Faithful to Jacques Chirac, figure of the right and former minister, Bernard Pons died at the age of 95.
The former minister and secretary general of the RPR (ancestor of LR) Bernard Pons, figure of the right and elected deputy six times, died at the age of 95, his family announced on Wednesday to AFP.
Born on July 18, 1926 in Béziers (Hérault), this faithful of Jacques Chirac was several times Secretary of State and Minister, in particular of the DOM-TOM then of Transport, it was specified from the same source, confirming information from France-Antilles.
“The disappearance of Bernard Pons marks the end of an era. That of great moments of companionship, epic politics, triumphant Gaullism. I loved this man who gave so much to his political family”, tweeted Nicolas Sarkozy .
The disappearance of Bernard Pons marks the end of an era. That of the great moments of companionship, of epic politics, of triumphant Gaullism. I loved this man who gave so much to his political family. Warmest and loving thoughts for his own.NS
— Nicolas Sarkozy (@NicolasSarkozy) April 27, 2022
The general practitioner Bernard Pons had started a long political career in 1967 in the Lot where he occupied the chair of deputy, secretary of state and minister in various right-wing governments.
Pugnacious and enthusiastic, the “doctor Pons” had then been a deputy for Essonne and then for Paris, from 1981 to 2002. Jacques Chirac had him elected to the Council of Paris in 1983 in the 17th arrondissement.
Secretary General of the Rally for the Republic from 79 to 84
He was Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture in the Chaban-Delmas and Messmer governments from 1969 to 1973, but did not participate in the governments of the seven-year term of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, whom he harshly criticized.
Faithful to Jacques Chirac, Bernard Pons became secretary general of the Rally for the Republic (RPR, created by Mr. Chirac in 1976) from 1979 to 1984 then, in 1988, president of the RPR group in the Assembly.
He was Minister of French Overseas Territories in 1986, a term marked by the massacre in the Ouvéa cave in New Caledonia, which left 21 dead (19 Kanaks and 2 soldiers) between the two presidential rounds of 1988, and for which he will be held responsible. He was also Minister of Transport from 1995 to 1997.
This father of four daughters, who has long shared his life between the metropolis and Martinique, had broken with Jacques Chirac at the end of his political career. “I believed for a long time that he was open, attentive, generous, faithful in friendship. I see today that it is otherwise,” he said in 2005 to the Parisian.