Nora Berra (born 21 January 1963, in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

) is a French

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and politician who served as Secretary of State for Seniors (2009-2010) and as Secretary of State for Health (2010-2012) in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

François Fillon François Charles Amand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a French retired politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of The Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

from 14 November 2010 to 10 May 2012. From 2015 until 2017, she was a member of the

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Early life and education

Born as the daughter of an

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n soldier and Algerian mother, She was 5th child in a family of 11,Diversity News: Portrait of Nora Berra, 5th June 2009 (fr)
/ref> Berra was raised in a

Gaullist Gaullism ( ) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withdrew French forces from t ...

family. Berra studied at the

Collège-lycée Ampère The Collège-lycée Ampère () is a school located in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. History The school was founded in 1519 by members of the Brotherhood of the Trinity. It was then known as Collège de la Trinité. Under this name it was directe ...

, before continuing with medicine in

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

. In 1994 and 1996, she gave birth to her two children.

Early career

Between 1999 and 2009, Berra worked in various pharmaceutical laboratories around Lyon, including

Boehringer Ingelheim C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. is the parent company of the Boehringer Ingelheim group, which was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861–1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's List of la ...

(1999-2001) and

Bristol Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Trade name, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies ...

(2001-2006), where she conducted research on

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix or in any layer of the wall of the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that can invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later sympt ...

and

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

Political career

From 2001 until 2008, Berra was a municipal councillor in

Neuville-sur-Saône Neuville-sur-Saône (, literally ''Neuville on Saône'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France. Surrounding communes * Genay, Rhône, Genay * Montanay * Fl ...

, at which point she was elected to the Municipal Council of

. In the June 2009

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...

, Berra was fifth on the UMP list in South-East France, and was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

for the French South-East constituency. She eventually decided against taking up her seat, instead joining the government of

. On June 23, 2009, Berra entered Fillon's government as Secretary of State for the Elderly, under the leadership of successive ministers

Xavier Darcos Xavier Darcos (; born 14 July 1947) is a French politician, scholar, civil servant and former Minister of Labour. An ''agrégé'' professor in literature and general inspector of the National Education system, he has been Mayor of Périgueux ...

and

Éric Woerth Éric Woerth (born 29 January 1956) is a French politician of Renaissance. Early life and education Woerth was born in Creil, Oise. He studied at Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University, HEC Paris and Sciences Po. Political career Career in local ...

at the Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, Family and Solidarity. On November 14, 2010, Berra was promoted to state secretary for health after a cabinet shift, this time under minister

Xavier Bertrand Xavier René Louis Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician; he is president of the regional council of Hauts-de-France since the 2015 regional elections. Earlier in his career, Bertrand was Minister of Health from 2005 to 2007 ...

. Following her departure from government, Berra was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

from 2012 until 2014. In parliament, she served on the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinians, Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the Wes ...

. Running for the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

primary election for the

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

of Lyon of 2014, Berra was eliminated in the first round June 2, 2013 by uniting 9.41% of the vote. She was elected in 2015 as a member of the

Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes The Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes () is the deliberative assembly of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeast-central France. In 2016, the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes succeeded the Regional Council of Auvergne and ...

on a list led by

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 follow ...

.En désaccord avec la ligne de Laurent Wauquiez, Nora Berra quitte LR
''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', December 13, 2017. In the Republicans' 2016 primaries, Berra publicly endorsed

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

as the party's candidate for the

2017 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April and 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he wo ...

; when Sarkozy was eliminated in the first round, she supported

instead. When Laurent Wauquiez won the Republicans' 2017 leadership election, she left the party in protest. In the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

, Berra was a candidate for the

Union of Democrats and Independents The Union of Democrats and Independents (, , UDI) is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in France, political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the UDI and Independents group, e ...

(UDI). Ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, Berra publicly declared her support for incumbent

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

and criticized the Republicans’ candidate

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...

.Defections sap conservative contender Pécresse in French presidential race
''

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

'', 11 February 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berra, Nora 1963 births Living people The Republicans (France) politicians Physicians from Lyon French people of Algerian descent Union for a Popular Movement MEPs MEPs for South-East France 2009–2014 21st-century women MEPs for France Members of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Politicians from Lyon