Ericka Bareigts

Ericka Bareigts (born 16 April 1967) is a French politician, member of the National Assembly who was Minister of Overseas France from 30 August 2016 to 10 May 2017.

Ericka Bareigts
Ericka Bareigts in 2014
Mayor of Saint-Denis, Réunion
Assumed office
4 July 2020
Preceded byGilbert Annette
Member of the National Assembly
for Réunion's 1st constituency
In office
18 June 2017 – 13 July 2020
Preceded byPhilippe Naillet
Succeeded byPhilippe Naillet
In office
17 June 2012 – 12 March 2016
Preceded byRené-Paul Victoria
Succeeded byPhilippe Naillet
Minister of Overseas France
In office
30 August 2016 – 10 May 2017
PresidentFrançois Hollande
Prime MinisterManuel Valls
Bernard Cazeneuve
Preceded byGeorge Pau-Langevin
Succeeded byAnnick Girardin
Personal details
Born (1967-04-16) 16 April 1967
Saint-Denis, Réunion
NationalityFrench
Political partySocialist Party
Alma materUniversity of La Réunion
Panthéon-Sorbonne University

Early life and education

Ericka Bareigts was born on 16 April 1967 in Saint-Denis, Réunion.[1][2] She graduated from the University of La Réunion, where she received a bachelor of laws, followed by the Pantheon-Sorbonne University, where she received a master of law.[2]

Bareigts worked as a civil servant.[2]

Political career

Local elected

Bareights joined the Socialist Party at the age of thirty.[2][3] She was elected as second vice mayor of her hometown, Saint-Denis, in 2008.[3] She initiated many projects for the city, in particular the global educational project (PEG) which promotes the teaching of English in large section of kindergarten, the learning of chess games during the lunch break or the work of sports educators with young students on "self-esteem".

The same year, she was elected president of the intercommunal community of Northern Reunion (CINOR), becoming the first woman to manage an intercommunal of Reunion. CINOR brings together the municipalities of Saint-Denis, Sainte-Marie and Sainte-Suzanne, representing more than 190,000 inhabitants, constituting the largest urban community in Réunion and Overseas.

Ericka Bareigts was chosen as head of the PS's list for the 2009 European elections in the Overseas Territories of France. This list obtained 20.3% of the votes behind the UMP's list of Marie-Luce Penchard (29.7%) and the Alliance of the Overseas's list of Élie Hoarau (21%).

She won a seat as a regional councilor in the 2010 regional elections in Reunion, the list on which she appeared obtaining 18% of the votes cast.[4]

in the 2020 municipal elections, Ericka Bareigts was head of the union of the left in Saint-Denis, Réunion. Her list topped the first round with 42.7% of the vote, ahead of the right list led by the president of the Regional Council of Réunion Didier Robert (24.9%) and the center list of Senator of France Nassimah Dindar (13%).

Member of the National Assembly

1st term

In 2012, she ran for legislative elections in Réunion's 1st constituency. In the second round, Bareigts was elected member of the National Assembly with 52.8% of the votes cast.

In February 2014, she presented the resolution relating to Reunionese children placed in metropolitan France in the years 1960-1970, which was voted in the National Assembly. This resolution recognizes the moral responsibility of the French State.[5] From 1963 to 1982, at least 2,150 children from Réunion, "abandoned or not" and forcibly registered by the French authorities with the Departmental Directorate of Health and Social Affairs, were deported by the authorities in order to repopulate the metropolitan departments victims of the rural flight.

In 2015, she proposed a bill to replace traditional Roman Catholic holidays like Christmas and Easter with local holidays in La Reunion [6] The bill was rejected.[6]

In September 2015, she was applauded in the National Assembly for her response to the words of Nadine Morano who had described France as a “white race country”. She declares thus: "For me, black deputy of the Republic, France described by Mrs. Morano is not mine".[7]

2nd term

Ericka Bareigts was re-elected on June 18, 2017 as deputy for the Réunion's 1st constituency, with almost 66% of the vote in the second round.[1]

On September 12, 2018, following the appointment of François de Rugy to the government, she was a Socialist group's candidate for the President of the National Assembly and collected 31 votes.[8]

On March 3, 2018, during a visit to the Cimendef media library in Saint-Paul, recently bought by the Réunion region, Huguette Bello and Ericka Bareigts were refused access to part of the building. The elected officials then forced the passage to be able to enter, accompanied by the Cimendef collective.[9] Denouncing the assault on a guard by the two deputies, the Regional Council of Réunion is filing a complaint for breach of domicile. The Reunionese media then talk about the Cimendef case.

On June 1, 2018, she succeeds in bringing the government back to public session, which wanted to derogate Overseas and Corsica from the application of the 1986 coastal law (law on the development, protection and enhancement of the coastline), by allowing the construction of public or private collective facilities nearby ocean or beaches.[10]

Secretary of Real Equality

Bareigts served as Secretary of Real Equality under Prime Minister Manuel Valls from February 2016[2] to 20 March 2016. She is in charge of economic equality between Metropolitan France and the French Overseas regions.[2] Shortly after her appointment, Le Monde published an article suggesting her official title was unclear.[11]

Minister of Overseas Territories

She was appointed Minister of Overseas France on 30 August 2016 and replaced in the National Assembly by her substitute, Phillipe Naillet. The fourth Minister since 1958 to come from an overseas department and the first Reunion Islander to accede to the post of Minister, aware of her lack of notoriety, she spoke to Liberation, who dedicated a portrait to her: "No one knows me enough at the national level, but I am a field politician, engaged for thirty years on the island of Reunion".[12] When she was appointed, she declared that she wanted to implement the real equality of these territories with the metropolis and promote "territorialized growth" and went for her first trip to Mayotte, the poorest department in France. She will go there again while the department is experiencing an unprecedented drought since the meteorological records of 1941.

On 28 March 2017, during the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana, Bareigts and fellow minister Matthias Fekl were sent to the overseas department by Prime Minister Cazeneuve, pledging a €1 billion investment in infrastructure.[13]

References
  1. "Mme Ericka Bareigts". Assemblee Nationale. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  2. Haddad, Marie-Pierre (February 11, 2016). "Remaniement ministériel : Audrey Azoulay, Ericka Bareigts... Qui sont les nouveaux ministres qui entrent au gouvernement ?". RTL. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  3. "Ericka BAREIGTS". Parti socialiste. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  4. Laura Prat de Seabra (31 August 2016). "Who is Ericka Bareigts, the new overseas minister?" (in French). Le Figaro. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  5. "VIDEO. Reunionese children of Creuse: the Assembly recognizes the "moral" responsibility of the State" (in French). L'Express. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  6. "Quand Ericka Bareigts voulait remplacer les jours fériés catholiques". Valeurs actuelles. February 12, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  7. "Ericka Bareigts: "Me, black deputy of the Republic"" (in French). Ouest-France. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  8. Baradi Siva (12 September 2018). "Richard Ferrand elected president of the assembly, 31 votes for Ericka Bareigts" (in French). Antenne Réunion. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. Gilbert Hoair (3 March 2018). "A energized visit to the Saint Paul Media Library with Huguette Bello and Ericka Bareigts" (in French). Réunion La Première. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  10. Isabelle Rey-Lefebvre (2 June 2018). "MEPs refrain from upsetting the coastal law" (in French). Le Monde. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  11. "Mais que signifie donc ce secrétariat d'Etat à " l'égalité réelle " ?". Le Monde. February 13, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  12. Quentin Girard (1 November 2016). "Ericka Bareigts: Islands of the future" (in French). Libération. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  13. "France dispatches ministers to French Guiana after social unrest". Reuters. March 28, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
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