Raymond Barre, French economist and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 2007)

Raymond Octave Joseph Barre was a French politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three presidents. He later served as Prime Minister under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1976 until 1981. As a candidate for the presidency in 1988, he came in third and was eliminated in the first round. He was born in Saint-Denis, on the French island of Réunion, and then still a colony.

The prime minister of France, officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and leader of its Council of Ministers, although the officeholder does not chair its meetings, as the president does.