Emmanuel Macron chooses Xavier Piechaczyk to succeed Jean Castex at the head of RATP

He must still be interviewed by the Senate and the National Assembly for his appointment to be confirmed.

read later

Without payment. Without subscription.

Close the France Info notification activation window

create your account

log in

:

Close presentation window

Published on 12/18/2025 7:03 p.m. Updated on 12/18/2025 7:18 p.m.

Reading time: 1min

Xavier Piechaczyk, then president of RTE, during a trade fair in Lyon, March 13, 2025. (ROMAIN DOUCELIN / AFP)

A new boss for the RATP. Emmanuel Macron “consider naming” the current chairman of the board of the electricity distributor RTE, Xavier Piechaczyk, at the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, announced the Elysée Thursday December 18 by press release.

Former energy and transport advisor to Jean-Marc Ayrault and François Hollande, this 56-year-old bridge, water and forests engineer could thus succeed Jean Castexleft to lead the SNCF since the beginning of November. The appointment of Xavier Piechaczyk must still be approved by the National Assembly and the Senate, which should hear it during hearings in the coming weeks.

Even though he had been reappointed as chairman of the RTE board in June, Xavier Piechaczyk had been the favorite of the Elysée for RATP for weeks.

If he is confirmed in this position, he will face several challenges facing RATP, founded in 1948. That of the modernization of the network, with the introduction of new metro trains on eight different lines which will cause a lot of work in the ten years to come. That of competition and the loss of its historic monopoly. After the bus network, of which it has retained the operation of 70% of the lines, the RATP will see the tram network opened to competition by 2030, then that of the metro in 2040.