Bernard Pons (18 July 1926 – 27 April 2022) was a French politician and physician who was a member of the Union of Democrats for the Republic from 1971 to 1976 and then of the Rally for the Republic.
After retiring from active politics in 2002, he served as Secretary-General of the Rally for the Republic, Minister of Transport, and as a special counselor to the Union for a Popular Movement until 2008.
Pons was elected to the French parliament’s lower chamber in 1967 and remained a member until 2002. From 22 June 1969 to 28 March 1973, he worked at the Ministry of Agriculture.
He served as Minister for Overseas Territory in Jacques Chirac’s cabinet and traveled to Noumea to resolve the Ouvéa cave hostage abduction incident. He was Minister of Transport in Alain Juppé’s cabinet.
Pons was instrumental in restoring the Cahors wine region’s reputation. He successfully pushed for the region’s Appellation d’origine contrôlée. This brought in a lot of money to the area.
He was loyal to Jacques Chirac, he participated in the founding of the RPR, of which he was also Secretary-General. He was integrated into the Juppé government in 1995 by Jacques Chirac, first as Minister of Spatial Planning, Equipment, and Transport, then as Minister of Equipment, Housing, Transport, and Tourism until 1997.
Bernard Pons’ wife, Josette Cros, was born in 1952. the couple had three children, Isabelle, Frédérique, and Valérie. Unfortunately, Josette led a quite life and so, there is no other information about her.
