Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)
French Ministry
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (French: Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères [ministɛʁ də løʁɔp e dez‿afɛʁ(z‿)etʁɑ̃ʒɛʁ], MEAE) is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Quai d'Orsay is often used as a metonym for the ministry. Its cabinet minister, the minister for Europe and foreign affairs (French: Ministre de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères) is responsible for the foreign relations of France. The current officeholder, Jean-Noël Barrot, was appointed in September 2024. For a brief period from 1984 to 1986, the office was titled minister for external relations.
In 1547, royal secretaries became specialised, writing correspondence to foreign governments and negotiating peace treaties. The four French secretaries of state where foreign relations were divided by region, in 1589, became centralised with one becoming first secretary responsible for international relations. The Ancien Régime position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs became Foreign Minister around 1723; it was renamed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1791 in the aftermath of early stages of the French Revolution. All ministerial positions were abolished in 1794 by the National Convention and reestablished with the Directory.
“Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)” enters the record as french Ministry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ministry, Europe and Foreign can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q789848. VIAF identifies the subject as 123164749. The Library of Congress control number is n82063759. 3 of 9 selected statements include explicit references; 6 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1855, 2024, 1984 and 1986.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.