Carole Delga (; born 19 August 1971) is a French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who has been serving as the President of the Regional Council of Occitania since 2016.Philippe Gagnebet (4 January 2016), La socialiste Carole Delga veut une « République des territoires » Le Monde.
Delga is considered to be a potential candidate in the 2027 French presidential election.
Political career Delga has been a member of the Socialist Party since 2004.
Member of the National Assembly, 2012–2017 From 2012 until 2017, Delga was a member of the National Assembly, where she served on the Finance Committee (2012–2014) and the Defence Committee (2015–2017).Carole Delga National Assembly.
In 2014, Delga briefly served as Secretary of State for Trade, Crafts, Consumer and Social Economy and Solidarity under Minister of Finance and Public Accounts Michel Sapin in the government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls; she replaced Valérie Fourneyron who had resigned for health reasons. In June 2015, she left the government to launch her campaign for regional elections; she was replaced by Martine Pinville.Fabrice Valery (17 June 2015), Carole Delga a quitté le gouvernement et entre en campagne pour les élections régionales France 3 Midi-Pyrénées.
President of Occitanie, 2016–present Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2017 primaries, Delga publicly endorsed Manuel Valls as the party's candidate for the presidential election later that year.Primaire à gauche : Valls présente son QG et son état-major de campagne Les Échos, 14 December 2016. Since 2017, she has been part of the party's leadership.Le Parti socialiste a désigné sa direction collégiale provisoire Le Monde, 8 July 2017.
Delga was re-elected in the 2021 French regional elections. Shortly after, she was also elected as president of Régions de France, a group representing the regions of France; it was the first time since 2016 that the association was led by a left-wing personality, and for the first time by a woman.Dominique Albertini (9 July 2021), Delga, première femme présidente... des régions Libération.
Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, Delga endorsed Anne Hidalgo as the Socialist Party's candidate.Jannick Alimi (12 July 2021), Présidentielle 2022 : à Villeurbanne, Anne Hidalgo franchit une marche de plus Le Parisien. In 2023, she publicly endorsed Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol as candidate to challenge Olivier Faure for the party's leadership.Sophie de Ravinel (4 January 2023), Congrès du PS: Carole Delga et Valérie Rabault soutiennent le maire de Rouen, opposant d’Olivier Faure Le Figaro. During the 2025 party leadership election, she did the same, and threatened to leave the PS if Faure was elected party leader again.https://liberation.fr/politique/carole-delga-menace-de-quitter-le-ps-si-olivier-faure-gagne-le-congres-20250324_NUDMSVS3UVCETKM5YSJ4RVV5TQ Shortly after Faure was elected again, Delga ultimately announced she would not quit the party after all, contrary to her earlier threat.https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/congres-du-ps-malgre-la-victoire-de-faure-delga-ne-quittera-finalement-pas-le-parti-20250614
Political positions Delga is a critic of the New Ecological and Social People's Union.
Controversy In April 2019, Delga was sentenced by the Nîmes Court of Appeal to a fine of €8,000 and damages to the municipality of Beaucaire, Gard, for "discrimination based on political opinions" and "obstructing the exercise of an economic activity" after having refused to sign a city contract established by the municipality of Beaucaire led by Julien Sanchez, and not having chosen this municipality to host the future general high school built by the region in the Gard.Valérie Luxey (26 April 2019), Beaucaire : Carole Delga condamnée pour discrimination envers le maire RN France 3 Midi-Pyrénées.
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