Raphaël Glucksmann

Raphaël Glucksmann (; born 15 October 1979) is a French politician. Since 2019, he has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP), within the S&D parliamentary Group, being the lead candidate for the PS-PP alliance in 2019 and 2024. He is the co-president of the political party Place publique.

On 23 August 2026, he announced his candidacy for the 2027 French presidential election.

Early life and career Glucksmann was born in Boulogne-Billancourt. He is the son of philosopher André Glucksmann (who was an Ashkenazi Jew) and Françoise Glucksmann (née Villette), daughter of philosopher Jeannette Colombel. Between 2005 and 2012, he was an adviser to the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. He was married to former Georgian and Ukrainian politician Eka Zguladze, with whom he has a son. Zguladze was a special adviser to President Saakashvili from 2009 to 2012 and later served as First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2016. The couple is now divorced.

Political career Beginnings In 2018, Glucksmann founded the centre-left political party Place Publique.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present On 26 May 2019, Place Publique and the French Socialist Party presented a joint list at the European Parliament election, with Glucksmann as the head, under the slogan, "Envie d'Europe, écologique et sociale". The list obtained a total of 6.2%, thereby securing the election of six members to the European Parliament: Glucksmann, Sylvie Guillaume, Eric Andrieu, Aurore Lalucq, Pierre Larrouturou, Nora Mebarek.

In Parliament, Glucksmann has served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Human Rights. Since 2020, he has also chaired the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union.

In addition to his committee assignments, Glucksmann is a member of the Responsible Business Conduct Working Group and the Spinelli Group.

In his parliamentary work, Glucksmann has focused attention on the Xinjiang internment camps, for which he has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in 2021. The sanctions were lifted by China in April 2025 following negotiations with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

Glucksmann has led public campaigns to raise awareness and enact legislation to hold companies accountable for labor exploitation and forced labor in the fashion supply chain industry in China.

In March 2024, Glucksmann was one of 20 MEPs to be given a "Rising Star" award at The Parliament Magazine annual MEP Awards.

2024 European elections In the 2024 European elections, Glucksmann led the list "Réveiller l'Europe", an alliance of his own Place Publique party and the historical Socialist Party. That list obtained of the national votes, a high score compared to the obtained in 2019. This result made this list the third nation-wide (after those led by Bardella and Hayer), which confirmed the increasing prominence of Raphaël Glucksmann as a national political figure.

Presidential candidacy On 23 August 2026, he announced his candidacy in the Socialist presidential primary for the 2027 French presidential election.

Political positions In May 2021, Glucksmann joined a group of 39 mostly Green Party lawmakers from the European Parliament who in a letter urged the leaders of Germany, France and Italy not to support Arctic LNG 2, a $21 billion Russian Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, due to climate change concerns.

In November 2021, Glucksmann led a group of seven members of the European Parliament to Taiwan to send a strong signal in support of the self-ruling island, despite a threat of retaliation from China. During this visit, the delegation stated to President Tsai Ing-wen: "Europe is standing with you." Glucksmann has been a strong proponent for deepened cooperation with Taiwan.

In March 2024, he refused to use the term "genocide" in regards to the treatment of Palestinians by Israel during the Gaza war by claiming to be "extremely cautious about the term's usage". He has nevertheless denounced the "carnage" in Gaza as well as the blockade. In April 2024, he asserted the legitimacy of the actions by the leadership of Sciences Po Paris to force their premises to be evacuated after their occupation by groups in support of the Palestinians.

Personal life Glucksmann was married to Georgian and Ukrainian politician Eka Zguladze until 2014. He has a son, Gabriel, born 12 March 2017, with journalist Léa Salamé.

Publications Je vous parle de liberté, with Mikheil Saakashvili, Paris, Hachette Livre, 2008. Mai 68 expliqué à Nicolas Sarkozy, with André Glucksmann, 2008. Génération gueule de bois, Manuel de lutte contre les réacs, Allary Éditions, 2015. Notre France. Dire et aimer ce que nous sommes, Allary Éditions, 2016. Les Enfants du vide. De l'impasse individualiste au réveil citoyen, Allary Éditions, 2018. Lettre à la génération qui va tout changer, Allary Éditions, 2021.