| Laurent Saint-Martin | |
| Office1: | Member of the Regional Council of Île-de-France |
| Term Start1: | 2 July 2021 |
| Office: | Member of the National Assembly for Val-de-Marne's 3rd constituency |
| Term Start: | 21 June 2017 |
| Term End: | 21 June 2022 |
| Predecessor: | Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg |
| Successor: | Louis Boyard |
| Birth Date: | 22 June 1985 |
| Birth Place: | Toulouse, France |
| Party: | Socialist Party (2009–2012) Renaissance (2016–present) |
| Alma Mater: | EDHEC Business School |
Laurent Saint-Martin (born 22 June 1985) is a French politician who has been Director General of Business France since 6 January 2023.[1]
Saint-Martin previously represented the 3rd constituency of the Val-de-Marne department in the National Assembly from 2017 to 2022 as a member of La République En Marche! (now Renaissance).[2] He has also served as a member of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2021.[3]
From 2009 until 2012, Saint-Martin was a member of the Socialist Party.[4] However, he was not actively involved in politics before he joined La République En Marche! in 2016.[5]
In the 2017 legislative election, Saint-Martin was elected to the National Assembly, where he represented the 3rd constituency of Val-de-Marne. He succeeded Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg of the Radical Party of the Left. In Parliament, Saint-Martin served as a member of the Finance Committee. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the French-Peruvian Parliamentary Friendship Group.[6]
In late 2018, Saint-Martin was offered to join the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe but declined a post as Secretary of State at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance under the leadership of Bruno Le Maire.[7] In June 2019, Philippe entrusted him with a mission to reform the national system for the identification, seizure and confiscation of criminal assets.[8] From 2020, Saint-Martin served as the Parliament's lead rapporteur on the annual budget of France; he succeeded Joël Giraud.[9]
Within his party, Saint-Martin became a member of the executive board in 2019. In that capacity, he was entrusted alongside Guillaume Chiche for the party's policy planning.[10]
In early 2021, Saint-Martin emerged as the frontrunner in the race to lead the La République En Marche! campaign in Île-de-France during that year's regional elections and to potentially succeed Valérie Pécresse as President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France.[11] With only 9.62 percent of the vote, he ultimately lost against Pécresse but was elected as a regional councillor.[12]
In the 2022 legislative election, Saint-Martin ran for reelection to the National Assembly but lost his seat to Louis Boyard of La France Insoumise.
In 2022, Saint-Martin was appointed to head Business France, the government agency tasked with promoting French exports and foreign investments in France.[13]
In 2018, Saint-Martin was one of Stanislas Guerini's first supporters when the latter ran for the post of LREM leader.[14]