Private company

Institut Montaigne

French think tank

Institut Montaigne is a think tank based in Paris, France, founded in 2000. Institut Montaigne makes public policy recommendations to advance its agenda, which broadly reflects that of the large French companies that fund it. It contracts experts from the French business community, academia, civil society, and government.² It was founded by Claude Bébéar.¹ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Aug 1, 2000Founded¹

Industryother voluntary membership organizations (France)¹
HeadquartersParis, France¹
Websitewww.institutmontaigne.org
Legal formdeclared association¹
Kind of organizationNonprofit organization¹
LEI969500E4UYVDZIRGOW81³
StatusActive³
LEI statusIssued and current³
Registered address59 RUE LA BOETIE, 75008 Paris, France³
Registered withNational Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, 444920318³

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The story

Founded by Claude Bébéar on Aug 1, 2000.¹

Leadership

Who has led Institut Montaigne, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chief executive

Philippe Manière2004–2009

Chair

Henri de Castries2015–now

20052010201520202025

FounderClaude Bébéar¹
Chief executive officerPhilippe Manière 2004 to 2009¹
ChairHenri de Castries 2015 to now¹

Products and brands

Institut Montaigne focuses on four main policy fields:

Social cohesion: education, higher education, employment, and lifelong learning.

Public policy: pension, justice, healthcare, environment, and European issues.

Competitiveness: firms, energy, transports, SMB, digital economy, and financial market regulation.

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Public finances: taxation, local finances, public spending, and local authorities.

Institut Montaigne is also involved in promoting innovative democratic platforms. In 2011, the think tank led an ambitious research program under the supervision of Gilles Kepel on the suburban cities of Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil where the 2005 riots sparked. The findings were published in the book Banlieue de la République. This work was later completed by “Passion française”, a political essay based on a series of interviews conducted in the cities of Roubaix and Marseille to meet candidates of foreign origin who ran for the 2012 legislative elections.

Institut Montaigne feeds the public debate by providing data and assessment tools. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Institut Montaigne forecasted the budgetary impact of the main candidates’ programs. A similar initiative was undertaken during the 2014 municipal campaign in France's 10 largest cities, as well as for the 2015 regional campaign. During the 2017 presidential campaign, on top of quantitative analyses, it evaluated over 120 electoral program promises and proposals.

Institut Montaigne also developed a game dedicated to public finances, allowing players to understand how budgetary and macroeconomic policies impact the French public deficit and the national debt.

Institut Montaigne organizes political forums to which citizens are invited to draft new policies. For instance, in 2012, it held a citizen's conference on the French healthcare system. A representative panel of 25 participants was informed of the functions of the healthcare system and its challenges. After a series of workshops, the panel released a report in which it stated its main policy proposals.

From Wikipedia’s article on Institut Montaigne, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Controversies and legal

Controversies

Actions during the 2012 presidential campaign

In April 2012 the Montaigne Institute was criticized for effectively advertising for Nicolas Sarkozy, at a time in the campaign when advertising by political parties counted against the candidates budget limit. Indeed, a March to April advertising campaign by the Montaigne institute put forward a proposal which closely matched some remarks made by the president-candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, leading to an investigation by the French media regulator (CSA).

This proposal had already been formulated by the Montaigne Institute in 2006 in a study by Jacques Bichot.

Other proposals put forward during this campaign echo François Hollande's programs, such as those on priority in primary school, defended by the Montaigne Institute in its report Vaincre Failure in Primary School in 2010.

Following the intervention of the CSA, BFMTV, BFM Radio or even RMC cease broadcasting for the duration of the campaign of the spots of the Institut Montaigne in favor of Nicolas Sarkozy's proposals. The Montaigne Institute also quantified the measures proposed by the candidates for the presidential election, in partnership with the newspaper Les Échos.

The quality of this work has been disputed; for Médiapart "the ideological presuppositions, the absence of a guarantee on the impartiality of the calculations or the secret kept on the identity of the" encryptors "cast suspicion on this project".

During the campaign, La Chaîne européenne (LCP) had Laurent Bigorgne, then director of the Montaigne Institute, as editorial writer for his political program Thèmes de campagne. This program, presented by Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, received, from March to June 2012, Pascal Lamy, Nicole Notat, Thierry Breton and Jacques Attali.

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Actions during the 2017 presidential campaign

The president of the institute, Laurent Bigorgne, contributed to Emmanuel Macron's campaign from April 2016 onwards. The analysis of the candidates' economic programs by the Montaigne Institute and the Les Échos newspaper supported that of Emmanuel Macron and severely criticized left wing candidates Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Benoit Hamon.

The institute has subsequently been close to Macrons's government. Prime Minister Édouard Philippe attended in November 2018 the lunch between member companies and political figures that the think tank organizes. Laurent Bigorgne was appointed in June 2018 to the Public Action Committee 2022, installed by the prime minister to design the state reform project, then was invited to debate with Emmanuel Macron on March 22, 2019, with sixty-five other intellectuals, to deal with the yellow vests crisis. Gilles Babinet, the institute's referent on the digital issue, was appointed by the government as vice-president of the National Digital Council in May 2018.

Financial regulation and public or private corruption

The institute details its work and firm positions in terms of financial regulation and against bribery on the French version of this entry.

The presence on the steering committee of Marwan Lahoud, a former Airbus executive cited by numerous publications as being at the center of a commission system, in the large-scale corruption scandal concerning Airbus. also raises the question of the Institut Montaigne's report on these questions.

Sexual harassment

The long-time director of the institute, Laurent Bigorgne, was accused in February 2022 of drugging a younger staff member whom he was sexually pursuing with MDMA. Bigorgne subsequently resigned.