Imagining a Humanist Europe

Contributor(s): Francois Bayrou | Frangois Bayrou will address the theme of humanism. He will outline how he believes that Europe needs a new set of values and specially humanism after the failures of capitalism. Frangois Bayrou is the leader of the French centre party called Mouvement Democrate (Democratic Mouvement) and former presidential candidate. Mr Bayrou entered politics in the early 1980s and joined the centre right party called UDF. He served as education minister in centre-right governments between 1993 and 1997. He ran for the presidency in 2002 and 2007 and in 2007 polled almost seven million votes. He is the son of a farmer in south-western France and studied literature, and worked as a teacher while continuing to help his mother on the farm. He is still a part-time farmer.