Éric Besson (born 2 April 1958) is a French politician and businessman. From 2009 to 2010, he was the Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-Development in the government of François Fillon.

He left the Socialist Party (PS) during the first round of the 2007 presidential elections to found The Progressives, a social democratic affiliate party of Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). He has been Deputy Secretary-General of the UMP since 2009.

In 2012, Besson established a strategy consulting firm, Eric Besson Consulting, advising international industry and energy firms.

Eric Besson was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 2 April 1958. His mother is of Lebanese origin. His father, an officer in the French Air Force, was killed in a flight accident three months before Éric Besson's birth.

After graduating high school in Casablanca, he moved to France to attend the Montpellier Business School. He then studied at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), before unsuccessfully applying to the École nationale d'administration (ENA).

Besson subsequently joined the French car company Renault, then was editor-in-chief of business magazine Challenges, before joining the Vivendi foundation.

Besson was a member of the Socialist Party from 1993 to 2007. He has been mayor of Donzère since 1995 and was the député for the Drôme between 1997 and 2007, when he did not stand for re-election. During his time as a Member of Parliament, Besson was a member of the National Commission for Defense and the Armed Forces from 1997 to 1998, the Financial and Economic Planning Commission from 1998 to 2002, the Commission of Inquiry on the Activity and Functioning of Commercial Courts, and the Commission of Inquiry on Superphénix and fast neutron reactors (both in 1998).

Following his re-election in 2002, he became a full member of the Supervisory Board of the Social Debt Amortizement Fund and the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Industrial Innovation.