- published: 11 Dec 2015
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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.
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.
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.