Aurore Bergé

Aurore Bergé (French pronunciation: [ɔʁɔʁ bɛʁʒe]; born 13 November 1986) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister for Gender Equality and Fight against discriminations in the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal since January 2024.

Previously, Bergé represented the 10th constituency of the Yvelines department in the National Assembly since 2017. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which she left to join La République En Marche! (LREM) in early 2017, she is considered a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron. She led the party's group in the National Assembly from 2022 to 2023. From July 2023 until a government reshuffle in January 2024, she served as Minister for Solidarity and Family in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.

Early life and education

A native of Paris, Bergé studied at Sciences Po earning her degree in 2009.

Political career

In 2002, Bergé joined the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which became The Republicans (LR) in 2015. She has been a municipal councillor of Magny-les-Hameaux since the 2014 election. In the party primary ahead of the 2017 presidential election, she campaigned for Alain Juppé.

Bergé joined La République En Marche! in early 2017. She wrote a column published in L'Obs to explain why she switched parties. In the 2017 legislative election, she defeated incumbent Christian Democrat Jean-Frédéric Poisson in the 10th constituency of Yvelines. From 2017 until 2019, Bergé served as one of her parliamentary group's spokespersons under the leadership of its successive group chairs Richard Ferrand and Gilles Le Gendre.

In 2020, Bergé was a candidate to succeed Le Gendre as the group's chair. However, she lost against former Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. Castaner, a former member of the Socialist Party who is associated with the party's left-wing whilst Bergé is associated with its right-wing, appointed her as his deputy (alongside Coralie Dubost), with the title of group president delegate (présidente déléguée). In addition, Bergé served as member of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education.

From 2022 to 2023, Bergé served as chair of the Renaissance parliamentary group.

Ministerial appointments

In October 2023, Bergé participated in the first joint cabinet retreat of the German and French governments in Hamburg, chaired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron.

In January 2024 Bergé was appointed the new gender equalities minister as part of the cabinet reshuffle caused by Gabriel Attal succeeding Élisabeth Borne as Prime minister.

Political positions

In the 2012 Union for a Popular Movement leadership election, Bergé supported François Fillon as the party's leader.

In September 2018, following the appointment of François de Rugy to a ministership, Bergé supported the candidacy of Richard Ferrand for the presidency of the National Assembly.

In August 2020, Bergé was one of the LREM members who endorsed an animal welfare referendum calling a for ban on some hunting practices that are deemed "cruel".

Reproductive rights

In September 2019, alongside Guillaume Chiche, Bergé led a group of LREM members who advocated for a bioethics law extending to homosexual and single women free access to fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) under France's national health insurance; it was one of the campaign promises of President Emmanuel Macron and marked the first major social reform of his five-year term.

In October 2020, Bergé was one of 48 LREM members who voted in support of a bill introduced by the Ecology Democracy Solidarity parliamentary group that would extend the legal deadline for abortion from 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy; at the time of the vote, she took a public stand based on her own experience with abortion.

Hijab

In October 2019, Bergé caused controversy when she announced her intention to vote in favour of a draft law written by Éric Ciotti of The Republicans, which would ban the wearing of the hijab by women accompanying groups of students on school outings; as a response, five other LREM members – Coralie Dubost, Cécile Rilhac, Jean-Michel Mis, Stéphane Trompille and Éric Bothorel – disassociated themselves from her. In February 2022, she went against the party line again and was one of six LREM legislators who supported the Republicans’ motion for a ban on wearing hijabs in sports competitions.

Personal life

From 2009 to 2015, Bergé was married to Nicolas Bays.

Bergé has since been in a relationship with Grégory Besson-Moreau. In 2022, she gave birth to a daughter.

See also

• 2017 French legislative election

Bibliography

• "Le coup de gueule des députés artificiers", in Hallier, tout feu tout flamme, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Neva Editions, 2023, p. 51-57. ISBN 978-2-35055-309-2

References