François Patriat
Patriat in 2008
President of the Rally of Democrats, Progressive and Independent group in the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 June 2017
Preceded by	Position established
Member of the French Senate for Côte-d'Or
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2008
President of the Regional Council of Burgundy
In office 2 April 2004 – 31 December 2015
Preceded by	Jean-Pierre Soisson
Succeeded by	Marie-Guite Dufay (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté)
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office 25 February 2002 – 6 May 2002
Prime Minister	Lionel Jospin
Preceded by	Jean Glavany
Succeeded by	Hervé Gaymard
Secretary of State for Small and medium-sized businesses, Trade and Crafts
In office 18 October 2000 – 25 February 2002
Prime Minister	Lionel Jospin
Preceded by	Marylise Lebranchu
Succeeded by	Christian Pierret
Mayor of Chailly-sur-Armançon
In office 17 March 1989 – 11 March 2001
Succeeded by	André Loizon
Member of the National Assembly for Côte-d'Or
In office 12 June 1997 – 18 November 2000
Preceded by	Alain Suguenot
Succeeded by	Jean-Claude Robert
Constituency	5th
In office 2 July 1981 – 1 April 1993
Preceded by	Jean-Philippe Lecat
Succeeded by	Alain Suguenot
Constituency	3rd (1981–1986) At-large (1986–1988) 5th (1988–1993)
Personal details
Born	(1943-03-21) 21 March 1943 (age 81) Semur-en-Auxois, France
Political party	Renaissance (since 2017)
Other political affiliations	Socialist Party (1974–2017)
Alma mater	École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort

François Patriat (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa patʁija]; born 21 March 1943) is a French politician of Renaissance (RE, formerly LREM) who has been serving as president of the party's group in the Senate since 2017. He has represented the Côte-d'Or department in the Senate since 2008. Patriat also served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in 2002 and President of the Regional Council of Burgundy from 2004 until 2015. He was a member of the Socialist Party before joining La République En Marche! in 2017.

Born in Semur-en-Auxois, Côte-d'Or, Patriat graduated from École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA) in 1968.

Patriat joined the Socialist Party (PS) in 1974 and was elected to the General Council of Côte-d'Or for the canton of Pouilly-en-Auxois in 1976, a position he retained until 2008. In 1981, he was elected to the National Assembly. In 1989, Patriat became Mayor of Chailly-sur-Armançon, an office he held until 2001.

In 2000, Patriat was appointed Secretary of State in charge of small and medium-sized businesses, trade and crafts at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry under minister Laurent Fabius in the government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. In 2002, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. He left office when Jean-Pierre Raffarin became prime minister.

In the 2004 regional elections, Patriat led a list that defeated the list conducted by incumbent Regional Council President Jean-Pierre Soisson. Reelected in 2010, he left the position in 2015, before the region was merged with Franche-Comté.

Ahead of the 2012 French presidential election, Patriat publicly endorsed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the Socialist Party's candidate.^[1]

Patriat was elected to the Senate in 2008. Reelected in 2014, he joined La République En Marche! (REM) in 2017. After supporting Emmanuel Macron's successful candidacy for the presidency of the French Republic in the 2017 presidential election and rallying enough of his fellow senators to form a group affiliated with REM in the Senate,^[2] he became the new group's president.^[3][4]

Since November 2017, Patriat has been part of LREM's executive board under the leadership of the party's successive chairmen Christophe Castaner and Stanislas Guerini.^[5]

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