But where the hell had she gone? For several weeks, the much-publicized Aurore Bergé has been discreet. Former president of the majority group at the Palais Bourbon, then minister, she left the government last September to once again become a member of parliament for Yvelines. A few days later, the office of the National Assembly took legal action, suspecting it of having lied before a parliamentary commission of inquiry devoted to private daycare centers.
Last spring, then Minister of Equality between Women and Men, she explained, under oath, that she had no “personal, intimate or friendly connection, or acquaintances” with a representative of the private daycare sector. Journalist Victor Castanet has since established in his book Les Ogres that contacts took place between the two women when Bergé was Minister of Family.
The parliamentarian from Yvelines looks back on this affair and on the last political months…
The dissolution and state of his party
“The dissolution taught us that Renaissance was in a worse state than we thought at the time of the legislative elections. The candidates defeated in 2022 were not supported, there was an unpreparedness in the proposals in 2024… The real question of the Republican front with or without La France insoumise has not been resolved either (the right-wing Macronists advocated a front without, those on the left with). It's a strategic and moral error… When people talk to me about François Ruffin for example, I haven't forgotten his role in the Yellow Vest crisis, when he stirred up anger while we received death threats. , rape, every day. It is not because today there are even more unfrequentable people at LFI (François Ruffin has moved away from LFI, Editor's note), like Rima Hassan, that that makes him more frequentable…”
The government with the right
It's not simple, but the Ensemble pour la République group must be in a balance of power with the government.
There, we have this “common base”, but no one knows what that means, with a central bloc and a Right. We do not applaud at the same time in the hemicycle, depending on whether it is a minister from this or that camp who is speaking… This is why I advocated a quick 49.3. Personally, I see the National Rally pressing the censorship button next spring.
Where is the Renaissance party going, soon to be chaired by Gabriel Attal?
Within the EPR parliamentary group, there is real freedom, but if everyone does what they want in their own corner, that also poses a problem of identification. What are we talking about collectively? Gabriel (Attal) set up an association (“Faire face”, against school bullying); Gérald (Darmanin) a movement (Popular). But at Renaissance, with 8,500 members, what do we think? The subject of the ideological framework, no one has ever wanted to confront it in our party. People don't even know what our name is! Renaissance, Ensemble pour la République… We changed names every year or almost while En Marche! was telling. And what project?
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Should the party now become a presidential team? This is what Gabriel Attal wants but I am not sure that the incarnation alone, whatever it may be, is enough to get the doubting French on board…
Aurore Bergé
Should the party now become a presidential team? (The former Prime Minister is the only candidate to head the movement at the end of November, Editor's note)
That's what he wants but I'm not sure that the incarnation alone, whatever it may be, is enough to get the doubting French on board… I don't want us to be a parenthesis. I supported the candidacy of Élisabeth Borne (since withdrawn) and want to rebuild the party ideologically. We cannot pile up the proposals, like a catalog. We must propose a social project.
Its place in the “common base”
“When you have been group president then minister and that stops, when you become an MP again, there is a feeling of dizziness, it’s not pleasant, that’s for sure. But I didn't want to stay in government just to stay. The Barnier team asked me what I wanted, I said that to really fight against violence against women and children, it was in the Chancellery that I should be (and therefore be appointed Minister of the Justice). Without that, it won't move. But there were other considerations and the place was clearly reserved (for Didier Migaud, Editor's note).
The risk is the ideological disappearance of our camp which would confirm that we had no basis. While there has been a real common thread since 2017 on Work, purchasing power, European DNA.
The nursery affair
My lawyer filed a defamation complaint. Today we are in the age of suspicion. We can obviously contest political positions but not the facts. However, things are false in what was written in the book (Les Ogres, by Victor Castanet). And besides, even if everything were true, there is nothing illegal!
When I read poorly transcribed private chats, it's a problem. Yes, I interacted with the professional federations. I never said I didn't do it, but that I never had any friendly or personal ties with their leaders. I saw Victor Castanet for an hour and a half, and he criticized me in particular for the fact that some of my advisors felt “marginalized because I got too into the technical aspects of the files”… Basically he criticized me for working too much and too precisely! It's crazy though. The ministers are not only there to recite elements of language but to work, to form their own convictions, to master their subjects. And yes, I work. This is the first time that I have been affected like this by attacks because it affects my values. I'm also a mother who drops her two-year-old daughter off at daycare every day and would I have covered things? Never ! On the contrary.
Suspicion is enough, a sentence taken out of context is enough today to pillory you. He didn't care what I had done as minister, that I had changed the law to better control private groups, precisely. I want to be judged by my actions, not by suspicions or poorly transcribed private conversations. So what is the answer? My team advised me to be quiet, because you can't be heard in those moments. It was hard. Hard because I wanted to speak up and defend myself. But they were right. But I wanted to file a complaint and I held on. Justice will, I know, take time to rule. I hope that at that point we will be interested in the decision that will be rendered…
