“It makes me weird, happy, and even a little point in the heart, because it’s the place where I was trained, where I liked to exercise”, confided Olivier Véran to francinfo. He was, this Monday, January 18, 2021, in front of the Grenoble University Hospital where he still provided a few sessions in neurology before becoming minister.
During his first TV appearance in 2007, Olivier Véran already stood out. He then went on strike against a Fillon government project. His appearance on the regional news of France 3 Alpes will propel him to the National Assembly. Geneviève Fioraso, PS deputy for Isère, had offered to become her deputy in 2012 when she became Minister of Higher Education and Research.
Olivier Véran quickly demonstrated ambition and efficiency. “He went out of his way to get on media issues, such as the subject of anorexic models”, says former deputy Gérard Bapt, specialist in health subjects for the PS group, to franceinfo. The young deputy met at that time the Minister of the Economy and future President: Emmanuel Macron.
Leaving the Assembly in 2015 on the return of Geneviève Fioraso, Olivier Véran moved away from the socialists and became actively involved in Emmanuel Macron’s campaign. “I always told him: ‘Olivier, you will be a minister! The question is not if you will be, but when you will be'”, confides Benoît Elleboode, Director General of the New Aquitaine Regional Health Agency and friend of ‘Olivier Véran, at francinfo.
In 2017, when Agnèz Buzyn was appointed Minister of Health, Olivier Véran did not hide his disappointment. “This post, he was waiting for it like the fox at the foot of the tree. He was extremely disappointed”, assures one of his relatives to franceinfo. His tenacity, however, was rewarded on February 16, 2020, when he became Minister of Health.
During Emmanuel Macron’s second term, he was appointed government spokesperson at only 42 years old. Born on April 22, 1980, in Saint-Martin-d’Hères (Isère), Olivier Véran will celebrate his 43rd birthday this year.
