Bruno Retailleau
Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau is a French politician serving as President of The Republicans group in the Senate since 2014. He has represented the Vendée department in the Senate since 2004. Retailleau also served as President of the General Council of Vendée from 2010 to 2015 and President of the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire from 2015 until 2017.Career
Youth and private career
Retailleau was born in Cholet, Maine-et-Loire and grew up in Saint-Malô-du-Bois, Vendée. He graduated from Sciences Po in 1985. A friend of Philippe de Villiers, he worked for him at the Puy du Fou amusement park.Political engagement
A member of the Movement for France until 2010, Bruno Retailleau became the Vendée General Councillor for the canton of Mortagne-sur-Sèvre in 1988, a position he retained until 2015. He became the member of the National Assembly for the fourth constituency of Vendée in 1994 upon the election of Philippe de Villiers as a Member of the European Parliament, a position he did not seek election to in the 1997 election, as De Villiers was running for his old seat. Retailleau joined the Senate in 2004, having served as President of The Republicans group since 2014. In 2010, he succeeded De Villiers as President of the General Council of Vendée. In 2012, he joined the Union for a Popular Movement.
In the 2015 regional elections, Retailleau led a list in Pays de la Loire with the support of The Republicans and the Union of Democrats and Independents, which received over 42% of the vote in the second round. He supported the Aéroport du Grand Ouest project. On 18 December 2015, he became President of the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire, an office he resigned from in 2017 to focus on his activities in the Senate.
