Borne led the centrist Ensemble coalition into the 2022 legislative election which resulted in a hung parliament: enjoying a 115-seat majority before the election, the ruling coalition was reduced to 251 seats (from 346), still emerging as the largest bloc in Parliament but 38 short of a majority. Unable to broker any deal with opposition parties to form a stable majority administration, Borne officially formed a minority government in July 2022.
Notably, as prime minister, she oversaw the contentious passage of a pension system reform raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, the repealing of most of the Covid-era health restrictions and the passage of a multi-year military planning law, paving way for a 40%-increase in military spending between 2024 and 2030. She also led the government's financial response to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
In July 2023, holding onto her position as PM amid media reports of a possible dismissal, Borne reshuffled her cabinet for the second time since the beginning of her Premiership.
On 8 January 2024, at Macron's request, Borne resigned as prime minister amid a major government crisis triggered by the passage of a hardline immigration bill. After leaving Matignon, she returned as an MP for her Calvados's constituency, a seat she eventually retained in the 2024 snap election.
Early life and education
Elisabeth Borne was born in Paris.[4] Her French-born mother, Marguerite Lecèsne (1920–2015), was a pharmacist. Her father, Joseph Bornstein (1924–1972), son of Zelig Bornstein from Łuków (formerly Congress Poland),[5] was born in Antwerp, Belgium.[6] He fled to France at the outset of the Second World War and was active in the French Resistance.[7] Bornstein was one of four brothers. In 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo in Grenoble, where he was part of the French resistance and deported to Auschwitz German concentration camp. His father and younger brother were sent to the German gas chambers. Joseph and his older brother were kept alive to work in a synthetic fuel factory.
In April 1945, they met Borne's mother, Marguerite Lescène, at the platform of Paris's Orsay train station where she was helping deportees. She took the brothers to her hometown in Normandy where her family helped them rebuild their lives. Joseph Bornstein later published descriptions of the horrors he had witnessed in the Holocaust.[8]
He was naturalised in 1950 and changed the family name to "Borne".[5][7] Borne's mother ran a pharmaceutical laboratory after the war.[9] Her father ran a rubber products factory but suffered from trauma and severe depression. He committed suicide when she was 11 years old. After his death, Borne was awarded "Ward of the Nation" education benefits which the state granted to minors who were orphaned as a result of the war or had a parent who had died in exceptional circumstances.[8]
Borne joined the civil service as a government official at the French planning and works ministry(ministère de l'Equipement) in 1987. In the early 1990s, she was an advisor in the ministry of education under Lionel Jospin and Jack Lang (both members of the Socialist Party). From 1993 to 1996 she worked as a technical director for the public housing company Sonacotra. In 1997, prime minister Jospin appointed her as his advisor for urban planning, housing and transport.[10]
In 2002, Borne became a strategy director and member of the executive committee at the state-owned railway company SNCF, before joining the public works construction company Eiffage as concessions manager in 2007. She worked as director of urban planning for the City of Paris under mayor Bertrand Delanoë from 2008 until 2013.[11]
Borne served as minister-delegate of transport in the first and second Philippe governments from May 2017 to July 2019.[15][16][17] During her time in office, she held out against weeks of strikes and demonstrations in 2017 to end a generous pension and benefits system for SNCF railway workers.[18]
Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, 2019–2020
After the resignation of ecology minister François de Rugy in 2019, Borne was promoted to head the ministry of the ecological and inclusive transition. In that capacity, she led efforts to pass a long-term energy planning bill aimed at increasing security of supply and a clean mobility bill committing the country to reaching carbon neutrality in the transport sector by 2050.[19]
Since 2020 Borne has additionally been a member of Territories of Progress, a centre-left party allied with LREM.[21] In September 2022, both parties merged into the Renaissance party.
Minister of Labour, 2020–2022
In July 2020, Borne was appointed minister of labour, employment and economic inclusion in the government of prime minister Jean Castex, succeeding Muriel Pénicaud.[22] In that capacity, she oversaw negotiations with unions that resulted in a cut to unemployment benefits for some job seekers.[18] During her time in office, France's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 15 years and youth unemployment to its lowest level in 40 years.[23][24][25]
Prime minister, 2022–2024
On 16 May 2022, Borne was appointed Prime Minister of France, succeeding Castex three weeks after the re-election of Macron for a second term as President of the French Republic. She is the second woman to serve as prime minister after Édith Cresson. She is also the second of Macron's prime ministers to be a member of his centrist party, after Castex.[26]
Borne was a candidate for Renaissance (formerly known as La République En Marche!) in the 2022 French legislative election in Calvados's 6th constituency in the Normandy region in northwestern France.[27] While remaining a candidate, under the dual mandate (cumuls des mandats) law she was not allowed to take up the position after she won the election, and was replaced by her designated alternate. She called on voters to support Macron's coalition, Ensemble Citoyens, saying it is the only group "capable of getting [a parliamentary] majority".[28] After the first round, in relation to contests between left-wing and far-right candidates, she said: "Our position is no voice for the RN." At the same time, she expressed support only for left-wing candidates who in her view respect republican values.[29][30] She was elected to Parliament in the second round.[31] Borne offered her resignation as prime minister after the results of the second round, but was rejected by Macron,[32] who instead tasked her to form a new cabinet.[33]
On 12 April 2023, Borne condemned LDH for speaking out against police brutality, particularly during a protest in the village of Sainte-Soline in western France.[38]
In May 2023, reports began circulating that Borne's government had withdrawn support for France hosting the 2025 Rugby League World Cup with her government demanding protection from financial loses if the tournament did not run at a profit. With the French organising committee unable to meet this new demand, France officially withdrew as tournament hosts on 15 May citing lack of governmental financial support as the reason.[39][40][41][42][43]
A cabinet reshuffle was conducted in July 2023, which was described as "strange" with the fact that longtime allies of Macron were promoted and individuals with little experience were dismissed.[44]
On 8 January 2024, she announced her resignation and was succeeded by education minister Gabriel Attal the following day.[46][47]
MP for Calvados's 6th constituency, 2024–present
News media reported that, upon her resignation, Borne turned down an invitation from President Macron to become Defense minister in the incoming Attal government.
Elisabeth Borne in April 2024, three months after her resignation from Matignon
In her resignation speech, Borne announced her intention to return as an MP for her Calvados's constituency, a seat she won in the 2022 legislative election. She was set to retake up her role in February 2024. On February 13, 2024, she officially began to perform the duties of a deputy in the National Assembly.[48] In parliament, she has since been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.[49]
After President Macron dissolved the National Assembly on June 9, 2024 following the European elections, she declared herself a candidate for re-election in Calvados. She qualified for the second round with almost 29% of the vote, placing second behind RN candidate Nicolas Calbrix.[50] The LFI-NFP candidate, Noé Gauchard, withdrew from the second round after placing third, and Borne won re-election, defeating Calbrix with 56.37% of the vote.[51]
In August 2024, she announced her intention to run for the leadership of Renaissance.[52]
Personal life
Borne married Olivier Allix, a lecturer and also an engineer, on 30 June 1989 with whom she later had a son, Nathan. The couple has since divorced.[53][54]
Borne was admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in March 2021 and was administered oxygen.[26]
In breaking with precedent by other French prime ministers who refrained from suing journalists, Borne asked a court in May 2023 to force the L'Archipel publishing house to cut about 200 lines in future editions of "La Secrète" (The Secretive One), a biography written by the French journalist Bérengère Bonte and mentioning intimate details of her private life.[55]
^"Législatives 2022 en direct – Le Pen vise 100 députés RN, Mélenchon agite le spectre de la TVA sociale, Macron appelle 'au sursaut républicain' : la journée du 14 juin". Le Monde (in French). 14 June 2022. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022. La majorité sortante a eu des difficultés à préciser sa position en cas de duel au deuxième tour entre la Nupes et le RN. La première ministre, Elisabeth Borne, a fini par déclarer lundi : 'Notre position, c'est aucune voix pour le RN.' 'Et pour la Nupes, si on a affaire à un candidat qui ne respecte pas les valeurs républicaines, qui insulte nos policiers, qui demande de ne plus soutenir l'Ukraine, qui veut sortir de l'Europe, alors nous n'allons pas voter pour lui', a poursuivi Mme Borne, qui est arrivée en tête dans sa circonscription dans le Calvados.
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