Barbara Pompili

Born in Bois-Bernard, Pas-de-Calais, Pompili grew up in Liévin. She graduated from Sciences Po Lille.

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 of Prime Minister Manuel Valls,[3] under the Minister of Ecology, Ségolène Royal. She was reappointed when the government of Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve took office. During her time in office, she notably oversaw the entry into force of a French tax targeting palm oil and a ban on neonicotinoids in 2016.[4]

Pompili was an early supporter of Emmanuel Macron and the first minister in Hollande's government to openly support Macron's candidacy in the 2017 presidential election.[5] She subsequently stood as a candidate of En Marche! (EM) in Somme's 2nd constituency, which she had represented from 2012 until 2016.[6] 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.[7]

In September 2018, after François de Rugy's appointment to the government, Pompili ran for the presidency of the National Assembly.[8] 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.[9]

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’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.[10] She also defended amendments on the transparency and labeling of genetically modified organisms 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.[11]