Passionate, with a critical mind always alert, he was a figure in economic journalism. Former journalist of Worldclose collaborator of Marianne, led by his friend Natacha Polony, Jean-Michel Quatrepoint died on Friday January 26, at the age of 79. Jean-Pierre Chevènement, of whom he was a traveling companion, was one of the first to pay tribute to him on X, Friday: “He was a man of immense culture, a powerful, original, unclassifiable mind, whose analytical capacity provided a real framework. »
Jean-Michel Quatrepoint was born on June 23, 1944, in Paris. He was raised by his mother’s second husband, André Barjonet, a CGT leader who broke with the union in May 1968. A graduate of the Journalists’ Training Center in 1967, Jean-Michel Quatrepoint collaborated on various publications, such as The echoes And The Finance Journalbefore entering the economic service of the World, in September 1973. An industry specialist, he left his mark, with an elegance that was not only sartorial, from his first article: “The international conglomerate ITT is the subject of increasing attacks for its links with the political power. » He seems detached, but he has a perfect command of his subjects.
In September 1984, he left The world to become general manager of L’Agefi-Nouveau Journalwho will become The gallery. In his last article, he is very circumspect about the desire of the new Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius, to embody the “modernization” from the country.
Foundation of the Orwell Committee
In 1976, Jean-Michel Quatrepoint published, in collaboration with Jacques Jublin and Danielle Arnaud, his wife, a book which had a great impact, French computers. From the Bull affair to the assassination of the Calcul plan (Alain Moreau). It will be followed by eight other works.
He tirelessly denounces globalization presented as happy or an idealized Europe in a wide variety of publications, such as the quarterly High finance, The Expansion Tribune, The letter a, The New Economist, of which he was editorial director from September 1997 to January 2000. In April 2001, he was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honor.
In 2015, he founded, with Natacha Polony, the Orwell Committee, a think tank on journalism which criticizes “a unique thought made of blissful Atlanticism and adoration of free trade”. In the book Alstom, state scandal (Fayard, 2015), he denounces the conditions of the sale of the company to the General Electric group, emphasizing that, contrary to the promises of Arnaud Montebourg and Emmanuel Macron, “we have deliberately entrusted the future of our entire nuclear sector to an American group”. The following year, in a collective work, Welcome to the worst of all worlds (Plon, 2016), he forges the concept of “soft totalitarianism”. On March 24, 2017, as an assumed sovereignist, he signed in Le Figarowith Mr. Chevènement, a call entitled: “Europe: supranationality has failed, let’s trust the nations”.
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