Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France since February 2016. He served as Prime minister from May 2012 to March 2014. He was Mayor of Nantes (in Loire-Atlantique, west of France) from 1989 to 2012 and president of the Urban Community of Nantes Métropole from 2001 to 2012. He was also a Member of Parliament. From 1997 to 2012, he was president of the Socialist, radical, citizen and left-wing currents Group at the French National Assembly. He started his career as a German professor in 1973.