Xavier Bertrand

Xavier Bertrand
Xavier Bertrand in 2007
Mayor of Saint-Quentin
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 October 2010
Preceded by	Pierre André
Minister of Labour, Employment and Health
In office 14 November 2010 – 10 May 2012
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Secretary-General of the UMP
In office 5 December 2008 – 17 November 2010
Preceded by	Patrick Devedjian
Succeeded by	Jean-François Copé
Personal details
Born	(1965-03-21) 21 March 1965 Châlons-sur-Marne, France
Nationality	French
Political party	The Republicans
Spouse(s)	Emmanuelle Gontier
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Christian (Protestant)

Xavier Bertrand (French pronunciation: ​[ɡzavje bɛʁˈtʁɑ̃]; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician. He was Minister of Health from 2005 to 2007 in Dominique de Villepin's government under President Jacques Chirac, then served as Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity from 2007 to 2009 and as Minister of Labour, Employment and Health from 2010 to 2012. He played a foremost role in Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.

Biography

Early life

Xavier Bertrand was born on 21 March 1965 in Châlons-sur-Marne, in the Marne département, of the Champagne-Ardenne région of France. He studied in Reims, where he obtained a masters in public law, then a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées (DESS) in local administration. He started his career as an insurance agent by profession.

Political career

At the age of sixteen, he started volunteering for the Rally for the Republic (RPR) and quickly went into politics.

In 1992, he led the campaign for the 'no' to the Maastricht Treaty in his department, the Aisne in the region of Picardy. He was at the time assistant to the mayor of Saint-Quentin, Aisne. He was one of the pioneers of the 'Saint-Quentin beach', an event similar to Paris-Plage. From 1997 to 2002, he was parliamentary assistant to Jacques Braconnier, Senator for the Aisne, and he was elected to the National Assembly on 16 June 2002 for the 18th legislature (2002–2007), representing the second constituency of the Aisne.

In 2003, Alain Juppé, President for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), made him responsible for leading the debate and explaining the reform of the pensions during a "Tour of France". He was chosen as a representative of this law project in the National Assembly. He was also during this period a part of the 'Club de la boussole,' a group of deputies who called themselves loyal to President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

During this period, he gained credit and got noticed in the right-wing political milieu. On 31 March 2004, when Raffarin named his third government, he was named Junior Health Minister for Health Insurance. Under his Senior Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, he led the reform on health insurance. Later on, he pronounced himself strongly in favour of a European Constitution for the referendum on 29 May 2005.

After the majority of the French voters' "no" to the referendum, Raffarin resigned as Prime Minister. Under the new PM, Dominique de Villepin, encouraged by the former one, he became the new Senior Minister for Health as Douste-Blazy transferred to Foreign Affairs Minister. His mandate as Health Minister was marked by the chikungunya epidemic and the prohibition to smoke in public places, ratified in 2004.

He announced his support to UMP presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy on 29 September 2006. He was named Sarkozy's official spokesperson on 15 January 2007. He quit the government on 26 March to devote himself fully to the campaign. On 18 May 2007, he was named Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity in the new Prime Minister François Fillon's government.

On 19 June 2007 he was renamed Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity in Fillon's second government after the first one handed in its resignation the day before for rehandling after government number two Alain Juppé, Minister of Ecology and Development and the only Minister of State, resigned after having lost in the legislative race to deputy of Bordeaux. He then served as Minister of Labour, Employment and Health from 2010 to 2012.

Personal life

He married Emmanuelle Gontier, advisor in human resources, on 11 July 1998. They have three children, two of whom are twins. He is a member of the Grand Orient of France since 1995.

References

Political offices
Preceded by Philippe Douste-Blazy	Minister of Health and Solidarity 1 June 2005 – 26 March 2007	Succeeded by Philippe Bas, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin
Preceded by None	Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity 18 May 2007 – 15 January 2009	Succeeded by Brice Hortefeux