Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has launched his own political movement – Humanist France.
He described it as a “movement of ideas and citizens” and said he would be its honorary President.
Humanist France wanted to be open to all, with the priority of defending “social justice and republican order”, said de Villepin, who was prime minister from 2005 to 2007.
Speaking to French newspaper Le Parisien on June 23, de Villepin accused right-wing parties including Les Républicains and Rassemblement National (National Rally, RN) of seeing the world in black and white.
Left-wing party La France Insoumise, on the other hand, “sees everything in red”, he said.
He said that because he did not believe existing parties’ attitudes would bring any solutions to the problems facing France, he launched his own movement.
“I see a lot of ambitions, calculations, everyone tries to position themselves in relation to electoral clienteles, but I don’t hear many voices defending solutions,” de Villepin said.
“It’s a dangerous game. Too many parties are tempted by populism, one-upmanship, stigmatisation.
“My voice is singular for the French. But the time has not come to enter the presidential debate. Faced with the path of tension and identity polarisation, I propose that of unity, of general interest and of humanism.
“This is why I am first engaging in a battle of ideas”, the former French prime minister said.
The party will be led by Benoît Jimenez, the mayor of Garges-lès-Gonesse, a suburb of Paris.
“He is a man whom I esteem and who has the immense advantage of situating politics where I want to situate it: in the greatest proximity to the French people,” De Villepin said.
He said he intended to use the summer period to organise the party.
De Villepin added: “The great battle for France will be that of its political, industrial and technological sovereignty. Otherwise, the future of France will be mortgaged. I believe in France’s vocation, in the importance of its voice in the world.”
He said Humanist France would not be like current French President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! movement because, he said, he did not want to see the end of other parties and he did not want to be an all-powerful leader.
Instead, de Villepin said he was in favour of “restoring the presidential function,” for a head of state who is “an arbiter, guarantor of institutions and inspiration for the nation”.
He insisted it was “necessary to regain the confidence of the French in politics and to learn the lessons of the 2023 pension reform imposed against the people and which is currently blocking any possibility of reform”.
De Villepin announced his return to national politics alongside the launch of his new book, The Power of Saying No, which will be released on June 25.
He said it was about “the power to say no to the degradation of France and the division of the French”.
It was part of a “Great French tradition”, connecting it to Joan of Arc, Bonaparte, Jaurès, Mendès and de Gaulle, de Villepin added.
“All those who show a resolute commitment to defend what is most dear and deepest in us, our republican commitment, and to move forward in fidelity to who we are.
“It is time for France to raise its head.”
French mayors have been stepping down at an unprecedented rate, with almost 2,200 resignations since 2020, according to a report by the Association of Mayors of France. https://t.co/KzjxHSgTmn
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 20, 2025
