Jean-René Etchegaray was born in Briscous in 1952. He holds a doctorate in public law and is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Bordeaux; he practiced law from 1978 to 2014. A former president of the Bayonne Bar Association, he is now an honorary attorney.
Elected to the Bayonne City Council in 1995, first as deputy mayor for urban planning and later asfirst deputy mayor in charge of culture and heritage, Jean-René Etchegaray was first elected mayor of Bayonne in 2014 and then re-elected in 2020. From 1999 to 2005, he also served as a member of the General Council of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department.
A founding member of the UDI when it was established in 2012, he joined Renaissance in 2022. He is a member of the executive committee of the Association of Mayors of France.
Jean-René Etchegaray is known for his commitment to the administrative unity of the Basque Country. Active for many years in advocating for a distinct territorial institution for the French Basque Country, he has served as President of the Basque Country Urban Community (CAPB: 158 municipalities, 325,000 residents, and a budget of €689,000,000) since its creation in 2017. This strategic role has led some to compare him to the lawyer and politician Dominique Garat (1749–1833), a member of the Académie Française, who advocated for the union of the three Basque provinces of France in 1790.