Let no one count on her to make an inventory of macronism. Too early? Too quirky? When Aurore Bergé was only deputy and already omnipresent on television sets to preach the Elysian good word, an adviser from Edouard Philippe then Prime Minister had formulated this funny compliment: “I saw her defend Alain Juppé with the same ardor that she defends today Emmanuel Macron [NDLR : pendant la primaire de la droite, Aurore Bergé soutenait la candidature juppéiste]which worries me as much as it agreed to me that it is essential in the device. “
As long as Emmanuel Macron is President of the Republic, the Minister of Women-Men Equality will protect the results. Because the 30 -year -old knows politics, she knows that the power of the Head of State depends the credit that is granted to his ministers. Essential to lead its many sketched battles, dissected in his book Our fights for the Republic (Robert Laffont). Feminism, anti -Semitism, secularism, populism … The struggles of Aurore Bergé have in common to register in tune with the times. Some promise to be perilous as its desire to obtain the ban on the wearing of the veil for the little girls. Interview.
L’Express: in 2020, Emmanuel Macron swore not to “abandon those that the system has already abandoned, their children and their children after them”. In your book Our fights for the Republic, Released on March 6 at Robert Laffont, you observe that “the French no longer see the path of progress and are convinced that the life of their children will be as difficult as their own, if it is‘is more “. Is that the‘Macronism failure?
Aurore Bergé: Like millions of French people, I joined Emmanuel Macron on a promise, that of emancipation and mobility in all its forms: social, geographic, cultural … and we have taken up a major challenge: that of full employment. When I go to Hautmont, in the North, at the scene of the first feminicide of the year, I meet women and men who think they are under house arrest and say that the future of their children will not be better than theirs. How do we help these French? How do we listen to them and respect them? This obviously goes through the school, so that our children dream of great, allow themselves to dream and realize their dreams. The five years were struck by crises, yellow vests, covid, energy, inflation, war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East. They prevented or delayed certain transformations that we wanted to carry. It is not too late. In a five -year term, every minute counts and the mandate is not over!
Another junk, politics this time: dissolution. You question the very interest of the Republican Front, in your opinion, synonymous with “political confusion”. But is it not a form of absolute clarity in front of the extreme right?
It all depends on what is called “republican front”. The one who was born on April 21, 2002 on the evening of the presidential election is clear. There are two candidates and a binary choice between Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen. During legislative elections, it has nothing to do with it. Systematic withdrawals in front of the RN proceed from a form of democratic narrowing, this hinders the choice of French. I believe in a Republic of respect, not that of infantilization, not that where policies give lessons. The French are large enough to make the difference between, not two, but three candidates. Dissolution was to serve the question of the RN. Basically, we asked: do you want the accession of this party to responsibilities? It was necessary to leave the French a total freedom of choice and vote. How can we think that we fight the RN by putting an LFI bulletin in the ballot box? It has never been my position and it will never be.
You tell personal things. Revealing a share of intimacy, is this a must for a political figure in 2025?
There is no obligatory passage. It is simpler, sometimes, to write things. The question is not to tell but to say who we are, to be honest and sincere. When I defend a bill to prevent a man condemned for domestic violence from being a candidate in the elections and that my sincerity is questioned, it is unbearable.
“” “Say that we are legitimate [pour défendre une cause] Only because you are concerned yourself is the best way to nourish indifference.»
That day, in the National Assembly, I had the almost physical impression of being a Taurus in a bullfight, in which everyone wanted to plant banderles, from the far right to the far left. So yes, I wanted to shout and say that I knew what violence were inside the couple. And I did what is worse for a politician: showing vulnerability, crying. In a universe still governed by male codes, even viriles, it is fashionable to show force, as if it was the only way to have power. But having gone through intimate tests is what many French and French experience, and it is not to be fragile or weak. On the contrary. It is a strength, a resilience, a part of humanity.
Today, we hear a lot that only the victims or only the persons concerned are legitimate to focus their fight …
It is an unbearable and absurd essentialization. To say that we are only legitimate because one is concerned is the best way to nourish indifference. Besides, I observe it in the fight against anti -Semitism. Even relatives questioned me: “But why do this fight interest you so much?” The simple fact that this question exists is a problem! Since when would we have to be directly affected in our flesh or in our intimacy to move us from the suffering of others? This logic leads to individualism. If only the persons concerned have the right to seize a cause, then everyone remains at home and take refuge in their community.
The “Julien Bayou affair” has revealed a will in some and some, like Sandrine Rousseau, to decorre the judicial truth of the alleged facts, is it not also a drift to denounce?
We are permanently on a crest line: welcome the words of women, give them the certainty that they will be respected and that they can have confidence in the judicial institution. And allow the establishment of judicial truth. Of course, we have to change a certain number of rules, especially with regard to prescription, and we do it. In the case of Julien Bayou, there have been serious dysfunctions. Parties can take conservatory measures, request backing up, while justice spends. It is not the parties to carry out an instruction and even less to invite for denunciation. The political court cannot replace justice. If we maintain confusion between law and morality, it will not serve women or feminism. This will not allow our little girls tomorrow to evolve in safer, more welcoming, more respectful environments. And that’s why we have to fight.
Are you going to carry a parliamentary initiative against wearing the veil by girls?
If we cannot agree on it, then it is that we no longer know who we are. The French are hugged by anxieties linked to the disappearance of their lifestyle, to dilution on the one hand of their identity in globalization. We must respond to it with an authentically universalist and republican speech and acts. I belong to a political generation for whom the Republic and secularism are no longer evidence but again fights.
I obviously do not want to raise a debate which would stigmatize a category of population, I only want to allow the emancipation of all our children. Preventing them from being assigned to a community at age when they are not free to consent. A child of 7, 8, 10 years old cannot say no to his father or his mother. And the question of wearing the veil for children is not a migratory question but a cultural question. For many French people, the new immigration flow counts less than these identity questions. How to find a social, republican and universal pact?
So, I will not give up this fight, because it is not accessory. You just have to tip your phone to find shops in a few clicks, in France, which sell Abayas for little girls or tutorials on Tiktok. There is no reason why I teach my daughter that she has the right to dream of great, to be free while other little girls are deprived of the simple right to show their hair. Each party, each political group, each parliamentarian must be faced with his responsibilities. A bill is on the table thanks to Renaissance deputies. It’s time.
Algeria has tried to convince the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal to choose “a non -Jewish French lawyer”, according to Marianne. This incredible information has aroused little reactions. Would you say that there is anti-Semitism that we tolerate, to “do not make waves”?
When I went to the rally in tribute to Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas, many of the people present thanked me for my “courage”. But it should not be a mark of courage to engage against anti -Semitism! A fear settles down because, behind anti -Semitism, there is Islamism. We know that we have a target in the back when we speak on these subjects. October 7 caused a fracture in French society, we had this injunction to choose a camp. But, on October 7, there was only one possible choice! That of humanity, empathy, solidarity. The simple fact of asking the question has nourished a deep feeling of loneliness among Jewish French, they felt isolated in their daily life, at school, at university, in public transport, sometimes even in their workplace. We must create the conditions of the start. It is in this spirit of combat that I relaunched the assizes for the fight against anti -Semitism.
You are targeted by judicial information for false testimony. When of the legal proceedings, the question of presence in government arises for a minister?
Judicial information as an indictment are not marks of guilt. I remind you that I filed a defamation complaint. I reserve my answers to the Court of Justice of the Republic which must be able to do its job serenely.
Do you already know who you want to support during the next presidential campaign?
Today, we do not know who will be on the finish line because we do not yet know the starting line. I will take all my part in the national debate, it is a certainty. 2027 must be a moment of courage, and I have never been one of those who unpack.
Our fights for the Republic, By Aurore Bergé. Robert Laffont, € 18.50, published on March 6, 2025.
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