The Minister of the Interior (French: Ministre de l'Intérieur, pronounced [ministʁ d(ə) lɛ̃teʁjœʁ]) is the interior minister of the government of France, traditionally responsible for internal security and territorial administration. The minister ensures the maintenance and cohesion of the country's institutions throughout its national territory.
The current Minister of the Interior is Laurent Nuñez, who has held the position since 12 October 2025 under Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
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The Paris Police Prefecture (French: préfecture de police de Paris [pʁefɛktyʁ də pɔlis də paʁi]), officially the Police Prefecture (French: préfecture de police), is the unit of the French Ministry of the Interior that provides police, emergency services, and various administrative services to the population of the city of Paris and the surrounding three suburban départements of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne. It is headed by the Paris Prefect of Police (le Préfet de police de Paris), officially called the Prefect of Police (le Préfet de police).
The Paris Police Prefecture supervises the Paris Police force, the Paris Fire Brigade, and various administrative departments in charge of issuing ID cards and driver licenses or monitoring alien residents. The Prefecture of Police also has security duties in the wider Île-de-France région as the Préfet de Police is also Préfet de Zone de Défense (Prefect for the Defense zone). Since 2017, it has acquired direct responsibility for the three main airports of the Paris area (Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Le Bourget).
A prefect (French: préfet, plural préfets, both [pʁefɛ]) in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Regional prefects are ex officio the departmental prefects of the regional prefecture. Prefects are tasked with upholding the law in the department they serve in, including controlling the actions of local authorities. Prefects are appointed by decree by the President of France when presiding over the government's Council of Ministers, following a proposal by the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior. They serve at the government's discretion and can be replaced at any meeting of the Council of Ministers.
To uphold the law, they are authorised to undertake a wide variety of actions, such as coordinating police forces, enforcing immigration rules, controlling authorities' finances, as well as suing local collectivities in the name of the State. The prefects in Lille, Rennes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg each have additional tasks as heads of their regional defence and security zone (zone de défense et de sécurité). In the Paris area, the prefect of police is the head of the local zone. Overseas France has a similar zones system.
In France, a Prefecture of Police (French: Préfecture de police), headed by the Prefect of Police (Préfet de police), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National Police, it provides a police force for an area limited by department borders. As of 2012, two such prefectures exist:
Jacques René Chirac (UK: /ˈʃɪəræk/, US: /ʒɑːk ʃɪəˈrɑːk/ ; French: [ʒak ʁəne ʃiʁak] ; 29 November 1932 – 26 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
After attending the École nationale d'administration, Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, entering politics shortly thereafter. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including minister of agriculture and minister of the interior. In 1981 and 1988, he unsuccessfully ran for president as the standard-bearer for the conservative Gaullist party Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of price controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism, and business privatisation.
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (/sɑːrˈkoʊzi/ sar-KOH-zee; French: [nikɔla pɔl stefan saʁkɔzi] ; born 28 January 1955) is a former French politician and convicted criminal who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, his roots are half Hungarian Protestant, a quarter Greek Jewish, and a quarter French Catholic. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine from 1983 to 2002, he was Minister of the Budget under Prime Minister Édouard Balladur (1993–1995) during François Mitterrand's second term. During Jacques Chirac's second presidential term, he served as Minister of the Interior and as Minister of Finances. He was the leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party from 2004 to 2007.
The Direction centrale des renseignements généraux (French pronunciation: [diʁɛksjɔ̃ sɑ̃tʁal de ʁɑ̃sɛɲmɑ̃ ʒeneʁo], lit. 'Central Directorate of General Intelligence'), often called Renseignements généraux (RG), was the intelligence service of the French National Police, answerable to the Direction générale de la Police nationale (DGPN), and, ultimately, the Ministry of the Interior. It was also in charge of the monitoring of gambling places and horse racing ranges.
On 1 July 2008, it was merged with the Direction de la surveillance du territoire into the new Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur.
Laurent Marie Joseph Nuñez-Belda (French pronunciation: [lɔʁɑ̃ nuɲɛs bɛlda]; born 19 February 1964) is a French senior civil servant and politician who has served as Minister of the Interior in the second government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu since 12 October 2025.
He previously served as director-general of the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) from 2017 to 2018, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior in the second government of Édouard Philippe from 2018 to 2020, head of the National Centre for Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (CNRLT) from 2020 to 2022 and Prefect of Police of Paris from 2022 to 2025.
The National Police (French: Police nationale, pronounced [pɔlis nɑsjɔnal]), formerly known as the Sûreté nationale, is one of two national police forces of France, the other being the National Gendarmerie. The National Police is the country's main civil law enforcement agency, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns. By contrast, the National Gendarmerie has primary jurisdiction in smaller towns, as well as in rural and border areas. The National Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior and has about 145,200 employees (as of 2015). Young French citizens can fulfill their optional national service (Service national universel) in the national police force.
The national police force was created on 14 August 1941, under the Vichy regime, by a decree signed by the head of government, Philippe Pétain. This decree implements the law of 23 April 1941, creating the Police nationale: the forces of the Sûreté nationale (with the former services of the Sûreté générale, which became the Sûreté nationale in 1934, and the municipal police units, which became "étatisées" for the police forces of towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants) and the police services of the Préfecture de police in Paris are thus united. It was dissolved after the Liberation, by order of the Provisional Government of the French Republic on 16 November 1944. It was revived by Law no. 66-492 of 9 July 1966, on the organization of the police in France. This law unified the Sûreté Nationale and the Préfecture de Police.
The National Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie nationale [ʒɑ̃daʁməʁi nɑsjɔnal]) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, with additional duties from the Ministry of Armed Forces. Its responsibilities include policing smaller towns, suburbs and rural areas, crowd and riot control, and criminal investigation, including cybercrime. By contrast, the National Police is a civilian law enforcement agency that is in charge of policing cities and larger towns. Because of its military status, the Gendarmerie also fulfills a range of military and defence missions. The Gendarmerie has a strength of around 102,269 people (as of 2018).
The Gendarmerie is the heir of the Maréchaussée, the oldest police force in France, dating back to the Middle Ages. The Gendarmerie has influenced the culture and traditions of gendarmerie forces around the world, especially in independent countries from the former French colonial empire.