Jacques Serais, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: MUSTAFA YALCIN / ANADOLU / Anadolu via AFP
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8:35 a.m., November 20, 2023
What is happening at the Élysée? If Emmanuel Macron’s zigzags on the Israel-Hamas conflict make the headlines in the press, behind the scenes, the atmosphere in the palace raises questions. An article published in the newspaper The world this weekend revealed a clan war among the head of state’s advisors. In those around him, everything seems to be turning into a settling of scores. According to the admission of a close adviser to the president to Europe 1, “the atmosphere is deleterious, at all levels”.
These internal quarrels are fueled in particular by the distrust of part of the entourage of the Head of State towards a man, Frédéric Michel. The special communications and strategy advisor himself denounces in the columns of World “jealousies” and “clan struggles”.
Macron, the temptation of great upheaval
As a result, Emmanuel Macron could be tempted by a major upheaval. Its deputy secretary general, Pierre-André Imbert, appointed ambassador to Australia, is already preparing to pack his boxes. Two new faces, Émilie Piette and Constance Bensussan, will succeed him at the beginning of December. The chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda, is also said to be leaving at the dawn of his 72nd birthday.
Finally, the indispensable Alexis Kohler, who has accompanied Emmanuel Macron for nine years, would be on the verge of giving up his office as secretary general of the Élysée. Rumors of revolution at the palace which go hand in hand with another little music, that of a reshuffle, while two ministers are threatened with convictions: Éric Dupond-Moretti and Olivier Dussopt.
A heart of power as fractured as society over the Israel-Hamas conflict
All these internal tensions are also exacerbated by what is happening in the Middle East. Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic zigzags regarding Israel’s response against Hamas are not without explanations. The head of state, who for a month has been calling not to import the conflict into France, can see that he is in fact already present at the Élysée. It is one of his advisors who reports: “The Israel-Hamas conflict has deeply fractured the team. To the point of no longer speaking to each other!”
The reason, according to this highly placed source, is that “some people are close to thinking that Hamas is a resistance movement.” This is how even the heart of power reveals itself to be in the image of a part of society, at its most regrettable.