Political Career
Bertrand was at the early age of 16 already a militant 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.
After having been, from 1997 to 2002, parliamentary assistant to Jacques Braconnier, senator of the Aisne, he was elected deputy at the Assemblée Nationale on 16 June 2002 for the 18th legislature (2002–2007), in the second circonscription 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 at the Assemblée Nationale. He was also during this period a part of the 'Club de la boussole,' a group of deputies who called themselves loyal to the then President Jacques Chirac and the then Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
During this period, he gained credit and got noticed in the right-wing political milieux. On 31 March 2004, when Raffarin named his third government, he was named Junior Health Minister to the Health Insurance. Under his Senior Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, he led the reform on the 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, Bertrand 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.
Xavier Bertrand announced his support to UMP presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy on 29 September 2006. He is 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 no.2 Alain Juppé, Minister of Ecology and Development and only 'Ministre d'État' (Senior Minister), resigned after having lost in the legislative race to deputy of Bordeaux.
Read more about this topic: Xavier Bertrand, Biography
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