 He was elected president of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council on 1 December 2015.A graduate of the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, he was the president of the National Federation of Public Works (FNTP) from 2005 to 2013 and executive board member of the MEDEF.As his surname suggests, Bernasconi is the grandson of an Italian bricklayer immigrant from Trentino (Molina di Ledro) who emigrated to Normandy in 1920.