin started his career as a political correspondent for Europe 1 from 1988 until 1992.

In 1992, at Chirac’s behest, Baroin joined his party Rally for the Republic (RPR). He became a member of the National Assembly in the 1993 elections – where he served on the Committee on Legal Affairs – and the mayor of Troyes, a mid-sized city South-Est of Paris, two years later.