In 2024, he was appointed Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Economic Attractiveness, the Francophonie, and French Nationals Abroad in the Attal government.

[7] During Sarkozy’s unsuccessful campaign for the 2012 presidential elections, he served as the party’s head of communications,[8] along with Geoffroy Didier, Valérie Debord, Guillaume Peltier and Salima Saa.

[citation needed] In the Republicans’ 2016 presidential primaries, Riester endorsed Bruno Le Maire as the party's candidate for the office of President of France.

[9] When the primaries' winner François Fillon became embroiled in a political affair during his campaign, Riester publicly called on him to step down.

[17] He also merged the Superior Council of the Audiovisual (CSA) and the Supreme Authority for the Distribution and Protection of Intellectual Property on the Internet (HADOPI).

[2] In January 2013, Riester was one of the two UMP deputies, along with Benoist Apparu, to publicly declare his support and vote for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in France which had been proposed by the government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.