In September 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Armand as Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.[1] At 33 years old, Armand became one of the youngest ministers to hold this position in recent French history. His appointment came at a time when the government faced economic challenges and the need for fiscal management.[1]
Family
He is the great-grandson of engineer, senior civil servant and French Resistance fighter Louis Armand (1905-1971), former Chairman of the SNCF, France's national state-owned railway company. He would become President of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) from 1958 to 1959. He was elected member of the Académie française in 1963.
Education
Following a high school education at the Lycée Camille Sée, Antoine Armand studied at the economics and literary Classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles ('Higher school preparatory classes' at the prestigious Lycée Henri-IV in Paris (2009-2011).
After a national exam, he read economics at the École normale supérieure de Paris (2011-2015). At the same time, he pursued a 2-year master's degree at the Paris School of Economics, his thesis focusing on German ordoliberalism (2012-2014).
He also graduated from the Sorbonne in 2012 with a bachelor degree in philosophy. In 2015, he obtained a research master's degree in international relations at the Sorbonne (2013-2015), on the German responsibility for the Armenian genocide.
After another exam, he entered the École nationale d'administration (class of Georges Clemenceau, 2017-2018), a school training future senior civil cervants (many of them also become ministers, bankers, and Presidents).
In addition to his committee assignments, Armand has been a member of the French delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly since 2022.[5] He is also a member of the French-German parliamentary friendship group, the French-Italian parliamentary friendship group and the French-Swiss parliamentary friendship group.[2]
