Barbara Pompili (born 13 June 1975) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Ecological Transition under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who was the country's Prime Minister from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020, when he joined La République En Marche! (LREM). Castex served f ...

from 2020 to 2022. Pompili has previously served as member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

for the 2nd constituency of Somme from 2012 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2020. A member of

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a ...

(REM) since 2017, she was a member of The Greens (LV) from 2000 to 2010 and

Europe Ecology – The Greens Europe Ecology – The Greens (french: Europe Écologie Les Verts , EELV ) is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merge ...

(EELV) from 2010 until 2015. Pompili served as Secretary of State for

Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...

from 2016 to 2017.

Education

Born in Bois-Bernard,

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

, Pompili grew up in

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size bu ...

. She graduated from Sciences Po Lille.

Political career

Early career

First elected to the National Assembly in the 2012 legislative election, Pompili was the first female president of a parliamentary group in the lower house, co-leading the EELV group with François de Rugy, from 2012 until 2016. She also served on the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs. In 2016, Pompili was appointed Secretary of State for Biodiversity in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...

, under the Minister of Ecology,

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 201 ...

. She was reappointed when the

Bernard Cazeneuve Bernard Guy Georges Cazeneuve (; born 2 June 1963) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the Fr ...

took office. During her time in office, she notably oversaw the entry into force of a French tax targeting

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced fr ...

and a ban on neonicotinoids in 2016. Pompili was an early supporter of

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017 French presidential election, 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, M ...

and the first minister in Hollande's government to openly support Macron's candidacy in the 2017 presidential election. She subsequently stood as a candidate of

En Marche! Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a ...

(EM) in

Somme's 2nd constituency The 2nd constituency of Somme (French: ''Deuxième circonscription de la Somme'') is one of five electoral districts in the department of the same name, each of which returns one deputy to the French National Assembly in elections using the two-r ...

, which she had represented from 2012 until 2016. She was reelected in the 2017 legislative election and subsequently served as chairwoman of the Sustainable Development, Spatial and Regional Planning Committee from 2017 until 2020. In this capacity, she led a 2018 parliamentary inquiry into France's

nuclear safety and security Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...

. In September 2018, after François de Rugy's appointment to the government, Pompili ran for the presidency of the National Assembly. In an internal vote within the LREM parliamentary group, she came in second; the position eventually went to the group's then-president

Richard Ferrand Richard Ferrand (; born 1 July 1962) is a French politician of La République En Marche! (LREM) who served as President of the National Assembly from 2018 to 2022. He had served as a member of the National Assembly for Finistère's 6th consti ...

Minister of the Ecological Transition, 2020–2022

Pompili co-founded a new political party;

En Commun En Commun ( ''English'': In Common) is a French environmentalist political party created in 2020 by En Marche MPs Barbara Pompili, Hugues Renson and Jacques Maire. The party is member of Ensemble Citoyens, which supports Emmanuel Macron in th ...

in 2020. During Pompili's time in office, France banned plastic packaging for nearly all fruit and vegetables from 2022 in a bid to reduce plastic waste. When state-owned

electric utility An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a majo ...

EDF shut down four reactors – with a combined daily capacity of 6 gigawatts (GW), equivalent to around 13 percent of current availability in France – due to technical problems in late 2021, Pompili asked the company to conduct an independent audit on the availability of its nuclear power stations.

Political positions

In July 2019, Pompili decided not to align with her parliamentary group's majority and became one of 52 LREM members who abstained from a vote on the French ratification of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

’s

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its member states. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts. ...

(CETA) with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. She also defended amendments on the transparency and labeling of

genetically modified organism A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

s used in food products in defiance of the government's advice, as well as opposed delays in the country's strategy to reduce pesticides use and the phase-out of

glyphosate Glyphosate (IUPAC name: ''N''-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshik ...

. In September 2020, Pompili publicly endorsed Aurore Bergé for the position of the LREM parliamentary group's chair; the position instead went to Christophe Castaner.Cécile Cornudet (September 14, 2020)
Comment Pompili a tenté de torpiller l'élection de Castaner
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Les Echos Les Echos may refer to: * ''Les Echos'' (France), a French-language financial newspaper published in France * ''Les Echos'' (Mali), a French-language newspaper published in Bamako, Mali See also * Echoes (disambiguation) Echoes may refer to: * ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pompili, Barbara 1975 births Living people People from Pas-de-Calais Politicians from Hauts-de-France French people of Italian descent Women members of the National Assembly (France) 21st-century French women politicians 20th-century French women politicians La République En Marche! politicians Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Women government ministers of France French political party founders