Early career in local politics

Bourlanges, a graduate of the École nationale d'administration who was appointed an auditor of the Court of Audit in 1979, was a municipal councillor of Dieppe (1983–1989) and regional councillor of Haute-Normandie (1986–1998).

Member of the European Parliament, 1989–2007

During his time as a Member of the European Parliament, Bourlanges served on the Committee on Transport and Tourism (1989–1993), the Committee on Budgetary Control (1993–1999), the Committee on Budgets (1994–2002) and the Committee on International Trade (2005–2007), among others. From 2003 until 2004 he chaired the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.^[2]

Following the 2004 European elections, Bourlanges was instrumental in establishing the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament.^[3] In 2007, he left his parliamentary seat two years before the next elections.^[4] He was succeeded in the European Parliament by Brigitte Fouré.

Ahead of the 2007 French presidential election, Bourlanges was a vocal critic of efforts made by the Socialist Party's candidate Ségolène Royal to seek the endorsement of his party, the Union for French Democracy.^[5] In the second round of the election, he supported Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement.

Later career

Bourlanges was a regular contributor to the radio broadcast L'Esprit public on France Culture until 2017.^[6]

Return to politics

Following the 2012 French legislative election, Bourlanges supported Jean-Louis Borloo's initiative to establish the new centre-right Union of Democrats and Independents party.^[7]

Ahead of the 2017 presidential election, Bourlanges quit his role as a radio commentator and publicly endorsed Emmanuel Macron.^[8] He was critical of the Union of Democrats and Independents' support of The Republicans nominee François Fillon.^[9]

Member of the National Assembly, 2017–present

In the 2017 election for the National Assembly, Bourlanges was elected as the Member of Parliament for Hauts-de-Seine's 12th constituency with the support of La République En Marche! as a member of the Democratic Movement.

In Parliament, Bourlanges has since been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on European Affairs. From 2017 until 2019, he was also a member of the Finance Committee. Since 2019, she has also been a member of the French delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly.^[10] In January 2021, Bourlanges was elected to succeed Marielle de Sarnez at the presidency of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In May 2022, Bourlanges was a notable critic of the appointment of Pap Ndiaye as Education Minister in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne by President Emmanuel Macron.^[11] The following month, he won reelection to a second term in the National Assembly in the 2022 legislative election.

On 1 December 2022, Bourlanges was among the guests invited to the state dinner hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in honor of President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.^[12]