| Joël Giraud | |
| Office: | Member of the National Assembly for Hautes-Alpes's 2nd constituency |
| Term Start: | 22 June 2022 |
| Term End: | 9 June 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Claire Bouchet |
| Term Start2: | 18 June 2002 |
| Term End2: | 26 August 2020 |
| Predecessor2: | Patrick Ollier |
| Successor2: | Claire Bouchet |
| Office3: | Minister of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities |
| President3: | Emmanuel Macron |
| Primeminister3: | Jean Castex |
| Predecessor3: | Jacqueline Gourault |
| Successor3: | Amélie de Montchalin |
| Term Start3: | 5 March 2022 |
| Term End3: | 20 May 2022 |
| Office4: | Secretary of State for Rurality |
| Term Start4: | 26 July 2020 |
| Term End4: | 5 March 2022 |
| President4: | Emmanuel Macron |
| Primeminister4: | Jean Castex |
| Successor4: | Position abolished |
| Office5: | Mayor of L'Argentière-la-Bessée |
| Term Start5: | 20 March 1989 |
| Term End5: | 29 July 2017 |
| Predecessor5: | Auguste Toye |
| Successor5: | Patrick Vigne |
| Birth Date: | 14 October 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Gap, France |
| Party: | Renaissance (2016–present) |
| Alma Mater: | École nationale supérieure des postes, télégraphes et téléphones, ÉNA |
| Profession: | Civil servant |
| Otherparty: | Radical Party of the Left (1998–2017) |
Joël Giraud (in French pronounced as /ʒɔɛl ʒiʁo/; born 14 October 1959) is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities under Prime Minister Jean Castex in 2022. A member of both Renaissance (RE) and the Radical Movement (MR), he previously represented the 2nd constituency of the Hautes-Alpes department in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2020 and served as Secretary of State for Rurality from 2020 until 2022.[1]
An alumnus of the École nationale d'administration, Giraud first entered the municipal council of L'Argentière-la-Bessée in 1986. He held the mayorship of L'Argentière-la-Bessée from 1989 to 2017, as well as one of the vice presidencies of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur under President Michel Vauzelle from 2004 to 2014.
Elected to Parliament in Hautes-Alpes's 2nd constituency in 2002, he was reelected in 2007, 2012 and 2017. He is a former Secretary of the Economic Affairs Committee.[2] He was a member of the Radical Party of the Left until 2017, when it was merged with the Radical Party into Radical Movement, which Giraud joined. He has also been a member of Renaissance since 2016.
In addition to his committee assignments, Giraud has been a member of the French delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly from 2019 to 2020 and again since 2022.[3] He also chaired the French-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2012 to 2017.
Giraud was appointed to the Castex government in 2020 as Secretary of State for Rurality under Minister Jacqueline Gourault.[4] Upon her appointment to the Constitutional Council in 2022, he succeeded her as Minister of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities.[5]
Following the 2022 legislative election, Giraud stood as a candidate for the National Assembly's presidency;[6] in an internal vote, he lost against Yaël Braun-Pivet.[7]
On June 9, 2024, Joël Giraud announced that he was stopping his political career after the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly. Joël Giraud denounces a potential government of cohabitation “between the president and the extreme right”.[8]
Giraud is openly gay.[9]