Bertrand, Xavier

Birth, Education

Xavier Bertrand was born into a family of bank employees. He graduated from the University of Reims with a degree in public law, then received a DESS diploma (corresponding to a master's degree in the Bologna system ) in local government. He began his career as an insurance agent.

Political career

Xavier Bertrand became interested in politics early, at the age of 16 he became a volunteer of the Union in support of the Republic , which was subsequently transformed into the Union for the Popular Movement (SND) party. In 1992, he led a campaign in the department of En against the approval of the Maastricht Treaty in a referendum. In 1995, he was elected vice mayor of Saint-Quentin . He was one of the initiators of the creation in the city center of a package of services for summer vacations "Beach of Saint-Quentin" in the image of Paris-Beach .

In 1997-2002, Xavier Bertrand was the parliamentary secretary of Senator Jacques Braconier, and in 2002 he first ran for the French National Assembly in the 2nd constituency of the department of Hen and won. After that, he was elected twice more in 2007 and 2012 as a deputy of the National Assembly. In 2003, SND leader Alain Juppe instructed Bertrand to submit a draft pension reform to parliament. At the same time, he joined the prestigious political club Compass, which included 38 deputies of the reformist wing of the Union for the popular movement, supporting President Jacques Chirac.

In March 2004, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffaren invited Bertrand to join the government as Secretary of State for Health in charge of insurance medicine. He was the author of the law on reforming the system of insurance medicine. In 2005, Bertrand actively advocated the adoption of a European constitution in a referendum, but most of the population voted against. After this, the government of Rafarren resigned, and the new Prime Minister Dominic de Villepin proposed Bertrand to take the post of Minister of Health. During his tenure in this position, in particular, the adoption in 2004 of a law banning smoking in public places.

In 2006, Xavier Bertrand supported the candidacy of Nicolas Sarkozy for the presidency of France, and in March 2007, resigned as minister to fully devote himself to the presidential campaign of Sarkozy. After his victory in the presidential election in May 2007, he took up the post of Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Family in the first government of François Fillon . From December 2008 to November 2010 he served as president of the Union for the Popular Movement ; In 2009, while on a visit to China, he signed an agreement on cooperation between the CIS and the Chinese Communist Party , which caused an mixed reaction in France. In October 2010, he was elected mayor of Saint-Quentin - the largest city of the department of Aisnes .

On November 14, 2010, he received in the third government of Fillon a portfolio of the Minister of Labor, Employment and Health ^[1] .

In 2012, during the elections to the National Assembly, he won a very difficult campaign in the 2nd constituency of the department of En , beating the socialist leader in Saint-Quentin, Anne Ferreira, with an advantage of 222 votes (50.3% of the vote). He claimed the post of leader of the SND faction in the National Assembly, but lost to Christian Jacob.

In September 2012, Xavier Bertrand announced his intention to fight for the French presidential candidate from the SND in the 2017 elections ^[2] .

On December 13, 2015, he was elected to the regional council of Nord - Pas-de-Calais - Picardy ( Haut-de-France ), receiving 57.77% of the vote in the second round against 42.23% of his rival Marine Le Pen , and on January 4, 2016 of the year he was silently elected chairman of the regional council (deputies of the National Front refused to vote in protest against the removal of their candidates by the left) ^[3] .

December 12, 2017, after the victory of Laurent Vauquier in the election of the leader of the " Republicans ", Bertrand announced his withdrawal from the party ^[4] .

Personal life

Xavier Bertrand is married to Emmanuel Gontier, humanitarian adviser. They have three children: daughter Caroline (born 1995) and twins - daughter Amre and son Malo (born 20.12.2006). Since 1995, he is a member of the Great East of France .

03/20/1989 - 06/18/1995 - member of the city council of Saint-Quentin
06/19/1995 - 03/10/2010 - Vice-Mayor of Saint-Quentin
03/23/1998 - 07/29/2002 - Member of the General Council of the department of En from the canton of Saint-Quentin-North
06/19/2002 - 04/30/2004 - Member of the French National Assembly from the 2nd constituency of the department of Aisnes
03/21/2004 - 05/31/2005 - Secretary of State for Health in the Government of Jean-Pierre Raffaren
06/02/2005 - 03/26/2007 - Minister of Health in the Government of Dominique de Villepin
05/18/2007 - 01/15/2009 - Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Unity in the Government of François Fillon
06/20/2007 - 07/19/2007 - Member of the French National Assembly of the 2nd constituency of the department of Aisnes
12/05/2008 - 11/11/2010 - General Secretary of the Union for the Popular Movement Party
02/15/2009 - 12/14/2010 - Member of the French National Assembly from the 2nd constituency of the department of Aisnes
from 04.10.2010 - mayor of Saint-Quentin
11/14/2010 - 05/10/2012 - Minister of Social Affairs in the Government of François Fillon
from 06/18/2012 - Member of the French National Assembly from the 2nd constituency of the department of Aisnes

• Personal page on the website of the National Assembly of France

• Deputies of the National Assembly from the department of En
• Deputies of the National Assembly of France